Atlasville, 12 January 2009
Got back this afternoon from 3 nights at Ngwenya. After our trip to Botswana over the New Year a full week at Ngwenya for our annual timeshare would probably not quite live up to the usual expectations, so we decided to bank some of the days and just spend a weekend at Ngwenya instead. This of course meant two full days in the Kruger Park and very little time for birding and/or photography at Ngwenya itself.
Having driven down in the late afternoon on Friday to Ngwenya, Saturday morning saw us waiting at the head of the queue for the Park entrance gate to open at 05:30. The bright blue almost cloudless sky seemed a good omen for some decent photography. We headed north from Crocodile Bridge towards Lower Sabie on the main tar road and before reaching the Vurhami River bridge only 3.3 km into our day we had already ticked off 20 birds, including Tawny Eagle, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Red-backed Shrike (it would prove to be quite a day for photographing summer visitors, but not this one), Green Wood Hoopoe and Chinspot Batis. We turned off onto the gravel Gomondwane Loop. The thick thorn bush in this area supposedly hosts the main but very small population of Black Rhino in the Kruger. Over the years I have made it something of a mission to try and see one, but still they remain something of an enigma and I must content myself with a few sightings in the northern Zululand game reserves. Back on the tar we encountered a huge flock of Red-billed Quelea several thousand strong, Jacobin Cuckoo, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Diederik Cuckoo, the extremely photogenic Southern Carmine Bee-eater, Wahlberg’s Eagle and White-backed Vulture. As we neared Lower Sabie where the road follows the Sabie River we watched an elephant herd bathing and drinking before leaving the river on the far bank.
From the deck at the cafeteria at Lower Sabie Camp we watched hippo in the Sabie River with Yellow-billed Stork close by, while circling overhead, almost sure ticks in mid-summer here, were African Palm Swift and Little Swift. Another of the summer visitors, hawking from a perch on the deck railings, was a Spotted Flycatcher. Crossing the Lower Sabie causeway and heading north on the gravel Mlondozi Road more summer visitors awaited in European Roller, European Bee-eater and Lesser Grey Shrike. There seems to have been a major influx of Lesser Grey Shrike this year as they greatly outnumber the Red-backed Shrike, usually the much more common of the two. A little further north on the Muntshe Loop we added Yellow-throated Longclaw, Rufous-naped Lark and Lilac-breasted Roller.
Rejoining the main tar road north we stopped at the dam at the junction with the S128 road where an elephant seemed to be taking exception to a pair of White Rhino using the same waterhole. The rhino, however, were not for budging. As the day looked like later on it would be one of those scorchers when all animal and bird activity is minimal we decided rather to follow the S128 gravel road back towards the Sabie River and then head west on the Salitje Road to the Sabie River Bridge. Let’s get some of the prime viewing areas covered before the heat sets in. What a good decision. Not long after leaving the elephant and rhino a spurfowl/francolin sauntered across the road. Hang on a bit, I don’t recognise that one, and it isn’t a spurfowl. Training the binoculars on it through the windscreen I was able to positively ID what would be my only lifer of the trip, a very uncommon summer visitor. It was a Corn Crake! No photo though as by the time I had swung hard left to get broadside on and take a photo through the open side window it had disappeared into the long grass surrounding the small pan it was headed for.
The drive along Salitje Road added the infrequently seen Senegal Lapwing and Retz’s Helmetshrike, as well as Southern Ground Hornbill, Red-chested Cuckoo, Blue Waxbill and Orange-breasted Bushshrike. Back over the Sabie River we headed south-east along the river back to Lower Sabie and then retraced our route of the morning back to Crocodile Bridge. Still no Black Rhino on the Gomondwane Loop but I got more photos of Red-billed Quelea, breeding males, perhaps the same flock from early morning had moved a few kilometres to the south. While stopped to photograph the queleas I also managed to get some insect photos – Brown-veined White and Broad-bordered Grass Yellow butterflies and an impressive looking White-tailed Bee Fly.
Back at Ngwenya I did manage a short walk and added yet another summer visitor, Violet-backed Starling, as well as a pair of Cut-throat Finch.
There had been overnight rain and everything was a bit damp on Sunday when again we were first in the queue at Crocodile Bridge gate. The skies were cloudier too so it would get a bit uncomfortable with the humidity by the afternoon. Today though we turned first left and headed along the Crocodile River Road where first photo of the day was yet another summer visitor, a Woodland Kingfisher. Other sightings included Bateleur, Chinspot Batis, Red-billed Oxpecker, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove and Grey Go-away-bird. Turning towards Skukuza on the Bume Road we found our progress blocked by three White Rhinoceros, one of them a juvenile. Discretion is the better part of valour, so rather than trying to squeeze past we sat for 10 minutes waiting until they had reached a safe distance into the bush. A few minutes later Crested Francolin scurried across the road in front of us. At the Mpondo Dam we added Red-breasted Swallow, Blacksmith Lapwing, Southern Red Bishop, Black-crowned Tchagra and Sabota Lark.
Things then got very quiet until we reached the Lake Panic Hide west of Skukuza, where many of the usual residents were present – Little Heron, African Jacana, Malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher and Thick-billed Weaver. The latter as you’d expect at this time of year was nesting in the reeds close to the hide and Wire-tailed Swallow were swooping in and out of their nest under the overhang of the roof of the hide. A juvenile Fork-tailed Drongo was lucky enough to have caught itself a katydid for its next meal.
From Skukuza we crossed the Sabie and Sand rivers via the low-water bridges turned off onto the Maroela Loop, named for the abundance of the Marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea afra) in this area. The fruit of the marula tree has many uses, including marula beer, marula oil and marula jam, but today it was the toy of choice for a very young Chacma Baboon. This youngster hitching a ride on mother’s back is clutching a marula fruit and when he jumps off throws the fruit to the ground and delights in kicking it around, throwing it and chasing it.
The day followed the same pattern as yesterday with oppressive heat limiting the activity of the animals and we spent the next two hours seeing either more of the ‘usual suspects’ or long stretches with nothing at all. This weather does not affect those birds associated with water so it was no surprise that my next photos were of a Giant Kingfisher at the Lower Sabie causeway and Common Greenshank at Sunset Dam. The greenshank was in the company of Three-banded Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Ruff and Wood Sandpiper, while Reed Cormorant, Grey Heron and Yellow-billed Stork were also present.
Leaving Lower Sabie we took the shortest route back to Crocodile Bridge and on to Ngwenya. Passing through the area where we had seen the huge flock of Red-billed Quelea the previous day we again encountered large numbers of the birds. Several of the many plumage variants of the breeding males were picked out. A Tawny Eagle perched opportunistically close by no doubt hoping to catch some of these queleas on the wing or rob another smaller raptor of their catch. Both Lesser Kestrel and Amur Falcon were circling above.
