When you’re home you know which birds are commonly seen around you and which birds are rare. When in a foreign country like South Africa practically all the birds I saw were Lifers and it’s hard to know which ones are commonly seen and which ones are rare. We went to the small town of Rooi-Els in search of a rare bird, the Cape Rockjumper.
We actually stopped in the town of Rooi-Els to look for the Cape Rockjumper the previous day on our way to the African Penguin colony in Stony Point. We had reliable reports that the bird had recently been seen there so we set out in search. No luck.
Josh, our Red Hill Birding guide, felt it was important to find this bird because it was so rare and this was the only place we were going to have a chance to see it. So we got up early on Day 5 and went back to Rooi-Els for another search. Someone had seen the Cape Rock Jumper at the trailhead right before we got there and sent Josh a great picture of it – promising! Off we went down the rocky trail, with great views of the town of Hangklip in the distance.
There were some interesting birds along the way, including this Cape Sisken.
The Chats we have in the U.S. are much more colorful than this Familiar Chat, but it posed for me so I took pictures of it. See how the rufous on its wings match the bits of moss on the rock.
I had seen (and photographed) an Orange-breasted Sunbird earlier in the trip but this one looked so good atop the colorful wildflowers along the path I had to take another shot.
We also came upon a pair of Cape Rock-Thrush nesting in the rocks. The female in particular (second shot below) would fly food into the nesting area while the male stood guard.
After two hours Josh gave up the search – the Cape Rockjumper was not heard or seen. We turned around and went back into town and got a soft drink in a little shop. As I checked out the proprietor asked, “Are you here for the Cape Rockjumper?” So even he know how famous this bird was – it probably brought him lots of business from birders like us.
As we sat sipping our drinks outside Josh received a message that someone had just spotted the bird not far from the trailhead. We scurried off, hoping the third time was the charm. About ten minutes down the path the bird was heard and spotted way up on the mountainside. Success! Unfortunately it was so far away this is the best shot I could get of it.
So was it worth it? Josh evidently thought it was important enough that we went there three times, spending four hours, in search of the Cape Rockjumper. To me it was just another (distant) Lifer. Perhaps if I had studied up more and learned how rare this bird was it would have made more of an impression on me, but part of me felt a few of those hours could have been used more productively. Or maybe if I had gotten a GreatBirdPic of it I would have felt more favorably about the time spent. What do you think – was it worth four hours in search of a rare South African bird?
CLICK HERE to see all the posts about our South Africa Bird Tour. Karen and I have had the opportunity to travel to many interesting places in search of birds. If you would like read about some of our other Bird Tours CLICK HERE.
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