Monday 10 September 2012

South Africa: the Best Birding Breakfast yet…

Another trip highlight was the excellent forest birding along the garden route, around Wilderness, Knysna, and Nature’s Valley to the east. We stayed for three nights at the excellent Kingfisher Country House, where each day begins with a superb breakfast and some great birds just inches away. A selection of bird feeders have obviously been in place for quite some years, attracting forest specialities in for excellent views. Picture the scene:

kingfisher_breakfast_table

The undisputed highlight for me was the Knysna Turaco, with at least three birds coming in to munch on breadcrumbs… not a bad looking bird!

knysna_turaco

Other forest specials included Black-bellied Starling and Chorister Robin-chat:

black-bellied_starlingchorister_robinchat

And then there’s an array of commoner birds, including dapper Swee Waxbills:

swee_waxbill

… iridiscent Amethyst Sunbirds (as well as Southern and Greater Double-collared Sunbirds and a Gray Sunbird, on the western extreme of its range)…

amethyst_sunbird

… handsome Olive Thrushes…

olive_thrush

… and atypically showy Terrestrial Brownbuls, much trickier to see well elsewhere.

terrestrial_brownbul

Also noted on the breakfast table itself were homemade quiches, frittata, filled potato skins and muffins, and an excellent selection of cereals, sausages, bacon, eggs, coffee and fruit juice. Given this little lot, it was very difficult to tear ourselves away to go birding elsewhere… and not just because we’d eaten too much!

2 comments:

Martin Blow (martin.blow@rocketmail.com) said...

Hmm, I fancy a bit of that, sounds great.

Anonymous said...

Hi David. I am visiting South Africa this August. It would be great if you could let me know some top birding sites, accomodation and any other useful tips from your trip there last August. My email address is charlie.kitchen@hotmail.co.uk. Many thanks for any information, Charlie Kitchen.