DOLPHIN COAST BIRD CLUB

NEWSLETTER : FEBRUARY 2015

OutingsLast Outing – 21 February 2015 – Brettenwood Coastal Estate [2925_3110]

A typical February day with a warm morning temperature of 23˚C and a gentle sea breeze which warmed up to closer to 30˚C but luckily a southerly wind began to blow to cool the air somewhat; absolutely ideal for walking and birding.

Thirty three members were joined by 18 guests, some from Brettenwood residents: Members were: Klaus and Ragne Achtzehn, Colin Barfoot, Di Bowser, Errol Blair, Peter and Gill Buchholtz, Bing and Heather Comrie, Pam Couperthwaite, Darryl Dale, Anne-Marie de Boer, Alan and Avril Eshmade, William and Gillian Holman, Graham and Tina House, Chris and Danny Macdonald, Chris and Rie Mathews, Les and Margie Shone, Peter and Susanne von Belino, Andy and Averil Warner, Clive and Priscilla Watson, Derek and Larraine Watson and Mike White.

Apologies were received from Bev Blair, Tony and Lorraine Clarkson, Ren and Bev Eksteen, Tony and Adele Hesp, Malcolm and Pete McClean, Nan Sharp, Campbell and Anne Smith, Ivan and Gwen Swaffield, Jimmy Trevorrow and Christa White.

Guests were Dawie and Sylvia Bosch [1], Andre and Anne de Jager [2], Geoffrey and Jen Foster [2], Anita Greve [1], Basil and Helen Henderson [1], Chris Jenkins [1], Lycia McDermot [1], Allan and Denise Pope [1] and Stuart and Stephanie Walker [1]. Welcome to you all.

The superb condition lead to a very worthy 84 birds being recorded including a club lifer – Wattled Starling [this is also a first for Brettenwood and takes the estate list to 225]. One group saw a Yellow-billed Kite carrying a bush snake off for a meal.

Special thanks goes to Ross Bishop and the Home Owners Association of Brettenwood for allowing the club to visit the estate.

Chris Macdonald Chairman 082 879-4681Andy Warner Treasurer 032 946-1819Danny Macdonald Secretary 083 447-0520

Next Outing – 21 March 2015 – Pencarrow [2930_3110]

The next club outing will take place at Pencarrow on 21 March 2015 at 06:30. To get to Pencarrow drive directly out of Ballito or take Exit 210 off the N2 towards Compensation and the R102. Turn South, past Compensation Store and then after 600m on the left, take the dirt road to Pencarrow

Club rating for Pencarrow

Birding: Good forest and forest edge birding with the cane and grasslands adjacent giving additional species. Often breeding raptors are encountered.

Walking distance: The walk is not more than two kilometres with no changes in elevation. The alternative is to bird in the garden and picnic area.

Difficulty: little except finding a pathway north of the forest.

Heads Up on forthcoming events

4 March 2015: Talk evening at Simbithi: Pygmy Kingfishers by Gerrit Lotz

21 March 2015: Outing to Pencarrow

1 April 2015: Talk Evening at Simbithi, topic to be announced

Sappi Mbozambo CWAC, Mvoti Estuary CWAC and Amatigulu CWAC and Birding Day Event

The Sappi Mbozambo CWAC on 24 January yielded a lower than normal count of birds but did include a pair of African Pygmy-geese. This is unusual as there are no lilies on this stretch of water and lilies are their main source of food. The count at the Mvoti Estuary featured because the estuary was closed which is quite unusual. This resulted in a low count of waders in the estuary which was offset by recording in excess of 2300 terns, Little and Common.

The Amatigulu CWAC was made difficult by high weed growth on this large estuary.

Talk Evenings

The next talk evening takes place on 4 March 2015. The speaker is Gerrit Lotz from Tukela Mouth and the topic is African Pygmy-kingfishers. Gerrit has had these lovely birds nesting in his garden for a number of years and has terrific photographs of the comings and goings to the nest and the arrival of the youngsters.

General

Shore Bird Count 2015

The shorebird count, co-ordinated by BirdLife SA, took place during the first two weeks of February. The count featured a large number of Sanderlings north of the Tugela, many more terns, mostly Little and Common, than the last count in 2014, and eight African Oystercatchers on the rocky outcrops south of the uMvoti Estuary.

Thanks go to Chris Mathews, Errol Blair, Bing Comrie, Klaus Achtzehn, Clive and Priscilla Watson, Paul Harris and his wife [Amatigulu HR], Greg Simmonds [Amatgulu HR] and Selvan Pillay, Lionel van Schoor and Hector of KZN WildLife.

Brood Parasitism and Whydahs and Indigobirds

With increased sightings of indigobirds recently and the delightful aerial dancing displays of the Pin-tailed Whydah in summer, a look at the lifestyles of this group of brood parasites is very revealing.

The indigobirds and whydahs belong to the family Viduidae which is derived from the Latin for widow; because these birds are largely black [or at least the breeding males are, the females, and males in non-breeding season are very much LBJ’s].

It is interesting that the main thing whydahs and indigobirds have in common is their habit of brood parasitism whereby they do not build nests, sit on eggs or raise their own offspring; rather leaving the nest building and parent responsibilities to the host birds.

These birds also tend to target single species as hosts; the indigobirds are very specific whilst the Pin-tailed Whydah targets waxbills with the Common Waxbill being the favoured host.

The host selected by the Dusky Indigobird is the African Firefinch and the Village Indigobird almost entirely the Red-billed Firefinch.

From a birding point of view, the presence of the parasitic species always indicates the presence of the host species.

The parasitic chicks imitate the host chicks to a greater extent even to the mimic of the sounds of the host parent birds as they grow up.

Species recorded at Brettenwood Coastal Estate [2925_3110]

Birds Recorded 848 Little Grebe 58 Reed Cormorant

62 Grey Heron 72 Squacco Heron86 Woolly-necked Stork 91 African Sacred Ibis94 Hadeda Ibis 99 White-faced Duck

102 Egyptian Goose 104 Yellow-billed Duck

116 Spur-winged Goose126.

1 Yellow-billed Kite148 African Fish-Eagle 158 Black Sparrowhawk170 Western Osprey 196 Natal Spurfowl203 Helmeted Guineafowl 213 Black Crake226 Common Moorhen 240 African Jacana249 Three-banded Plover 257 Black-winged Lapwing266 Wood Sandpiper 352 Red-eyed Dove355 Laughing Dove 359 Tambourine Dove371 Purple-crested Turaco 385 Klaas's Cuckoo386 Diderick Cuckoo 391 Burchell's Coucal421 African Palm-Swift 424 Speckled Mousebird443 White-fronted Bee-eater 451 African Hoopoe464 Black-collared Barbet 466 White-eared Barbet469 Red-fronted Tinkerbird 471 Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird473 Crested Barbet 483 Golden-tailed Woodpecker486 Cardinal Woodpecker 518 Barn Swallow527 Lesser Striped Swallow 533 Brown-throated Martin554 Southern Black Tit 568 Dark-capped Bulbul572 Sombre Greenbul 589 Familiar Chat643 Willow Warbler 657 Green-backed Camaroptera672 Rattling Cisticola 678 Croaking Cisticola681 Neddicky 683 Tawny-flanked Prinia689 Spotted Flycatcher 690 African Dusky Flycatcher711 African Pied Wagtail 713 Cape Wagtail728 Yellow-throated Longclaw 732 Common Fiscal736 Southern Boubou 740 Black-backed Puffback748 Orange-breasted Bush-shrike 760 Wattled Starling761 Violet-backed Starling 764 Cape Glossy Starling768 Black-bellied Starling 769 Red-winged Starling787 White-bellied Sunbird 790 Olive Sunbird792 Amethyst Sunbird 796 Cape White-eye804 Southern Grey-headed Sparrow 807 Thick-billed Weaver810 Spectacled Weaver 811 Village Weaver817 Yellow Weaver 824 Southern Red Bishop846 Common Waxbill 857 Bronze Mannikin860 Pin-tailed Whydah 869 Yellow-fronted Canary877 Brimstone Canary 881 Streaky-headed Seed-eater