Atlasville, 29 Nov 2004
Just back from a long weekend away with fellow members of the East Rand branch of the Witwatersrand Bird Club to the Underberg district of KwaZulu-Natal where we were hosted by local birder Robin Guy, like me a geologist who had spent time on the Zambian Copperbelt.
With only 2 days of birding there was a lot to fit in, with a full day trip up the Sani Pass into Lesotho, and afromontane forest birding in the Xumeni Forest near Donnybrook and hunting for Blue Swallow also near Donnybrook.
Underberg, as the name suggests, sits in the shadow of the Drakensberg mountains, which makes for some spectacular scenery in this area that we were to see at very close quarters as we headed up the Sani Pass in Robin’s converted twin-cab 4×4 that seats 6 people under the canopy at the rear. Only 4×4 vehicles are permitted on the pass which is a gravel road with very steep gradients. The bird we were hoping to see on the pass itself before reaching the summit and heading into Lesotho was Gurney’s Sugarbird (lifer) and we were not disappointed picking up one male in breeding plumage. Along the way we had added among others Bush Blackcap (lifer), Long-crested Eagle, Jackal Buzzard, African Yellow Warbler, Buff-streaked Chat and Alpine Swift (lifer).
Reaching the summit of the pass the view from the top was just as spectacular. Once through passport formalities at the Lesotho border post those of us who had been bouncing around in the back of the twin-cab were glad of a break to have refreshments at Sani Top Chalet. Here we added Drakensberg Siskin (lifer) and were treated to a Sloggett’s Vlei Rat (or Ice Rat) scurrying in and out of its burrow.
Suitably refreshed we continued driving into Lesotho towards the small town of Mokhotlong although we would stop for a picnic lunch some way short of the town and then head back the way we came. Birds to be seen at this altitude in the mountains include Mountain Pipit (lifer), Drakensberg Rockjumper (lifer), Bearded Vulture (lifer), Cape Vulture, Sentinel Rock Thrush (lifer), Ground Woodpecker, Southern Bald Ibis (lifer) and Layard’s Warbler and we ticked off all of them. As we left the pass behind and headed back out into the rolling grasslands towards Underberg we got very good views of a pair of Grey Crowned Crane and a Denham’s Bustard.
The next day involved a lot of walking around the trails in the Xumeni Forest where I added several species only seen but a few times over the past years in African Olive Pigeon, Forest Canary, Forest Buzzard and Grey Cuckooshrike, plus one lifer, Black Cuckoo.
Moving out into the grasslands in late afternoon, although still very much dominated by the Drakensberg, we ticked 3 cisticola species, Wailing and Wing-snapping Cisticola (lifer), and Neddicky. Finally, about half an hour before sunset, a pair of Blue Swallow (lifer) put in an appearance bringing the guided part of the weekend birding to a very satisfactory end.
The trip home added a few more species to the trip list, including good views of Blue Crane at the Sterkfontein Dam, bringing the weekend total to a very acceptable 132 species.
