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Between the Legs: Cape Town Birding

With a two night stopover in Cape Town, it provided us with three days to explore the various National Parks, Nature Reserves and Botanical Gardens. Guided by Birding Africa, we were able to connect with many of the endemic birds and enjoy some excellent birding.


Kirstenbosch and the Strandfontein Birding Area, 31st March 2025

With Vince of Birding Africa we were early arrivers at Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens which, blessed by tropical climate and at the base of Table Mountain, is a truly spectacular setting. The visitor centre, sculptures and restaurant are high quality but the majestic trees and presentation of native and introduced plants take first prize, simply world class beginning immediately after entering the park for a very reasonable fee with the mature Camphor tree avenue near the entrance and the boomslang tree canopy walkway, presentation of Fynbos plants including Proteas, simply stunning as are the views of Cape Town in early morning blue light haze in its mountain fringed basin.




Kirstenbosch Gardens
Kirstenbosch Gardens

Cape Bulbul; Orange-bellied Sunbird; Malachite Sunbird; Southern Double-banded Sunbird; Swee Waxbill; Forest Canary


After a successful stop to look for Western Leopard Toad we were away to Strandfontein which sits within the wider False Bay Nature Area, Globally Important Bird Area (IBA), and RAMSAR site so highly attractive to birds fair to say it’s a less aesthetically pleasing setting than Kirstenbosch being set by an active landfill and the back of a sewage works. A perfect birders spot really. We weren’t able to see the escaped Hippopotamus and fortunately it didn’t see us but there was a great assemblage of waders, waterfowl, terns, gulls, ibisesegrets, Spoonbill and heron species and many of the 500 or so Great White PeIican population of the Cape (odd to see then feeding on landfill).


Cape Shoveler; Yellow-billed Duck and Cape Teal; Great White Pelican; African Spoonbill, African Sacred Ibis; Three-banded Plover.


Day Two

Kogelberg, Harold Porter Botanic Gardens Stoney Point and Betty’s Bay, 1st April 2025


Vince met us just after breakfast and we headed for Kogelberg and more Cape Town Endemics. We started our day along the coast, scouring the boulders and scrub for the Cape Rockjumper. Although me managed to see the Rockjumper, it was amongst the boulder at the base of the scree slopes and coastal mountains. Other endemics seen included Orange-breasted Sunbird and Cape Rock Thrush.


Coastal Cliffs at Kogelberg.


Orange-breasted Sunbird; Cape Rock Thrush, Cape Bunting; Karoo Prinia; Familiar Chat


After the coastal cliffs we headed towards Betty's Bay - a coastal reserve with African Penguin and four species of Cormorant. Not as popular as Boulder's Beach, Betty's Bay was relatively quiet and allowed close encounters with African Penguin and Rock Hyrax.


Betty's Bay


African Penguin and Rock Hyrax


White-breasted, Crowned, Bank and Cape Cormorants all nest of the shore at Betty's Bay along with African Oystercatcher. Reptiles basking on the rocks were represented by Southern Rock Agama and Girdled Lizard

Southern Rock Agama; Girdled Lizard, Bank Cormorant; Bank Cormorants; Great (White-breasted) Cormorant; African Oystercatcher.


Our next stop was at the Botanical Gardens at Betty's Bay, where we encountered several Chacma Baboon - these primates have a habit of raiding the local houses for food (and just for fun) so teams of "Baboon Wardens" follow them and deter the baboons from breaking into residences.


As with Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the mature, well watered gardens support several bird species. The ponds though also held several species of dragonfly and damselfly along with amphibians.


Cape River Frog; Epaulet Skimmer; "Water Lily"; Chacma Baboon; Red-veined Droplet; Emperor.


Birds seen included Fiscal Flycatcher; Orange-breasted Sunbird and Malachite Sunbird.


Orange-breasted Sunbird; Malachite Sunbird: Fiscal Flycatcher


At the end of the day we returned to the Bolette, where we watched Cape Fur Seal, Great Crested Tern and Hartlaub's Gull in the port.


Cape Fur Seal; Great Crested Tern.


Day Three

Our third and final day in Cape Tern was spent at the West Coast National Park - an area of coastal scrub, grassland and wetlands. A very different landscape typology which at the right time of year sees the Strandveld become a riot of colour from annual desert flowers, but not today. However, the Brunsvigia bosmaniiae was the exception, with many impossibly large bright pink blooms erupting from the sand. Karoo Scrub Robin were confiding and in the dry scrubby habitat that shares their name. African Black Oystercatcher were bringing food for to their young on a beach where several species of Cormorant basked on nearby rocks. Probably the least photogenic day of our time in South Africa


Karoo Scrub Robin; Spotted Knick-knee; Southern Black Korhaan; Common Ostrich; White-fronted Plover, African Oystercatcher


The three days we spent in Cape Town were bird-filled and very enjoyable, and would not have been achieved without the guidance of Vincent Ward from Birding Africa. We saw a total of 123 species of bird (listed below), five species of dragonfly and several mammal species.


ENGLISH NAME

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Common Ostrich

Struthio camelus

White-faced Whistling-Duck

Dendrocygna viduata

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Dendrocygna bicolor

Egyptian Goose

Alopochen aegyptiaca

Spur-winged Goose

Plectropterus gambensis

Blue-billed Teal

Spatula hottentota

Cape Shoveler

Spatula smithii

Yellow-billed Duck

Anas undulata

Cape Teal

Anas capensis

Red-billed Duck

Anas erythrorhyncha

Southern Pochard

Netta erythrophthalma

Maccoa Duck

Oxyura maccoa

Helmeted Guineafowl

Numida meleagris

Gray-winged Francolin

Scleroptila afra

Cape Spurfowl

Pternistis capensis

Speckled Pigeon

Columba guinea

Red-eyed Dove

Streptopelia semitorquata

Ring-necked Dove

Streptopelia capicola

Laughing Dove

Spilopelia senegalensis

Black Bustard

Afrotis afra

Eurasian Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus

Red-knobbed Coot

Fulica cristata

African Swamphen

Porphyrio madagascariensis

Black Crake

Zapornia flavirostra

Spotted Thick-knee

Burhinus capensis

Water Thick-knee

Burhinus vermiculatus

Black-winged Stilt

Himantopus himantopus

Pied Avocet

Recurvirostra avosetta

African Oystercatcher

Haematopus moquini

Three-banded Plover

Thinornis tricollaris

Blacksmith Lapwing

Vanellus armatus

White-fronted Plover

Anarhynchus marginatus

Sanderling

Calidris alba

Parasitic Jaeger

Stercorarius parasiticus

Gray-hooded Gull

Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus

Hartlaub's Gull

Chroicocephalus hartlaubii

Kelp Gull

Larus dominicanus

Caspian Tern

Hydroprogne caspia

Arctic Tern

Sterna paradisaea

Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

Sandwich Tern

Thalasseus sandvicensis

Great Crested Tern

Thalasseus bergii

Little Grebe

Tachybaptus ruficollis

African Penguin

Spheniscus demersus

White-chinned Petrel

Procellaria aequinoctialis

Sooty Shearwater

Ardenna grisea

Cape Gannet

Morus capensis

African Darter

Anhinga rufa

Reed Cormorant

Microcarbo africanus

Crowned Cormorant

Microcarbo coronatus

Bank Cormorant

Phalacrocorax neglectus

Cape Cormorant

Phalacrocorax capensis

Great Cormorant

Phalacrocorax carbo

Glossy Ibis

Plegadis falcinellus

African Sacred Ibis

Threskiornis aethiopicus

Hadada Ibis

Bostrychia hagedash

African Spoonbill

Platalea alba

Little Egret

Egretta garzetta

Western Cattle-Egret

Ardea ibis

Black-headed Heron

Ardea melanocephala

Great White Pelican

Pelecanus onocrotalus

Black-winged Kite

Elanus caeruleus

Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk

Accipiter rufiventris

Black Goshawk

Astur melanoleucus

African Marsh Harrier

Circus ranivorus

Jackal Buzzard

Buteo rufofuscus

Speckled Mousebird

Colius striatus

White-backed Mousebird

Colius colius

Eurasian Hoopoe

Upupa epops

Olive Woodpecker

Dendropicos griseocephalus

Rock Kestrel

Falco rupicolus

Lanner Falcon

Falco biarmicus

Peregrine Falcon

Falco peregrinus

Cape Batis

Batis capensis

Bokmakierie

Telophorus zeylonus

Southern Fiscal

Lanius collaris

Pied Crow

Corvus albus

White-necked Raven

Corvus albicollis

Drakensberg Rockjumper

Chaetops aurantius

Long-billed Crombec

Sylvietta rufescens

Bar-throated Apalis

Apalis thoracica

Karoo Prinia

Prinia maculosa

Gray-backed Cisticola

Cisticola subruficapilla

Levaillant's Cisticola

Cisticola tinniens

Lesser Swamp Warbler

Acrocephalus gracilirostris

Black Sawwing

Psalidoprocne pristoptera

Banded Martin

Neophedina cincta

Plain Martin

Riparia paludicola

Bank Swallow

Riparia riparia

Southern Crag-Martin

Ptyonoprogne fuligula

Barn Swallow

Hirundo rustica

White-throated Swallow

Hirundo albigularis

Sombre Greenbul

Andropadus importunus

Cape Bulbul

Pycnonotus capensis

Chestnut-vented Warbler

Curruca subcoerulea

Cape White-eye

Zosterops virens

European Starling

Sturnus vulgaris

Red-winged Starling

Onychognathus morio

African Pied Starling

Lamprotornis bicolor

Olive Thrush

Turdus olivaceus

African Dusky Flycatcher

Muscicapa adusta

Fiscal Flycatcher

Sigelus silens

Karoo Scrub-Robin

Tychaedon coryphoeus

Cape Robin-Chat

Dessonornis caffer

Cape Rock-Thrush

Monticola rupestris

Familiar Chat

Oenanthe familiaris

Cape Sugarbird

Promerops cafer

Orange-breasted Sunbird

Anthobaphes violacea

Amethyst Sunbird

Chalcomitra amethystina

Malachite Sunbird

Nectarinia famosa

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Cinnyris chalybeus

Cape Weaver

Ploceus capensis

Bronze Mannikin

Spermestes cucullata

Swee Waxbill

Coccopygia melanotis

Common Waxbill

Estrilda astrild

House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

Cape Sparrow

Passer melanurus

Cape Wagtail

Motacilla capensis

Forest Canary

Crithagra scotops

Yellow Canary

Crithagra flaviventris

Streaky-headed Seedeater

Crithagra gularis

Cape Canary

Serinus canicollis

Cape Bunting

Emberiza capensis


 
 
 

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