Marutswa Forest & Boston
I’ve had friends call a stork a Lappetfaced Vulture, while I once tried to convince my birding partner Stidy that a Burchell’s Starling was in fact some sort of crow. He in turn once thought a pair of Pygmy Falcons were doves!
On December 16 it was my turn to be embarrassed again.
We had just come out of the Maroutswa Forest, a lovely patch of indigenous forest just outside Bulwer and I had been hearing Yellowbellied Bulbuls calling for much of the morning but had frustratingly not been able to spot one.
And then I spotted it … a bird with a yellow chest and belly and a brownish back and I was convinced it was the Bulbul, even though it was behaving rather strangely hopping around low down in the brambles outside the forest.
Fortunately, Stidy was on hand to point out that the bird was smaller than a Bulbul and that it was, in fact, a Yellow Warbler.
An even better sighting as, living now on the Gauteng highveld, I had not seen one for many years!
Although walking through the mist-belt forest, which has several boardwalk sections and nice little lay-byes to sit and wait for the birds, was a wonderful experience, it was relatively quiet in terms of birding.
We did manage to spot a flash of red and a Knysna Lourie high up in the canopy, while a delightful Cape Batis was confiding on a bush next to the trail.
At the end of the path, you walk out on to a grassy hillside and there was a Steppe Buzzard perched in a tree not far away, while I was delighted to spot the large Alpine Swift zooming around above us.
Sightings list
Marutswa Forest
Greater Striped Swallow
Yellowbilled Kite
Knysna Lourie
Steppe Buzzard
Alpine Swift
Cape Batis
Stonechat
Yellow Warbler
Redcollared Widow
Familiar Chat
Pickle Pot, Boston
Black Sunbird
Redcollared Widow
House Sparrow
Greater Doublecollared Sunbird
Cape Wagtail
Greater Striped Swallow
Yellowbilled Kite
Blackeyed Bulbul
Olive Thrush
Stonechat
Common Waxbill
Forest Canary
Cape Canary
Yellowrumped Widow