By Rob Geddes

This outing to Seringveld was attended by a small group of hardy and weather resilient birders following the hectic schedule of activities the PBC had hosted over the earlier part of the weekend for their 50th birthday celebrations.

The small size of the group and the excellent arrangements made by Pete Irons allowed us access to some of the lesser known area's of the Seringveld and the special birds of this unique Conservancy.

The day started with some great birding around the meeting point with Black Sunbirds building a nest, Coqui francolin calling and the early activities of many other birds.

Moving up onto a overcast and gusty ridge the birding was difficult but very rewarding. A lone African hawk eagle flew slowly over and was soon followed by a group of three Wahlberg's eagles - all trying to master the unstable conditions.

This was followed by excellent views of Sharp billed Honeyguide, Willow Warbler, Streaky headed Canary and a very strange looking " Karroo Thrush" with a very light beak.
Meanwhile Black crowned Tchagra's and Striped Kingfishers were calling everywhere.
After the traditional tea-break we were able to call up a small group of Green capped Eremomella's which provided excellent views and were lifers for a few.

Before exiting this wonderful farm we located our first Fawn coloured and Rufous naped larks on the lower slopes of the koppie
A fly past by a pair of Plumcoloured Starlings, European Bee eaters, and Northern black Korhaan entertained us as we headed to a well known vlei where a number of thornveld species where noted.
The undoubted highlight along this route was the great views we had from a very obliging and vocal Greater Honeyguide

After an hour or so of excellent yet unremarkable birding we arrived at our final stop, an out of the way farm in the Krokodil spruit area.

Here we spent some time locating the nest of a pair of Brubru's, and then strolled leisurely around the farm dams picking up Village (Spotted back ) Weaver, Orange throated Longclaw and a number of Warblers.

Our relaxed state was rudely interrupted by the unmistakable contact call of a Redchested Flofftail. This resultant adrenaline rush saw us immediately forget about the heat and our lunch as one of the more organized twitchers in our group ( names and genders have been omitted. ed ) whipped out a tape and immediately set about calling the bird!

Although frustrating we were able to tempt a number of them closer but were unable to obtain a view. As we disappointingly headed off discussing the various unethical ways we might use to flush the bird, a more patient, persistent? member of the group was able to obtain a brief yet good view of one!

The day ended with the customary calling of the list and were surprised to note that we had ticked just over 100 species for the day.