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The more than aptly named LONG-TAILED WIDOWBIRD
Photo: Shari Zirlin |
From Mkhuze we headed almost due west to the town of Wakkerstroom about 115 miles away. Wakkerstroom is notable for two habitats--a famous wetlands reserve and its vast grassland areas, home to many types of larks, pipits, cisticolas, and other hard to identify LBJs (little brown jobs). This was my least favorite part of the trip because we were mostly confined to the van, driving dirt roads along fenced in fields, looking for small birds that blended very nicely thank you with the tan grass. It reminded me a lot of "sod farming" in early autumn in NJ, driving around the various sod farm locations, looking for a rare grasspiper, something I managed to avoid for the most part this year. Kim was intent on finding us a
RUDD'S LARK, of which there may only be 200 left, and with much persistence he finally did. I even got on the bird through his scope. And here's how I feel about it: On the Antiques Road Show, the appraisers often make the distinction between rarity and value--just because something is rare doesn't make it valuable. The corollary to this is something I call the "Smith's Longspur Problem." Smith's Longspur is a very rare bird in NJ, and when one shows up, everyone goes nuts beating the sand dunes to find one, but it is a very dull bird to look at. Probably just a little duller than a Rudd's Lark. Just because something is rare, doesn't make it interesting.
(A perfect example of the SLP is occurring right now at Brig, where a Common Greenshank showed up while we gone and was still hanging on as of yesterday. Literally hundreds of birders have gone to Brig to see it. We got it as a lifer at Mkhuze, so it wouldn't even be a month bird for us. Common Greenshank "replaces" Greater Yellowlegs in the Eastern Hemisphere, and while it is quite an accomplishment to identify one (kudos to Sam Galick), it is not even as interesting looking as yellowlegs. Suffice it to say, I didn't make the trip to Brig since we got back and that ain't sour grapes.)
As to the birds that were
not dull--there were quite a few. Obviously, the most spectacular is the
LONG-TAILED WIDOWBIRD. To watch this bird fly, dragging a tail that is twice its body length proves the theory of evolution because no sane creator would burden an animal like that.
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| Photos: Shari Zirlin |
At the Wetlands Preserve we picked up some nice gallinules like
EURASIAN MOORHEN,
RED-KNOBBED COOT, and
AFRICAN SWAMPHEN, part of the Purple Swamphen complex that has been split 7 ways of late.
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| AFRICAN SWAMPHEN |
While looking for the larks and pipits a couple of more interesting birds (to me) flew into sight:
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| SENTINEL ROCK-THRUSH |
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| AFRICAN PIED STARLING |
At the inn we stayed at, Mike came up with yet another of the weavers, this one identified by Kim as
CAPE WEAVER.
But the most exciting bird, for me, was one I absolutely had to see--a
SECRETARYBIRD that we could see much better than we could photograph it through the haze. I'm cheating a little bit here and using a picture I took at Kruger a few days later, since the ones from the Wakkerstroom fields are a little too pointillistic to get across what a magnificent and weird bird this is:
Disappointingly, while we saw many francolins and a couple of species of bustards, this was our last chance to find any cranes and we were prevented from walking in the fields where they might occur by both the weather and the presence of grazing sheep.
On the 20th we took the long drive east to our final destination, Kruger NP.
But first, a little diversion...
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