By Etienne Marais

Despite the cold snap which took dawn temperatures down below zero, 220 species were recorded, and some very interesting birding was had.

The Witwatersrand Botanical Gardens is well known for it's Black Eagles, but how many Gauteng based birders and visiting out of-towners realise just that a superb opportunity this is to observe these relatively tame black eagles from close quarters? What appeared to be the female was watched for a long time as she soared above the gardens - apparently examining shrubs on the hillside to the left, in search of suitable green sprigs, which were then plucked and taken back to the nest. After an hour or so of this, and the male then arrived with a rock dassie (Hyrax), which the female then fed to the chick with great care and tenderness. From the lawns of the gardens, one can watch the process with the aid of a scope. While watching the eagles, Cape Rock Thrush and Southern Boubou were also well seen.

The Aloe garden in full flower attracted a number of birds including four species of sunbird. A pair of Greater-double collared Sunbird - localised in Gauteng - hovered around, in sight of Amethyst, White Bellied and Malachite Sunbirds. We marvelled at the contrast between the resplendent yellow, grey and black of the Bokmakierie, and the superb irridescence of the Cape Glossy Starling.

Greater-double collared Sunbird (Roberts MM)

eZemvelo Nature Reserve offered great views of Orange River Francolin - three pairs seemingly interacting with each other, and one pair appeared to evict the others from the area. Interestingly two groups of Coqui Francolin consisted entirely of males! We also saw a range of larks, including the Eastern Clapper Lark, which on the day, proved to be the most common of the Lark species present. This area also provides a good opportunity to brush up on identifying non-breeding widows. What is interesting here is that the different species seem clearly segregated and we saw sizeable flocks of Red Bishop, Red-collared Widow, Long-tailed Widow and White-winged Widow - each flock consisting of only one species. When you are finished with the widows, there are plenty of pipits about: Plainbacked, African, Buffy and Striped were all well seen. Woodland at eZemvelo offered Fairy Flycatcher, Sharp-billed Honeyguide and Thick-billed Weaver, among others. Lower reaches of this fine reserve with big cliff faces offered a flock of about 40 Alpine Swift - circling seemingly much more lazily than what is characteristic of summer - conserving energy perhaps? Each evening we found ourselves within sight of a roost of Little Swift, which arrive in numbers at sunset, and are hardly seen during the day in winter. However we did see a large flock of several hundred Little Swift above agricultural lands north of Bronkhorstspruit.

North-eastern corner of Ezemvelo NR (Pieter van Zyl)

The Seringveld Conservancy provided good views of Green Pigeon, Pallid Flycatcher, Greencapped Eremomela and Striped Kingfisher, while a Flappet Lark played hide and seek with us. A Red-chested Flufftail called from a large vlei in the gathering gloom, and I wonder if there is not a concentration of these birds in the few "still-wet" wetlands in the area. Nearby a mixed flock of Thrushes contained at least 12 Karoo, 2 Kurrichane and 2 Groundscraper thrushes - as well as one Mocking Cliff-chat!

West of Pienaar's River, on a private Cattle Ranch, a waterhole was visited by a stream of birds - Shaft-tailed Whydah in non-breeding garb being one of the more common visitors, along with Violet-eared and Black-cheeked Waxbills. However every now and then a single Lark-like Bunting would appear as if to remind us that we are well into a serious drought! Nearby a dashing dark melanistic Gabar Goshawk chased a small bird into some thickets. Two pairs of brilliant Marico Sunbird's mobbed a Pearl Spotted Owl out in the open. The latter is out and about at this time of year - and we saw at least 15 birds - including 3 sitting on telephone wires! Other raptors seen in the area were Brown and Black-breasted Snake Eagle, Lanner and White-backed Vulture. The Kgomo-kgomo floodplain is always interesting, and July is no exception: Temminck's Courser, Yellow Canary and Greater Kestrel were among the more usual Chestnut-backed Finchlark, Redcapped Lark and Capped Wheatear. The fine acacia woodland of this area delivered it's usual array of great birds: Southern Pied Babbler, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Southern Penduline Tit, White-throated Robin-chat, Kalahari Robin and Bennett's Woodpecker to name a few.

The Hammanskraal area offered the excitement as a pair of Gabar Goshawks chased, cornered, harried and then killed an adult laughing dove, which was carried off by the female - apparently being held by the head with just one foot. Another gem in this area was a pair of brilliant Half-collared Kingfishers, apparently hanging around a roosting burrow, despite the ominous presence of a vastly bigger Giant Kingfisher close by.

Bronkhorstspruit Dam is only 27% full and given that many water bodies are drying up, there was an interesting array of waterbirds. A flock of 11 Greater Flamingo and another of 17 Lesser Flamingo were present as well as at least two Caspian Terns, which visit this dam in winter. Other less common species included Pied Avocet and Cape Teal. Large numbers of African Snipe, Blacksmith, Kittlitz and Three-banded Plover were in evidence, as were over-wintering Marsh and Curlew Sandpiper and literally hundreds of Cape Wagtail. Another feature of winter, is that Marsh Owls are out and about early, and one was busy quartering the grasslands at 3:45pm, while Redcapped Lark mimicked a Quail Finch, just to let us know that despite the winter, the birds are still very much alive!