PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

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clear the road, brown snake-eagle, there are lions in the street 2012-01-16 - 11:04 p.m. all photos � 2012 by elaine radford one of many male african elephants at kruger national park Peachfront's Note: Go back a page or two for the previous episodes in my South African safari. Jan. 11, 2012, the road to Satara A long day. Forget grammar, spelling, or much mention of the animals we've already seen. Got up for a 5:30 AM game drive/raptor search around the Punda Maria area. We didn't have much time for the regular birds, between the big animals and the raptors, but as far as just birdy birds go, the spectacular Green Wood-Hoopoe started the day with a bang. We also added our first trip Red-Billed Oxpeckers. New mammals include our first troop of Baboons and our first Scrub Hare -- maybe our first Zebra too if the others seen before were all ranched. Highlights of the morning drive include perched Walberg's Eagle being hassled by a Fork-Tailed Drongo that flies over and hits him on the back from time to time. Breakfast was a long drawn-out process best not described. It took one of the Germans 20 minutes to pay, because he wanted to treat one of his buddies and they simply couldn't figure out the bill correctly. Keep It Simple Stupid is my rule for foreign countries, but people keep trying to get creative. Now it was time to head out in the direction of Satara, a slow process because we were also raptor and "big wildlife" spotting. Our first views of Bateleur and Ayre's Eagle -- the best view of Ayre's that I've had in my life so far. {Update: Argh!!!! Inspection of the photos has revealed that this bird was NOT an Ayre's Eagle but, rather, an aberrant Wahlberg's Eagle, so Ayre's returns to the BVD list.) Fine view of perched Dark Chanting Goshawk. Our first African Elephants, a big male with a fine tusk, but we would soon see many more. Kruger Park actually has these circular water reservoirs out for the elephants, so we would see two or three gathered at a time, with others in the nearby area, there to drink and to bathe. The males might prefer that there weren't other males, but they seemed to tolerate other "tuskers" in the water offering areas. I guess if you didn't, you'd have to spend all your time fighting about it. Highly entertaining view of a Walberg's striking and attacking a Tawny Eagle to drive it off the territory. Mmmm, now we added Three-Banded Plover and my first Mongoose. And, finally, the target of the day, a very difficult bird, which we had in splendid circumstances -- Dickensen's Kestrel. He was perched but he soon dove, caught something, went to a nearby perch and ate. Great views in great light from every angle. Grey Hornbill with prey. Our first Hooded Vulture, at least from a decent distance. Our first Giraffe. Our first pair of Lions, a pair of adults snoozing in a tree right near the road. My life Carmine Bee-Eater. At this point I'm on overload and I'm not sure if it's our first White-Headed Vulture and Saddle Billed Stork of the trip, or just the day, but we had nice views, especially of the Stork. Our first Oryx. And here is a biggie: Our first Martial Eagle, perched haughtily in a tree quite near the road. Great looks. Our first hippo. At some point we noticed a huge kettle of Lesser Spotted Eagles, Marabou Storks, and mixed Vultures, as well as various other Eagles. We found the nearby restaurant and lodge and went to their overlook. Some of the guys ordered coffee to justify their existence, and we spent a long while at the viewpoint, watching the various large birds play. Here I was serenaded by Red-Winged Starling and flirted with by the friendly Crested Barbets. I tried but failed to identify a Coucal -- must have gotten a juvenile or somehow otherwise scribbled the fieldmarks wrong -- but I did add a wonderful Jacobin Cuckoo, a better look at Red-Faced Mousebird, and a new-for-the trip Yellow-Billed Stork. The kettle held AT LEAST 6 species of Eagles. I have scribbled down Lesser Spotted, Booted, Tawny, Walberg's, Booted, and Bateleur, but I wouldn't be astonished to hear that I'd forgotten something. A good many Waterbucks on the ground. African Pied Wagtail joined the list on a nearby bridge. There is an unpleasant feature of these lodges in Kruger Park, which is that they supposedly "close the gates" if you do not arrive by a certain arbitrary and not particularly reasonable time. Yesterday we had to run like hell between the Impalas and cows in the road to get there before 6. Today, we got a phone call in the middle of the day that we were supposed to be at Satara by 5:30. So now we were driving like hell in a park with everything from large tortoises to even larger Cape Buffalo in the road, trying to make a 5:30 deadline. Yikes. No stopping for a fine male Red-Headed Weaver. But we did have to stop cold when, very near the road, we had a large Tawny Eagle feasting on its prey. A watchful Yellow-Billed Hornbill sat overhead, always keeping himself overhead of the Eagle, but in the same tree, so that he could monitor the action. It touched my heart, because I was afraid that his mate might have been snatched, but someone who had a better look at the bloody pieces assures me that the Eagle was munching down on Scrub Hare. Splendid in the sun, with just enough wind to lift a ruff of black feathers around a blood-red face, was a magnificent Bateleur to knock your socks off. And of course, late or not, we had to stop for our first Rhinoceros of the trip, although it seemed dangerously close to the van. We switched places with the lead van and let them get closer, while we held back. "We'll get great pictures of the Rhino charging their van," was my little joke. A fast little cat with a black tip at the end of its tail ran across the road, which no one saw except me, so that I didn't even comment on the rush down the road. The park ranger would later say they had both Small and Large Spotted, and the Large-Spotted is the one with the black tip on the tail. Small-Spotted has, you guessed it, a noticeable white tip. So, if I was sure it was a genet, it would be Large-Spotted. However, I saw nothing but a blur, a ring tail and a black tip, so why not just as well a Serval? We'll never know. Kori Bustard females. Our van, the second van, sped by, so that we wouldn't be blamed for holding back the whole show, when suddenly the first van stopped and began to search an area. What? "We think we saw a female Kori Bustards," was the call. Hell, ours were bigger and better in every way, but at least it wasn't OUR fault that we missed the deadline. Heh. The gates were still open when we arrived at Satara. I heard some other people arguing with the staff, telling them that because of the nearby Lions that "a lot of people" were going to be late. Our slight tardiness wasn't even noticed or commented upon. A perfect African Scops Owl, close enough to touch, flew into the bush near the restaurant and regarded us with his lemon eyes. I hadn't brought the camera because it was getting dark, and then I was sorry -- but also NOT sorry, because it would have been a shame to flash those beautiful eyes. He was so tiny, like something you'd hold in your hand. A fluffy toy -- until he turned and looked me directly in the face. As far as he's concerned, he's life-sized. Our first Hyena, pacing the fence and hustling the tourists for a forbidden hand-out. two cheetahs hunting together as a team at kruger national park And then the two hour night drive, which stretched to three hours, because (hey!) OUR guides are professionals and kept finding stuff and yelling at the park ranger to stop, back up, and STOP, HOLD, HALT! The night drives apparently have to be conducted only by park rangers, so we had to go in an open-air tour bus with a bunch of other people, who pretty much sat there in silence while the 11 of us ran the whole show. Heh. A moment or two out of the gate, I saw another Genet, but since I called, "Raccoon," everyone kindly ignored me. Next stop, right in the middle of the road, was the pride of 9 Lions that had broken the entire schedule for Satara Lodge. There was one big male, several females, two cute little cubs that looked like big kittens. The females just wanted to soak up the heat from the road, but the male was horny and tried to nudge the nearest female. She pretty much rolled over and told him to go to hell. A few minutes later, one of the cubs came over to snuggle with Daddy, which pretty much cock-blocked any hope of action for the time being. Great view of a Jackal that passed in front of the bus. Many Small-Spotted Genets, most found by our guys, to the point where the poor driver was probably cursing the name of Small-Spotted Genet. A great many Spotted Thickknees as well, which one of our German guys wanted to photograph with his night set-up, so we had great looks at this species. One of them stood his ground and didn't want to let the bus pass. Another one got involved in a firefight with a large millipeded, which the Thickknee persisted in believing was edible. The millipede actually put up a good battle, but the Thickknee crushed his pitiful prey in the end...and then didn't eat it. Maybe he tired of the public audience and came back to finish the meal later. Bronze-Winged Courser, a slimmer and more elegant night-bird, joined the list, with great views from the van. "Better View Desired" looks from my side of the bus at Civet. Pretty decent views, for everyone, of the Serval. So...a night drive with four species of Cat seen. I don't think you can beat it with a stick. However, for my money, the grand crescendo of the evening came when we were almost back to the gate. On a small thorn tree overlooking the road, there at the very top, sat the Verreaux's "Milky" Eagle-Owl. The bird sat and regarded us tourists with a fair amount of condescension, offering us great close-up views of this fine animal. You take your lions, and I'll take my giant Eagle-Owls. Whew...and to think I just tried to list NEW or especially notable wildlife sightings. If I tried to make a complete list of all we saw on this very long day, I'd be typing all week. As it was, I have skipped breakfast in order to write up my notes. Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 -- to the Blyde Valley After the long day Wednesday, the group got off to a late start. We were in the parking lot at Satara, studying the skies, when we got fine views of a pair of African Hawk-Eagles flying, if not dancing with each other, overhead. I heard B. tell S. to get something in the shop, so I decided to head over as well to pick up a can of Coke Light. I made my quick purchase first. As I headed out of the shop, I was approached by a very attractive Red-Billed Hornbill. You are not allowed to feed the animals in Kruger Park, but I was certainly willing to hear him out and listen to his hustle and pretend to have something just to steal a photograph...when he caught sight of S. coming up behind me in his khaki-colored park rangerish-looking outfit. Zip. No more Hornbill hustle. A nice drive, with such sights as a Bateleur younger bird investigating a grounded Tawny Eagle that might have been mantling prey. Lots of Nyala. I'd seen 'em before but I took the time to really look at Red-Eyed Dove and African Mourning Dove. Meerkat standing tall in the middle of the road. A fine ostrich family with both parents and 8 chicks. Another pair of African Hawk-Eagles (or maybe the same romantic pair circling each other). Have I mentioned the various hooved mammals such as Impala, Kudu species, Wildebest, Springbok, Steenbok, Dikdik? Take it as a given. Plenty of Buffalo, Giraffe, Elephants -- including a cute family scene with two baby Elephants playing together. At a dry river looking in the direction of Mozambique, we heard a Lion roar, and the gazelles ran like hell all over the place, but we never saw the cat in question. Two male Cheetahs crossed the road in front of us, giving us fine views and eventually creating a bit of a Kruger Park traffic snarl, since they went hunting parallel to the road for quite a long way. We didn't have time to watch for them to make the kill, however. A fine female Red-Crested Korhaan nice and close. Knob-Billed Goose and a personal favorite of mine, Violet-Backed "Plum-Colored" Starling joined the trip list. Magpie "African Long-Tailed" Shrike if I haven't mentioned this fine bird before. A large gathering of White-Backed Vultures. The Blyde Valley features a huge red cliff/enscarpment that reminds me quite a bit of Los Volcanes. Very atmospheric. I have a huge suite, more suitable for a very large family than for one person. In fact, I've been at quite a few places where it would have been very easy for me to cook up dinner for all 11 of us, and if everyone was content to have scrambled eggs for breakfast or some other common short order cook type meal, I could have whipped out breakfast, lunch, etcetera, much faster than we could get it in the restaurants. However, we WOULD have to stop for groceries. B. hasn't taken the hint, though, so I think I'll just continue to pick up whatever for just my personal breakfast. Not sure if he just doesn't get what I'm suggesting, or if he feels like it would be an imposition, but I wouldn't mind making a few meals to save time. Could be that the others would mind all having to eat the same food, I suppose. But we've got everything here, from a full oven, microwave, barbecue pits...it's just ridiculous. Fridge and freezer here and in at least one other place bigger than in my own house! Hell, the square footage in this duplex apartment is pushing pretty close to the square footage of my house, ha ha. Anyhoo, after dropping off the bags and turning on the A/C to get the humidity out of the bedroom of my choice in my over-sized suite, we drove out through the Stryden Tunnel to the Taita Falcon site, where a local man showed us the nesting site of the Taita Falcons. The birds were most cooperative, with one of them showing up right away. She kept coming and going from the roost, trying to make a strike, even once making an attempt on a Rock Pigeon, but we never saw a successful kill. Those birds are fast, though, and they were in fine feather, so they must succeed sometimes. It was a beautiful spot, red cliffs ornamented with a bright green lichen or moss here and there. We could pretty much every feather on the bird in the scope, so we could enjoy all the field marks. I loved those well-marked eyes. So...here we add to the list, Taita Falcon, Rock Martins, Black Swift. It's my understanding that this small Falcon usually takes the Swifts, not the Pigeons, which are bigger than they are! The local guide prefers to sell you something, rather than hustle for a tip, so I bought a wooden bowl that he painted. It's pretty colorful, with a Taita Falcon atop its kill. Heh. However, I just had to throw away one of my old pair of pants, to make room for it in the luggage. It's just as well, as I've worn that pair 4 times already, thinking to wear it several times and throw it away, rather than putting it through the laundry. Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 Uh oh. It's Friday the Thirteenth. However, I think I've already used up my bad luck -- knock on wood -- since I just dropped my saccharin tablets and spilled them all over the floor. So no more sweetener in my coffee for the rest of the trip, unless I happen to come across some saccharin in the shops. Africans don't seem to be big on artificial sweetener, although they do have Tab, Coke Light, and even Coke Zero. They haven't noticed that sugar doesn't dissolve in the coffee so well as saccharin though... A few of us crawled out of bed at oh-dark-thirty to scan the red cliffs where Verreaux's "Black" Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and more Taita Falcon have been known to nest, but we were skunked. Nothing around but us Dark-Eyed Bulbuls. I did see one small yellow-rumped, pink billed singing bird, so I will have to inspect my field guide in a minute and see if I can identify it. The others are still at breakfast, giving me the opportunity to get current on the thrilling report. Later It's bad luck to be superstitious but it's pretty much Friday the 13th today, all day. Maybe I said I got skunked on the morning walk, other than the last minute African Yellow-Warbler singing from an exposed branch and showing off its bright yellow rump. At least we had a lovely setting, there in the valley between the steep red cliffs with the white fog rolling over them. Most atmospheric. Went to meet the guy with the, um, I wanna say African Goshawk nest, but it doesn't much matter, because the African Goshawks had fledged 10 days ago and wandered off. More lovely views of the red cliffs with fog on top and cows in a lovely golden meadow in the foreground. An odd wasp captured a white cabbage butterfly. But not too much in the way of birds. On to the property owner's B&B, where he had a pair of African Greys set up in a nice breeding set-up, which he says often lured in the Crowned Eagles...although it had not resulted in any breeding of the Greys. The bold female, who flirted and whistled with me for one and probably (to hear the owner's tales) with many others, was probably willing, Crowned Eagles on the territory or no, but the male was sooooo not interested. Oxpecker nestbox, with a Red-Billed Oxpecker posed nearby. Crombec nest, but no crombec. The owner had the classic eco-trap set-up with a bird table (no food on it) and a bird bath (this did hold clean water). For my money, the best birds of the day came to the bath or surrounding flowers: Blue Waxbill, Jameson's Firefinch, and Cut-throat Finch. In fact, I'm about to vote the lovely pair of bathing Jameson's Firefinches as my beauty birds of the day...although another bathing beauty, that you'll soon hear about, is in very close contention for the prize. We did see the Crowned Eagle, but it had a Walberg's Eagle hot on its tail chasing it off the territory, and it never got anywhere close. No horny African Greys were terrorized in the making of this trip report. Hmmm, what other birds did I get or at least make a note of for the first time today? Natal Francolin, Little Sparrowhawk --Better View Desired, Long-Tailed Starling, Long-Tailed Paradise-Whydah -- a fine male or I wouldn't have been able to ID him as we whizzed past in search of big cats and raptors. The weather was not right at the B&B for soaring raptors, and eventually we had to give up, having missed on the African Goshawk and a decent view of the Crowned Eagle. Most of the rest of the day we spent cruising through Kruger National Park in search of more excitement. I can't waste your time describing each encounter with the many, many Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, and hooved mammals, so let's just skip ahead to the very fine gathering of multiple Lesser Spotted Eagles...and Tawny's and Walberg's too. To my mind, the raptor of the day prize was yet again stolen by the Bateleur, this one bathing in a small pool near the so-called Kruger Tablets, which are some fine rocks with some scribble on them, which you can't read because you're not allowed to get out of the car. We couldn't tell for sure if the Bateleur had bathed there, was drinking there, or was actually holding a prey item under the water, as they are apparently known to do, until all of the other dangerous eagles, such as the Tawnies, had cleared the area, so that he could safely eat in peace. The rocks curved up and then down into the pool, so we couldn't quite see what he gripped, even though someone, I have no idea who, drove the van, um, somewhat off the road and onto the rocks. But you didn't read that, because we would never, ever do that. In any case, we had great light, great views, on a calm and splendid bird. bathing bateleur at kruger tablets Ooh, and how did I forget to mention our first African Gymnogene of Kruger Park? It circled our van and gave at least some of us (me!) great looks. At the end of the day, we were once again running late to make the gate. Most unpleasant. We almost hit a Brown Snake-Eagle but it lifted a few precious inches just in time. Today I was assigned to the front seat of the lead van, and this is important only because I noticed a confusing turn-off and mumbled something, but B. already knows that I'm pretty much a Confused Person so he paid it little mind. To make a long story short, the second van did indeed get Confused. We cleared the gate, got registered, and then realized that it was 6:32. Uh oh. Deadline was 6:30. To my mind, the positive outcome is that we have now learned that nothing much bad happens if you're a few minutes late, because eventually the second van did turn up. However, there may have been some yelling involved. Speaking of the human element, I wonder if I have described our little crew. We are 6 Germans, 3 Americans, 1 Netherlander, 1 Argentine. 2 women, 9 men. I did offer to share and save a few bucks, and I shake my head when I see how spacious my accommodations are, but the other middle-aged lady wanted her own room, so whatever. S. is of course by far the youngest person on this little adventure, and it being his first time in Africa, he is really enthusiastic and excited about everything, even if it isn't necessarily a big-ass blowhard Eagle. After 15 years of working on the South Africa portion of his book, B. may be a little jaded. "Have we not got enough pictures of elephants yet?" So all this having to hurry and scurry for the gate at such and such a time is a real stress...I now know that there is a small grace period, and I do wonder, "What's the worst that could happen?" If the worse that could happen is the ranger comes out and escorts you the rest of the way and you pay an extra fee, it might be worth it depending on what delayed you. If the worst that can happen is you're told to drive 200 kilometers to some town outside the park, OK, that's a problem. But I don't know the true consequence, and I'm a bit afraid to ask, lest the question itself be perceived as doubt in our fearless leaders' abilities. Another thing about these guys, or is it all guys? THEY EAT ALL THE GODDAMN TIME. I am assured they had a "huge, price included" breakfast this morning. Guy at the house provides what I would have described as an English tea time complete with coffee and biscotti ("rusks" is the South African word) at around 11 AM. Then lunch. Then dinner. At the beginning of the trip, the Netherlands guy and the Pennsylvania guy formed with me the wine-buying club, and we would split a bottle or two of wine with each dinner. Last night, at the buffet, I bought the last bottle of wine and got even on the club. I enjoy it and all that, but I don't want to be committed to spending 2 hours every night eating dinner. So now that I'm even on the wine sharing, tonight I made my excuses and went to the store and bought my own dinner. Their wine at the barbecue will be better than the convenience store wine in the shop but I just need some time without people. Besides, I did notice that all the REAL South Africans are doing BBQ and drinking open containers on their front porch and now I'm doing the same. Well, I'm doing the open container and the computer on my front porch, ha ha. Too lazy to do the whole barbecue for just one person. I'm done hinting to the other clowns that I actually DO know how to cook, and it doesn't make sense to buy charcoal and fire up the "brai" as they call it (as I think they call it?) for only one person... So that's my Friday the 13th. It did not go smoothly but can a day really be considered that bad when it involves a pair of confiding Jameson's FireFinches? Heh. Thought not. To continue to part 8, click right here. back - next All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2002-2017 by Elaine Radford