Stoepsitter Birding – again!

A couple of my recent longer posts have highlighted what I like to call “Stoepsitter birding” – which is the relaxed kind conducted mostly from a comfortable seat, preferably accompanied by suitable snacks and beverages to make sure the energy and spirit remains at a high level. Both were in favourite locations, one in Satara Camp in Kruger National Park, the other at Verlorenkloof Resort not far from Macahadodorp in Mpumulanga Province.

Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape has the honour of completing a trio of outstanding locations and places where Stoepsitter birding comes into its own.

The criteria are simple – suitable habitat to attract a variety of birdlife, a comfortable spot from which to observe the comings and goings of the birdlife, without disturbing them too much and the time and patience to devote yourself to this activity. It also helps if the birdlife and small wildlife is habituated to humans and happy to share their world with us, which for the most part is certainly the case in Addo.

Addo Elephant National Park

Our road trip in March this year included a three night stay in Addo, in a comfortable chalet with a view over a part of the Main Camp and a raised deck where we could spend a large part of the day (depicted in the heading image), while reserving the afternoons to venture out on game/birding drives.

The variety of birdlife that came to visit was exceptional, many of them drawn by the surrounding trees and shrubs which held a cornucopia of edible avian delights – nectar filled flowers, berries, small insects and suchlike.

The Weavers

Weavers were the most prominent and numerous birds that visited, represented by no less than three different species, all belonging to the Ploceus genus. Weavers can be difficult to ID in their winter non-breeding plumage, but there are still enough clues to narrow the identification down when faced with similar looking yellow birds.

Village Weaver (Bontrugwewer / Ploceus cucullatus)

The Village Weavers outnumbered the other two weaver species and were frequent visitors to the flowering trees right in front of our chalet. My limited botanical knowledge would make this a type of Coral Tree (Erythrina genus) with its bright scarlet flowers but I’m open to correction….. which I have received (see comments below) and I now know this is in fact a Weeping boer-bean (Schotia brachypetala / Huilboerboon) so called, apparently, due to the copious amounts of nectar during flowering which overflow and ‘weep’

In breeding plumage the Village Weaver is fairly easy to distinguish from other masked Weavers, but this male was in eclipse plumage, the “in-between” stage when they are in the process of transitioning to their duller non-breeding plumage. The red eye and spotted-backed appearance confirmed the ID

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Cape Weaver (Kaapse wewer / Ploceus capensis)

In non-breeding plumage the Cape Weaver male is still fairly easy to identify with its white eye colour and heavy bill, although lacking the chestnut brown wash over the face and neck which it shows during the summer breeding months. This is also the largest of the yellow weavers, by length and mass, but size is not always a dependable way to ID a bird unless the other candidate is sitting right next to it.

The female is less distinctive with brown eyes but the heavy bill helps to separate it from other non-breeding female weavers.

Spectacled Weaver (Brilwewer / Ploceus ocularis)

The Spectacled Weavers are easily distinguishable with their black ‘spectacles’ and black bill, while the black bib says this is a male.

The Sunbirds

Two species of Sunbird were drawn to the nectar produced by the flowering trees, very different in appearance but equally striking as they went about the business of extracting the nectar with long down-curved bills and even longer tongues to probe the flowers.

Amethyst Sunbird (Swartsuikerbekkie / Chalcomitra amethystina)

Greater Double-collared Sunbird (Groot-rooibandsuikerbekkie / Cinnyris afer)

Other Species

There were several other species that visited the chalet surrounds, not all of which chose to pose for a photo, but those that did seemed quite happy to be ‘in the picture’. Here are the species that spend most time in the trees and shrubs –

Red-winged Starling (Rooivlerkspreeu / Onychognathus morio)

Fork-tailed Drongo (Mikstertbyvanger / Dicrurus adsimilis)

Streaky-headed Seedeater (Streepkopkanarie / Crithagra gularis)

This member of the Canary family (The Afrikaans name confirms it) is a great singer and fond of sitting in an exposed position, so is hard to miss, but can be confused with the similar looking White-throated Canary

Black-collared Barbet (Rooikophoutkapper / Lybius torquatus)

The Black-collared Barbet tends to be a tad shier than other species, keeping its distance in a bush and not venturing close to the chalet

Sombre Greenbul (Gewone willie / Andropadus importunus)

Then there’s the Sombre Greenbul, always heard, seldom seen – I managed to capture an image of this one as it made its way through dense shrubs

The species that spend more time on the ground also ‘popped by’ as they searched for grubs and insects in the gravelly ground around the chalet

Cape Robin-Chat (Gewone janfrederik / Cossypha caffra)

The Cape Robin-Chat is not averse to hopping up onto a branch to survey the area

Emerald-spotted Wood Dove (Groenvlekduifie / Turtur chalcospilos)

Easy to see where it gets its name from….

Olive Thrush (Olyflyster / Turdus olivaceus)

Other Creatures

And here’s a couple of non-avian visitors to end off with…

How about a spectacular sunset, viewed from the stoep, to close out the day