Okay, so you’ve got two days in Johannesburg, the weather is gorgeous, the birding excellent - what (if you were me) would you do: stay nearby and have a relaxed time visiting reliably excellent sites like Suikerbosrand or Marievale, or rent a car and drive to Memel, a place you know very little about on the off chance you can find something really rare? Of course, if you’re me you choose the latter, totally not understanding that spring arrives far later in the high-altitude grasslands of the Free State than it does in Gauteng, and that just because the sun is shining over the hotel it doesn’t mean that it won’t be bloody cold and damp just 300km away…

Oh well, you can’t win them all. Had I known that the region’s ultra-special birds (eg Yellow-breasted Pipit, Dunn’s Lark and Botha’s Lark) don’t brave a return to the upper grasslands until October at the earliest I might have stayed around Jo’burg, but then again I did actually see some pretty good birds - including Blue Korhaan, Southern Bald Ibis, Grey-winged Francolin, and Sentinel Rock Thrush. And I stayed at the highly-recommended Mahem Guest House where I woke up to a dawn chorus unsullied by traffic, aircraft, or the last chords of a room party. Which - after the usual preamble that I can’t seem to avoid writing - is the basis of this post…

I had come to South Africa having sort of made an e-promise to a fellow blogger (Ambika of Madras Wanderings) to try to record the ’song’ of a Southern Masked Weaver, which I’d described in a photo-gallery as “fizzes, squawks, and harsh swizzling notes” (adequate enough I thought, but apparently saying that a bird song is made up of “fizzes, squawks, and harsh swizzling notes” isn’t quite enough for some people, and they actually want some sort of soundfile to listen to as well!). So, when I woke up and could clearly hear said “f, s, and hsns” coming from the garden I thought I’d try putting together a different kind of post. One based around sounds and photos, rather than photos alone. A good idea? I hope so (but if you want to try this at home, as it were, make sure you have hours and hours to fiddle with…)

To cut a rather convoluted story short I was staying at the Mahem Guest House (which is highlighted in the inestimable Southern African Birdfinder as “birder-friendly accomodation” and more of which below). I was actually woken up by the honking of a fat white domestic goose which was shuffling across the grass like a demonic lawnmower, but once it was shooed away a more harmonious ensemble took over. I could pick out the weaver, what sounded like several flocks of African Collared and Laughing Doves, a pair of Bokmakierie duetting from some trees at the far end of the garden, and a sweet, sweet song I didn’t know which turned out to be a Cape Robin. There was also the chirps of Cape Sparrows, and the unmistakeable madcap “hah-hah-hah”-ing of a couple of Hadeda Ibis (which unfortunately I didn’t manage to record as I spooked them opening the door to my room darn it), plus the occasional calls from overflying Egyptian Geese and other species I couldn’t place.

Quite an intriguing and very “African” dawn in other words.

So how did it sound, you ask? Well, my friends, I’ve mixed several different files together and all you have to do is to click on the images right below to find out (eg to hear what the garden sounded like, click the garden photo and an mp3 file will be offered).

Click the photo to hear the dawn chorus, Mahem Guest House, Memel (mp3 file, 475kb)

Rather lovely, eh? But which is which and what is what (and what on earth is a Bokmakierie anyway)?

Good questions, of course, and ones that I’m going to answer right now with photos and the recordings I made (as it was still gloomy and murky when I made these recordings, the photos are mainly taken elsewhere of course).

1) Let’s start with the Southern Masked Weaver Ploceus velatus that inspired this post. Large colonies make an absolutely amazing sound that can be heard from a hundred miles away (okay, a hundred metres at most, but it’s loud), but colonies need more ‘nest-hanging’ space than even a large garden like this one provides and the few pairs here probably won’t really be getting into their musical stride for a few weeks yet - but, nevertheless, here are those “fizzes, squawks, and harsh swizzling notes” I mentioned before…(the photo is from a Gallery here).

Click on the photo to hear Southern Masked Weaver Ploceus velatus (mp3 file, 398kb)
[Cape Turtle Dove from about nine seconds in]

2) On to one of the most familiar avian sounds of southern African savannahs and grasslands - the Cape Turtle (or Ring-necked) Dove Streptopelia capicola. Small doves similar to the larger Eurasian Collared Dove S. decaocto their call is often transcribed ironically as “work harrrrr-der, work harrrrr-der”. This is a call heard throughout the day, and it’s the backdrop to many a lethargic afternoon’s birding when you - and everyone else probably - would rather be snoozing in the shade somewhere.

Click on the photo to hear Cape Turtle Dove Streptopelia capicola (mp3 file, 398kb)
[Southern Masked Weaver in the background]

3) It’s tricky to hear in the main “dawn chorus” track, but the sweet song of a Cape Robin-chat can be heard in the background. Not particularly closely related to either the European Robin or the American Robin, this is another bird named by immigrants for its ‘red breast’. Normally quite a shy and retiring type I was surprised to find this individual sat at the top of a tall and still bare tree. The photo below was taken in Kenya, but birds there are very similar - it’s taken from a photo-gallery here

Click on the photo to hear Cape Robin-chat Cossyphra caffra (mp3 file, 313kb)

4) Which leaves us with the wonderful and enigmatically-named Bokmakierie Telophorus zeylonus, a beautiful bush-shrike endemic to southern Africa. ‘Boks’ (as many people in SA seem to call them) are common in gardens and scrubland with scattered bushes over much of the region, and once you learn at least a few of the varied whistles and the duetted “bok-bok-bok’ calls these birds give you realise how many are lurking in the shrubbery (and understand where the name comes from)! Usually seen in pairs, in the recording below one bird is giving the whistles, while the other is ‘answering’ with the bubbling sounds. The photo is from a a photo-gallery here.

Click on the photo to hear Bokmakierie Telophorus zeylonus (mp3 file, 306kb)

Those are the four dominant sounds I could hear, and if you go back to the garden picture above and listen again to the “dawn chorus” mp3 you’ll probably be able to pick them out.

Were there any other birds in the garden, you ask? I’ve got to tell you, if you were on a first trip to South Africa and pitched up at the Mahem Guest House wondering what you were going to see you’d be in bird heaven by the time your amiable hosts Jimmy and Sylvia Saunders served up a very welcome and excellent breakfast in their large and comfortable dining area.

Common birds included a single Olive Thrush and Cape White-eye, small numbers of Dark-capped Bulbuls, Cape Sparrows, and Laughing Doves, and before the garden began to be a little more disturbed by the comings and goings of the staff (I was the only guest fortuitously) I photographed the African Hoopoe below, watched Red-winged Starlings and Common Mynas (introduced to SA and spreading fast) picking around in the school playground next door, counted a large flock of (non-breeding plumaged) Southern Red Bishops, was enchanted by a male Malachite Sunbird which dropped in for a few minutes, tried but failed to record a pair of Speckled Pigeons walking up and down the guest-house roof, and saw a small group of Speckled Mousebirds make their way through the garden’s trees.

African Hoopoe Upupa africana

All good stuff, and even though the low clouds had rolled in again I still saw Egyptian and Spur-winged Geese flying over, along with five White-breasted Cormorants. What you’d see here in the summer is anyone’s guess, and - remember - you’re within a few minutes drive of some very special wetland and mountain species that are confined to southern Africa (the town is built next to the Ramsar wetland site of Seekoeivlei and the so-called Memel Loop starts just down the road). Very exciting, really, and I’ll be visiting again I’m sure…

So, how about two more photos. They’re both of birds I’ve mentioned above: the starling was photographed in Memel but the goose wasn’t (the sunshine and blue sky is a bit of a give-away). Enjoy!

Spur-winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis
Cape Town, July 2008

Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio
Memel, Sept 2008

So, what did I see when I wasn’t in the garden of the guest-house? A fair bit, but not as much as I’d hoped to be honest…but with a bit of luck I’ll get round to writing a post before I head off to Chicago on Wednesday (any birders in/near Chicago like to take a Brit out for a morning’s birding?). I’ll do my best, but it’s time to give my fingers a rest and have a look what migrants might be moving through my local area for a change…

The Mahem Guest House:

Run by the very-welcoming Jimmy and Sylvia Saunders this is comfortable and superbly-placed accommodation easily found on the first road to the right as you enter Memel off the R34 (coming from the direction of Vrede). There are sign-boards all over the town too, which makes it easy for jet-lagged and sore-eyed birders to find the house (’Mahem’ incidentally is the Afrikaans name for a crowned crane and has nothing to do with ‘noise and confusion’).
I called ahead to make a booking, and was asked if would like dinner and what I normally ate: I’m a veggie which I thought may be a problem in what is one of the most dedicatedly carnivorous countries on the planet, but an excellent home-made veg lasagne was served up. It was so good I decided to stay for breakfast too, when - even though I was the only guest - I was treated royally to a properly laid-up table, a lovely spinach crepe, a fresh fruit salad, yoghurt and as much toast as I could eat.
With the exchange rate so favourable to overseas travellers the room charge was very reasonable indeed (Mastercard and Visa are accepted if you don’t want to use cash), and the room itself though a little basic was airy and spotlessly clean, tea and coffee was supplied, and I collapsed into a large, comfortable bed very gratefully at the end of a long day.

If you’d like to contact Jimmy or Sylvia - who I’d like to state have NOT paid me or given me a discount of any sort for saying nice things about them - phone (+27 0)58-9240034 or email via the Where to Stay website.