Outing report- 11th November 2012 Umbogavango Nature Reserve

Picnic area at Vumbuka Nature Reserve
(Photo Andy Ruffle)

Attendees:- Stan & Val Culley, Mike Fagan, Stanley Gengan, Eric Kok, John Powell, Andy Ruffle, Bob & Hazel van Rooyen, Ron Whitham. (10 attendees)

Once again Umbogavango Nature Reserve provided an excellent morning's birding.
Both Orange-breasted Bush-shrike and Red-billed Firefinch were added to our records for the reserve list.
Inside information from local birder Barry Swaddle, enabled us to explore a new area in the complex named the Vumbuka Nature Reserve.

Vumbuka NR Logo
(Photo Andy Ruffle)

This area has been transformed from a desolate site, previously used for the disposal of liquid and semi-solid wastes generated from manufacturing activities at the UIC from the mid-1950s until 1998, to a conservation area with over 10,000 indigenous flora and increasingly diverse wildlife. Good facilities and trails have been incorporated, so for our next visit, we will probably do this reserve first, before moving on to Umbogavango itself.
For more information on the background of Vumbuka see here.


Birds recorded:- Natal Spurfowl, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Green-backed Camaroptera, Violet-backed Starling, Dark-capped Bulbul, Black-collared Barbet, Common Myna, Egyptian Goose, Red-capped Robin-Chat, Southern Black Flycatcher, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Hadeda Ibis, Olive Sunbird, Tambourine Dove, Klaas's Cuckoo, Spectacled Weaver, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Black-headed Oriole, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, African Firefinch, Yellow-fronted Canary, White-eared Barbet, Burchell's Coucal, Sombre Greenbul, Yellow Weaver, Cape White-eye, Village Weaver, Terrestrial Brownbul, Diderick Cuckoo, Dark-backed Weaver, Yellow-billed Kite, Lesser Striped Swallow, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, Spur-winged Goose, Cardinal Woodpecker, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Purple-crested Turaco, African Dusky Flycatcher, Giant Kingfisher, White-rumped Swift, Common Moorhen, Reed Cormorant, African Spoonbill, Little Grebe, Little Rush-Warbler, Southern Red Bishop, Long-crested Eagle, Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike, Kurrichane Thrush, Red-throated Wryneck, African Palm-Swift, Bar-throated Apalis, Purple Heron, Black-backed Puffback, Red-billed Firefinch, Black Sparrowhawk, Steppe Buzzard, Lanner Falcon, Thick-billed Weaver, Common Waxbill, Blacksmith Lapwing, Fork-tailed Drongo, Square-tailed Drongo, Black-headed Heron, Crested Barbet, Amethyst Sunbird, Red-knobbed Coot, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Lesser Swamp-Warbler, Southern Boubou, Malachite Kingfisher, Little Bee-eater, Southern Black Tit, Rattling Cisticola, Zitting Cisticola, Red-eyed Dove, African Hoopoe, Red-winged Starling, Collared Sunbird, House Sparrow (81 species).