Spier Midweek outing Aug 2024
An outing to Spier is always exciting but, on this Wednesday, it started off with a lot of stress. The mist and traffic ensured that most of us arrived late for the later than normal start. A bit more disappointment awaited as all the vegetation on the dam has been cleared so no lurking Black Crakes or Little Bitten, only the normal water birds such as Cormorant’s and Coots. With slowly lifting mist we started our wonder on search for birds and we were not disappointed. Black Duck in their ideal habitat of fast flowing water greeted us on the bridge followed by lots of Yellow Bishops, Cape Weavers, Levaillant’s Cisticola and Malachite Sunbirds. The 2 Fiscals were seen and the normal bush birds started to appear as the sun came out. A quick appearance of the Black Sparrowhawk lifted the spirits. The walk back along the river past the lovely Proteas gave us lovely sightings of the Dusky Flycatcher and of course the Swee Waxbills. We were all delighted after trying very hard to spot the African Pipits on the lawn to find a Cape Longclaw, Malachite Kingfisher, and the African Stonechat. The calling Goshawk ended the day before we retreated for coffee and muffins in the sun.

Ten people and 46 birds seen, a good day.