Once we flew to Johannesburg our ultimate destination was Kruger National Park, but we took several days to get there. Using our lodging at the Journey’s Inn as a base of operations we ventured out into the countryside in search of more birds. Driving along country roads we came upon a variety of new species, such as the Spike-heeled Lark and the Southern Bald Ibis:
I was sitting in the passenger seat when I noticed a series of signs along the road that I found quite interesting. Here’s one of them that says “Owls. 5KM.” Just like you never see a deer near a “Deer Crossing” sign, we didn’t see any owls hanging out on the side of the road.
We did mostly car birding for two days; stopping for and observing the birds we saw along the way. One of my favorite birds we stopped for was the Long-tailed Widowbird. At first glance they look like Red-wing Blackbirds, but look at their tail, which were very long! You get an even better look at the tail when they perched on a fence.
The first two times we saw them they were either on the ground or perched on a fence, but once I saw one of them flying I had to get a BIF picture. I recalled that the tour literature specifically stated that the leader would not make special accommodations for photography (it would slow down the trip considerably if the group had to wait for the bird photographers to get all the shots they wanted). Nevertheless, I begged Josh to let me take some BIF shots of these wondrous birds in flight; not wanting to break his own rule, he arranged an extended “rest stop” that happed to be near where some of these birds were flying about (thanks, Josh!). Just amazing that they are able to fly with all those feathers trailing behind.
Later that day we stopped by a stream where some Village Weavers were making their nests. According to Josh the males build nest after nest in an attempt to attract a female. Here’s a closeup of a male (love that red eye) and a couple of shots of it as it worked on a new nest, with its old nest in the background.
By the end of the second day in the Johannesburg area we had worked our way closer to Kruger but still had a couple more days of birding in and around the town of Wakkertroom, which I’ll cover in my next post.
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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