Report on trip away to Prince's Grant, Stanger - 6-10 March 2016

Attendees: Val & Stan Culley, Stanley & Asothie Gengan, Barry Willis & Sue Hansbury, Ron & Elaine Whitham, Bob & Hazel van Rooyen

(Text: Hazel van Rooyen)

Bird count:  (see end)

Prince’s Grant is an upmarket residential golf estate right on the beach close to Stanger on the KZN North Coast.   The house we stayed in was perfect for us and we had a most enjoyable few days. 

View from Prince's Grant (Hazel van Rooyen)

Our abode (Hazel van Rooyen)

Boy, was it hot though!  On arrival on Sunday afternoon we took a walk through indigenous forest down to the river and up through the parkland, over a sand-dune to the beach, where out on the ocean flocks of seabirds, mostly Swift Terns and a Cape Gannet were dive-bombing into the waves, just like the old Sardine Run days. 

Swift Terns (Hazel van Rooyen)

 Forest birds kept well hidden and silent in the stifling heat except for the ubiquitous Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird pop, pop, popping.  Even a bird hide next to an almost dry pond yielded nothing, but the well-manicured greens of the golf course were ideal foraging for Cape and Pied Wagtails and a pair of Woolly-necked Storks - one seemed to be concentrating on his next putt.  Brown-throated Martins, Lesser-striped, Barn and White-throated Swallows also wheeled and swooped about.

Woolly-necked Stork (Hazel van Rooyen)

Barn Swallow (Hazel van Rooyen)

Dlinza Forest Aerial Walkway (Hazel van Rooyen)

Getting a Bird's Eye View (Hazel van Rooyen)

Monday dawned hot and humid again but undeterred we set off for Eshowe and the Dlinza forest where they have an excellent aerial walkway.  Once again the birds were slow to show themselves but from the amazing viewpoint in the treetops we saw African Harrier Hawk, Trumpeter Hornbill, Black Sawwing, Purple Crested Turaco and enjoyed the songs of Yellow-fronted Canary, Sombre Greenbul and Black-headed Oriole.  We had hoped to see the Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon and although we heard it several times in the distance, this too didn’t want to come close enough to be seen.  A pretty brown and white butterfly fluttered about and was identified later as the Blonde glider, female.  Back at the reception/picnic area I looked up into the rafters to find several Golden Orb Web Spiders hanging around looked for prey – fortunately, they didn’t seem to fancy us!

Blonde glider (F) (Hazel van Rooyen)

Golden Orb Web spider (Hazel van Rooyen)

From here we went to what we thought would be an interesting dam, the Phobane Dam but this was very low and only a single lone Egyptian Goose found it of any use.  Where we parked, a few years previous we would have been well under water. 

Turning to the Tugela River mouth for some encouragement, we trudged along the beach in the heat to get a better view of a few Pink-backed and Great White Pelicans in the estuary.  Caspian Tern, White-fronted Plover, African Spoonbill, Little Egret and a Kelp Gull were also spotted.

Great White Pelican (Stan Culley)

Pink-backed Pelican (Stan Culley)

White-fronted Plover (Hazel van Rooyen)

Kittlitz's Plover (Stan Culley)

Sappi in Stanger, which, mainly because the weather turned quite damp, we ended up visiting on Tuesday and Wednesday, proved a life saver and restored our belief in Waders. 

Curlew Sandpiper (transitioning into breeding plumage) (Hazel van Rooyen)

Black-capped Night Heron (Hazel van Rooyen)

Ruff (Hazel van Rooyen

Marsh Sandpiper (Stan Culley)

Wood Sandpiper (Hazel van Rooyen)

 Never have we seen so many Wood Sandpipers, which we first saw flashing their white rumps along the puddled access road leading to the ponds and were so numerous, along with Blackwing Stilts, Little Stints, Ruffs, Curlew Sandpipers (transitioning into breeding plumage), Glossy Ibis and African Jacanas to mention just a few.  I must give a big Thankyou here to Stan Culley for helping us distinguish between all the different waders, without his help we would still be paging through our bird books trying to identify them.  We were also lucky to see an African Rail several times criss-crossing the pathway between the ponds and the reedy river bed.  Of particular excitement on Tuesday was the appearance of the Baillon’s Crake, a furtive but fast little wader which we spotted again on Wednesday.  At the hide the by now famous Spotted Crake eventually showed itself causing photographers jostling at the window to get their best shot.

Baillon's Crake (Stan Culley)

The most photographed Spotted Crake (Hazel van Rooyen)

Spotted Crake (Hazel van Rooyen)

The weather put a bit of a damper on a couple of days but true to form Barry & Sue saved the day with some fun games which kept us all alternately laughing and groaning and it cleared up in the evenings long enough for us to braai.

Thanks Barry & Sue for finding the venue at short notice and to everyone for their good company and knowledge-sharing.

Malachite Kingfisher (Stan Culley)

(All photos property of photographer)

Barbet Black-collared Barbet Crested Barbet White-eared Bee-eater White-fronted Bishop Southern Red Bulbul Dark-capped Buzzard Steppe Cameroptera Green-backed Canary Yellow-fronted Cormorant Reed Cormorant White-fronted Coucal Burchell’s Crake Baillon’s Crake Black Crake Spotted Crow Pied          Cuckoo Diederick Darter African Dove Cape Turtle Dove Red-eyed Drongo Fork-tailed Drongo Square-tailed Duck White-faced Duck Yellow-billed Eagle African Fish Eagle Long-crested Egret Great

Egret Little Fiscal Common Flycatcher Southern Black Gannet Cape Goose Egyptian Goose Spur-winged Grebe Little Greenbul Sombre Gull Kelp Hamerkop Harrier-Hawk African Heron Black-headed Heron Goliath Heron Grey Heron Purple Heron Squacco Hornbill Trumpeter Ibis Glossy Ibis Hadeda Ibis Sacred Jacana African Kingfisher Brown-hooded Kingfisher Malachite Kingfisher Pied Kite Black-shouldered Kite Yellow-billed

Lapwing Blacksmith Martin Brown-throated Moorhen Common Mousebird Speckled Myna Common Night-Heron Black-crowned Oriole Black-headed Pelican Great White Pelican Pink-backed Plover Three-banded Plover Common Ringed Plover Kittlitz’s Plover White-fronted Rail African Ruff                 Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Marsh Sandpiper Wood Saw-wing Black Sparrow House Spoonbill African Spurfowl Natal Starling Black-bellied Starling Cape Glossy Starling Red-winged Stilt Black-winged

Stint Little Stork Woolly-necked Sunbird Amethyst Swallow Barn Swallow Lesser-striped Swallow White-throated Swamphen African Purple Swamp-Warbler Lesser Teal Hottentot Teal Red-billed Tern Caspian Tern Swift Tern Whiskered Tinkerbird Yellow-rumped Turaco Purple-crested Wagtail Cape Wagtail Pied Warbler Sedge Warbler Willow Weaver Cape Weaver Southern Masked Weaver Village