ESSA Brommers (Etienne Marais, Steven Trickett & Graham Deverell)

Our chosen route was the North West from Borakolalo National Park (North-East corner of our area) through to Vaalkop to the West and Rustenburg and the high Magaliesburg Plateau, in the Extreme South-East of the area. (click here for details of route).

The weather was miserable. Intermittent rain made for a damp 03h00 start, but we immediately picked up Scops and Pearlspotted Owls. Rufous Cheeked Nightjar and White-faced Owl followed in the next hour.  Then we hit a flat period and the nocturnals dried up competely. We failed to find the promised Barn and Spotted Eagle Owls and even the Dikkops eluded us.  The dawn chorus was dull and dark - and birding was dissapointing with dips on things like Bushveld Pipit and Short-toed Rock Thrush. A Kurrichane Button-Quail cheered us up as we started our morning route in a Kloof in the Moutains. Dipped Pygmy Kingfisher and seemed to be going very slowly until we recorded Greater and Lesser Honeyguide at the same spot at around 6. Gradually the weather cleared and we soldiered on through a rather flat morning. At times there seemed to be more birders than birds about -including a crew that took ages to tell us where a White Rhino was ! We got the Rhino as well as almost every antelope in the park, but were rather dissapointed to reach 08h00 on just over a hundred species.

The Klipvoor dam was full and this had chased away the hordes of Glossy Ibis, waders and Ducks which we had seen on our recce. We seemed to be dipping out on a whole number of "certs" : Burchell's Glossy Starling, Black Flycatcher, Knobilled Duck, Jacobin Cuckoo, Meyer's Parrot and Sacred Ibis! At 9:00 we were on 122 - about 20 behind our tally in '95. But if you start slow, then it is easier to pick up speed. Over the last hour at Borakolalo, the birds came steadily - Pied Babbler, Barred Warbler, Greyhooded Kingfisher and Pallid Flycatcher were added. We had reached 140 when we left Borak at around 10 (a good 10 species behind our tally at this stage last time) .

Then things picked up.  The race between Borakolalo and Vaalkop was surprisingly productive and we added 21 species, including Redbilled Oxpecker, Burchell's Starling, White and Abdim's Stork and (surprisingly) Lesser Kestrel.

We arrived at Vaalkop on 161(about11h15). We were running 40 minutes late however and dropped some of our planned spots. It seemed as though we were dipping  on lots of things (Black-crowned Night Heron, Spotted Backed Weaver and Black-cheeked Waxbill - and probably spent too much time looking for them. Nevertherless we actually did very well at Vaalkop, and got a lot of the acacia species we had missed at Borakolalo. Overall we added a further 39  including Black Heron, Pale-Chanting Goshawk, Striped Cuckoo, Quail Finch and Goliath Heron. Bird 200 was a Moorhen at the small dam at the entrance to Vaalkop Dam and came at 13h30.

The ploughed fields to the South of Vaalkop yielded their usual extras: Shaftailed Whydah, Golden Bishop, LeVaillaints Cisticola - but our BBD jinx on Chestnut-backed Finchlark continued. Our Gallinule stakeout near Beestekraal failed us and we headed for Marikana. Marikana was our bet for urban birds, although we had already ticked Mynah's at a farmyard outside Beestekraal. It was also our chosen route to a small dam East of Rustenburg which on the recce had been a goldmine of birds. On this stretch we added 11, includng Paradise Whydah and African Snipe - not bad going for the afternoon session. With 219 in the bag we were only 1 short of our 1995 tally with Rustenburg to go ! We felt confident we could crack 250.

We arrived at Rustenburg Nature Reserve at twenty to Five - a good 40 minutes later than hoped and were dismayed to find that our support crew had indeed gone in search of a TV screen to watch the Rugby !

Immediately the different altitude started to tell and we quickly added 5 more species including Ayre's Cisticola, Bar Throated Apalis and Redcollared Widow. Then things got tough. A strong wind on the top of the mountain made birding very difficult and our drive along the Tourist Route was a dead loss -except for the constant updates on the Rugby from our driver ! We even sukkled to find an Orange-throated Longclaw !

To make matters worse a storm was looming large as we headed off-road up to an area of rocky valleys and high plateaux. At first things were dead dull and the wind seemed to have chased things like the Wailing Cisticola into holes in the rocks. A lull in the wind gave us a chance to call some birds up and we got Mountain Chat, Bokmakierie, Redwinged Francolin and even an Orange-throated Longclaw. Bird no 236 was a Cape Robin, but the weather had made us a little pessimistic of reaching 250. We got Striped Pipit singing its heart out in a kloof near the camp and a Rock Kestrel (238) was the last daylight bird before the clouds blotted the light out at about 6:45 pm. A Freckled Nightjar (239) landed at our feet just as we went to our camp for a break. Our support crew had somehow managed to get into the park and the tents were up before the rain came down. During the storm we turned the laundry into a pub and snacked on our wonderfully prepared "fast-food". A couple of beers and whiskies made us realise just how tired we were, but Steve was insistent - we just had to get to a nice round number ! Once the rain stopped at about 9:40 pm he dragged us out in search of at least four more. We still had to get Spotted Eagle Owl, Barn Owl, Temminck's Courser and Marsh Owl. But the storm had flattened everything and for a time it seemed that 239 it would be. Finally at about 10h50 a Marsh Owl stood upright in the road and looked straight at us !

Highlights: Passing our previous total with a locality still to go and the Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks at Vaalkop.

Surprise Birds: Lesser Kestrel, Fulvous Duck, Brown Snake Eagle, Abdim's Stork, White Stork, Lesser Grey Shrike, Cape Shoveller, Greyheaded Gull.

Hardest birds: Cape Robin, Orange-throated Longclaw, Marsh Owl.

Huge Dips: Black Flycatcher, African Marsh Warbler, Wailing Cisticola, Jameson's Firefinch, Blackcheeked Waxbill, Barn Owl.

Big Dips: Gabar Goshawk, N. Black Korhaan, Blackcrowned Night Heron, Bushveld Pipit, Plainbacked Pipit, Jacobin Cuckoo

"Friendship Birds" - (recorded by one team member, but missed by the rest!) Streakyheaded Canary, Chestnutbacked Finchlark, Spotted Eagle Owl, Flappet Lark, White Crowned Shrike, Longbilled Pipit.

On to Detailed account (Species listed at each locality)