Sorry! Too busy to blog!

Geez, have I fallen down on the job. We've had really busy days, some of which were really long, and in the evenings I look at my photos and bird lists. Then it's too late to write. But I've got a 3 hour bus ride right now, so I'm going to start to catch up.

When I last wrote, it was Monday night (after the Sunday of the stomach bug). I did get well rested on Monday and was ready to go Tuesday for my all day birding adventure. As I said, I booked the trip with Birding Ecotours and it was worth every penny I paid! My guide, Dominick, picked me up at 6:30 AM and we were on our way. I put myself totally in Dom's hands for the itererary.

We first stopped in a nature preserve on the Swartrivier. We were there for about 10 minutes and I added 6 new birds. The highlight was an adorable malachite kingfisher.

Malachite kingfisher

The day went up from there. Our next stop was the Strandfontein Sewer Works, one of the top birding sites in Cape Town, where we spent a couple of hours. We saw 79 species here. The flamingoes were some of my favorites—how can you not like pink birds?

Greater flamingoes and lesser flamingoes. The lessers are the smaller ones with the black bills.

There were other interesting birds, as you might guess, since we saw 79 species. Here's a sampling of a few. The first is another kingfisher, a pied. Next up is an orange-throated longclaw, a Hadada ibis, and a blacksmith plover.

From there we went to a small refuge, the Wolfgang Nature Preserve, specifically to see a bird species that just started nesting there 3 years ago, the European bee-eater. Normally, they nest in Europe and north Africa, and spend the winter in southern Africa, but they've suddenly started nesting near Cape Town. The first year there were 2 birds, and this year it's up to 24 birds, of which we saw at least half. Heck, we may have seen all of them—they are very mobile! They make nest holes in banks and, since it is spring here and courting time, the pairs were making nice. I saw males give food to their partners a couple of times. They are absolutely gorgeous birds.

European bee-eaters

I could post more pictures of them, since I have over 100...okay, maybe 150, but I'll leave it at that.

Next up was a market, where we bought snacks for lunch. Bread, cheese, water, and chips were grabbed, and we were off to Rondevlei Nature Preserve, which has boardwalks and bird blinds. We ate lunch at the entrance, and were told where to look for a boomslang (a lovely snake that had been hanging out), but we couldn't locate it. We did see quite a few birds, and this sign:

From there we went to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. I was really glad to get to visit, since I'd sat in the bus when the group visited on Sunday. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering around, and I could easily have spent days here. The plants were amazing, as were the birds. One of the highlights was the nesting eagle-owl, right by the trail. They have put up nest boxes for her to use, and she just nests by a tree, about a foot from the sidewalk.

Spotted eagle-owl

My last stop of the day with Dom was back on the road at Table Mountain. The mountainside is covered with Proteas, also called sugarbushes, a beautiful group of plants. This was home to sugarbirds, and I added two new species before Dom dropped me back at the hotel.

It was an absolutely lovely day! We saw 109 species, 67 of which were new to me, and I got some pictures that I am pleased with.

Sorry that this post has been so birdy! But that's what the day was, and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm going to stop here, as it's already long enough for one post, and I'll pick right up with our 3 AM wake up call on Wednesday morning.