Right. Hands up all those of you fed-up with Mike and Corey’s posts on tens of thousands of wood-warblers migrating through various parks and forests in New York. Anyone? Do I see a hand, any hand…just one would do…how about you sir, over in the corner? No? There must be someone…? I guess not - even I want more, so it’s hardly surprising - but I’m sorry, I’m back to announce that you’re just about to get a post that has nothing to do with migrants, wood-warblers, or the US: yep, I’ve been on my travels again - this time to Johannesburg, South Africa, where every migrant worth his or her salt left for the northern hemisphere weeks ago…

I’m (and not for the first time) digressing. Without or without its migrants, South Africa is a superb place for birds, and though I only had a day and a half to see as many of them as possible (and put further clear water - as our political parties like to call what the rest of us call ‘ a gap’ - between myself and Graham, my Big Year competitor), I saw enough to split the trip into three separate posts (and added about 90 for the year, taking me over 840 species in five months): yes, folks, there’s plenty of ‘me’ to come, but don’t worry, I’m sure the other two 10,000 Birders will be back online soon. Anyway, the first of the three is a short-ish look at the Ramsar-site of Marievale Bird Sanctuary, a superb wetland to the south-east of Johannesburg and a sure bet for quickly picking up a raft of African waterbirds. It also has the distinct advantage of both being FREE to get in (hurrah) and access to the marshes along the approach road is unrestricted (the grasslands and the rest of the sanctuary is behind a padlocked gate that is opened at 06:00am - early enough for most of us I’d have thought…)

I arrived at Marievale after an early start, and sat and watched the sun come up over a chilly reserve. The marshes at Marievale lie within the Marievale Gold Mine, and the massive piles of earth moved by the mining operations are evident everywhere (they form a fairly unusual ‘boundary’ in effect). The large reebeds and shallow ponds/lake can be packed with birds, but undoubtedly the birding is better in the summer when residents species are in full breeding plumage (and are therefore identifiable - some of these bishops etc are REALLY tough in the winter) and are joined by thousands of migrant swallows
and Palearctic-breeding birds like Ruff, Little Stint, and Whiskered Tern. Obviously I only mention these birds because at this time of the year - the southern hemisphere’s winter - they’re gone and they leave behind a much-reduced range of species.

Having said that a “reduced” range of species in South Africa still features some great birds. Marievale can be split into two distinct biomes, marsh and reeds and grassland, and both have some cracking birds that make getting up really early a pleasure. Early morning, for example, is the best time to see eg Black Crake - though I must admit finding one pecking at something on the road - with a Blacksmith Plover - was a bit of a bonus! Ducks (and there are more in summer) are still feeding close to the road (where are the photos, you ask? Hmm, yes, I kind of messed up the camera settings early on and managed to delete some good Yellow-billed Duck photos at the hotel later - I’m not impressed either…), and the first species I saw were a pair of Cape Shoveler that I later saw hurtling over me. And as I saw lots of White-faced Whistling-ducks but didn’t photograph any, how about a photo I took at Marievale in January 2006…

Black Crake Amaurornis flavirostra

Blacksmith Plover Vanellus armatus

Cape Shoveler Anas smithii (pair at dawn, top, same pair in flight, lower)

White-faced Whistling-duck Dendrocygna viduata

One wetland species that’s impossible to miss here is Long-tailed/Reed Cormorant - a dinky little freshwater cormorant that occupies most perches within the sanctuary. Even on such an “off day” I couldn’t miss taking a decent photograph or two, so here’s an “arty” shot taken into the rising sun, and another that, er, shows what the species looks like when it’s just sitting around drying out…

Reed Cormorant Phalacrocorax africanus

I had good views too of a species I normally think of as being very unobtrusive - at least when they turn up in the UK - the snake-necked and colourful Purple Heron. It’s a lovely bird, as is the striking, but much more common, Black-headed Heron: take a look at the startlingly white underwings these herons show in flight - if one of these ever makes it to the UK I don’t figure it’ll take even an inexperienced observer very long to work out what they’re looking at! Marievale is also a reliable place for finding the locally uncommon Goliath Heron - any guesses as to what its most notable attribute is?

Purple Heron Ardea purpurea

Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala

A good percentage of the sanctuary protects some excellent grassland, home to southern African endemic species like Long-tailed Widowbird and the gorgeous Orange-throated Longclaw: I confess this is another photo I took on another visit to Marievale (October 2004), but surely worth posting again (for a gallery of these distinctive pipits click right here)…

Keep an eye out too for African Stonechat, Grassland Pipit, Levaillant’s Cisticola, a flock of Common Waxbills that always seem to be here, and for Marsh Owls that occasionally fly during the day (especially early on).

A common resident and one I always see here is the chicken-sized Swainson’s Spurfowl. Not one of Africa’s more colourful spurfowl or francolins, but there’s something very gratifying about seeing birds like this survive in the increasingly developed grasslands in the region - in many parts of the world they’d have been hunted out of existence years ago…

Swainson’s Spurfowl Pternistis swainsonii

To be honest Marievale was something of an appetiser for the rest of the day - a visit to one of my favourite places in the world, Suikerbosrand (a highveld reserve about a 30 minute drive away). By about 08:00 I’d already briefly seen birds like Malachite Kingfisher, African Snipe, and African Spoonbill, and it was obvious fairly quickly that with so many migrants gone north Marievale wasn’t going to yield up many more species.

Having said that I did have one of those “What the heck…” moments as I headed back to the approach road. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a duck that I hadn’t seen on the way in, and that looked rather like a Red-crested Pochard - a species I didn’t think had been recorded in southern Africa before! I stopped the car and crept out for a better look, and there - in all its glory - was indeed a drake Red-crested Pochard. I shot off a few photos before it disappeared into the reeds and sat back trying to think clearly. Surely the chances of this bird being a genuine vagrant was slim to non-existent this far south, and Red-crested Pochards are one of the most widely-kept species in wildfowl collections…

Fortunately I had cellphone coverage and a quick text to Jo back home asking her to check up on any Google reports of RCPs at Marievale brought the expected reply: a presumed escape had been seen at Marievale in 2006, and there were no accepted records for South Africa. Oh well.

Back at the hotel I mailed the African Birding yahoo group to request more info, and Trevor Hardaker of Zest for Birds kindly responded saying that “although the possibility does exist that a genuine vagrant Red-crested Pochard could actually reach South Africa, there is just no way that one could ever even consider this possibility because of the large numbers in local wildfowl collections and the fact that they are regularly escaping. Interestingly, the number of species of exotic wildfowl that have actually been recorded at Marievale may even rival the number of indigenous species that naturally occur there…”". Which is worth mentioning for any over-excited overseas birder who thinks they’ve just hit the birding jackpot!

Escape or not, Red-crested Pochards are beautiful birds so I’ll end this report with one of the photos I took and head on over to Suikerbosrand…see you there folks?

Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina.

Getting to Marievale:
The easiest route I know is to take the N3 - one of the major roads away from Jo’burg - towards Heidelberg. Take the Junction 17, R550 (Glenroy/Kliprivier) offramp - which is also the exit for Suikerbosrand - and turn left at the top towards Nigel. Follow the winding road for approximately 20 km - in summer the telegraph wires here are good for Amur Falcons - to a T-junction (watch out for speeding cars here!) and turn right towards Nigel. Nigel is quite a small town and you’ll quickly pass through several sets of traffic lights as you continue on the main road through it. Stay on this road until you see a large sign on the left pointing towards Marievale. The sanctuary is approximately 3 km further on: note that the paved road suddenly becomes a rutted dirt road heavily used by trucks carrying construction materials. Stay on this dirt road and you’ll soon find yourself with the marsh and reedbeds on either side of you. Drive straight on until you reach a sweeping left-hand curve - the main car-park is about 800m further on amongst a stand of eucalypts.

Trip Hghlights: (new for the year underlined)
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 3-4; Reed Cormorant Phalacrocorax africanus c)10; White-breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax lucidus 3+; Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 1-2; Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala 4-5; Purple Heron Ardea purpurea 1; Goliath Heron Ardea goliath 1; Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis 1; Black-crowned Night-heron Nycticorax nycticorax 2; African Spoonbill Platalea alba 1; Swainson’s Spurfowl Pternistis swainsonii 6-8; White-faced Whistling-duck Dendrocygna viduata c)12; Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus 2; Spur-winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis 20+; Yellow-billed Duck Anas undulata 30+; Red-billed Duck Anas erythrorhyncha 4; Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina 1 (escape); Cape Shoveler Anas smithii 2; Black Crake Amaurornis flavirostra 1; African Swamphen Porphyrio madagascariensis 2; Red-knobbed Coot Fulica cristata 20+; Blacksmith Plover Vanellus armatus c)10; African Snipe Gallinago nigripennis 2; Malachite Kingfisher Alcedo cristata 1; Giant Kingfisher Megaceryle maxima 1; Cape Wagtail Motacilla capensis 5-6; Orange-throated Longclaw Macronyx capensis 5-6; Lesser Swamp Warbler Acrocephalus gracilirostris 3; Long-tailed Widow Euplectes progne 30+