Even after nearly twenty years of flying international routes, travelling between the northern and southern hemispheres like a (slightly moody it has it be admitted) jet-propelled swallow, I still forget that ’summer’ is something that happens north of the equator in June, July, and August and then happens again to the south in November, December, January. Not, as I should have known, in September. Anywhere in the world. And especially not at nearly 6000′/1750m above sea-level where the clouds linger long into late spring and the temperature stays low until the end of October. I know now, and I’m not likely to forget again in a hurry…

How so? Because on a recent trip to South Africa (11/12 Sept) I wanted to spend as much time as possible in the field birding, AND wanted to explore a new site. As I explained in an earlier post instead of visiting reliably excellent sites like Suikerbosrand or Marievale, I decided to rent a car and drive to Memel, a place I knew next to nothing about (except that it is in the Free State and the Drakensberg Mountains), on the off chance that I could find the region’s ultra-special birds: eg the very range-restricted Yellow-breasted Pipit, Dunn’s Lark and Botha’s Lark.

Had I known that said ultra-specials don’t brave a return to Memel’s montane grasslands until October at the earliest I might have stayed around Jo’burg, but when I read in the fantastic and hugely recommended Southern African Birdfinder that “summer is the best season to locate” the numerous highly-sought after birds found here I got it into my head that September, whilst not being summer exactly, was near enough to being spring to make the trip worthwhile.

Wrong! Check out the photos below to see what I mean…

Stunning, beautiful, awe-inspiring etc etc, but September is still very much winter in Memel: the sun never managed to entirely burn off the low clouds, and the temperature never once got above 12ºC (it was above 20ºC by 09:00 in Johannesburg) meaning I wore a sweater all day, and socks in bed at night. It also meant that as I arrived in the region after a three-hour drive from the Midrand I found myself in drizzlymist with barely a bird to be seen (let alone heard). No migrant bird would have bothered to fly up to Memel unless it absolutely had to, and - as it turned out - many of them apparently didn’t have to.

I saw none of the three specials I was after (and I looked VERY hard), but - having said that - the birding was still very interesting if not outstanding, and I did get to stay at the lovely Mahem Guest House (more of which at the bottom of this post) which was worth the drive alone to have tucked away into the ‘mental rucksack’ for the next time I get rostered a trip to SA in summer (which I now know starts in November etc etc)…

So what did I see? Perhaps the most restricted and rarest was the Vulnerable Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus, a species entirely confined to the mountains of Lesotho, north-east South Africa and west Swaziland. Estimates of the global population on the Birdlife website suggest that just 4000 birds remain, and populations are declining in some areas. I don’t suppose many people outside South Africa even know this bird exists, but I really love the idea that this striking species is walking around wild grasslands somewhere in the clouds on a mountain-side thousands of miles away…the world will be a poorer place if it disappears, it seems to me…

Adult (upper) and juvenile (lower) Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus

The second species that I did manage to catch up with was one I was really looking forward to seeing (for the first time I should add): the utterly gorgeous Blue Korhaan/Bustard Eupodotis caerulescens. A southern African Near-threatened endemic, this lovely bird is closely-related to the more western Karoo Korhaan and like that species is usually seen in small groups wandering slowly across the landscape searching for eg insects and lizards. They’re very wary, so these photos are cropped heavily - but considering the poor light and the size of the fields these things inhabit they’re not too bad. Beautiful eh. (I’m a huge fan of korhaans, and if you like them to then you may like the photo-gallery of Southern Black Korhaan I posted earlier this month.)

Male (left) and female Blue Korhaan Eupodotis caerulescens

What is fairly noticeable from the photos I’ve posted so far is that the predominant colours or tones of these mountains in September are muted oranges, browns, and greys: in other words a typical upland winter scene. Many of the birds match this ‘colour’ scheme so well, that looking back at the photos I took it’s striking just how many times the same few colours crop up. Not only does that make the birding a little monotonous from a chromatic point-of-view, it does make finding what birds are actually present very difficult indeed! Have a look at this lot and imagine just how hard this (I know, over-privileged, extremely lucky etc) birder had to work on this particular day…

Southern Anteater-chat Myrmecocichla formicivora

 

Grey-winged Francolin Scleroptila africanus

Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea

 

Male Sentinel Rock Thrush Monticola explorator

 

Spike-heeled Lark Chersomanes albofasciata

 

Pied Starling Spreo bicolor

For sure an exciting bunch of birds if you’ve not been lucky enough to see them before, but apart from the Sentinel Rock Thrush there’s not a single species there that I haven’t seen many times in Suikerbosrand (less than an hour’s drive from where I stay between Jo’burg and Pretoria), and nothing that would get most local birders out of bed so early.

Having said that there is one species that utilises this somewhat restricted colour-palette rather better than most, the wonderful Orange-throated Longclaw (a relative of the endangered Kenyan bird we’re fund-raising for, Sharpe’s Longclaw).

I’ve posted a couple of galleries of this lovely and - thankfully - still widespread grassland pipit on 10,000 Birds before but frankly I don’t think you can ever have enough photos of Orange-throated Longclaws - even ones taken on gloomy days like this one.

Orange-throated Longclaw Macronyx capensis

What a bird. If you do ever get to Memel (or what highveld still exists in Gauteng) then you’ll find it hard to miss them as they flutter off the road giving peculiarly cat-like “mew” calls, flashing white tips to the outer tail-feathers, or striding through the grass looking nothing special as they walk away from you but transforming into such a beautifully marked bird when it turns to look at you.

So, okay, I didn’t get to see the really rare and unusual species I was hoping for, but - as I hope the above shows - it certainly wasn’t a waste of time by any means…

Trip Report: (new for the Year underlined)
White-breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax lucidus 5; Reed Cormorant Phalacrocorax africanus 2; Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala 6-8; Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus 6; Hadada Ibis Bostrychia hagedash 10+; African Spoonbill Platalea alba 1; Spur-winged Goose Plectropterus gambensi 5-6; Yellow-billed Duck Anas undulata 12; Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus 3; Rock (Common) Kestrel Falco (tinnunculus) rupicola 1; Grey-winged Francolin Scleroptila africanus 4; Swainson’s Spurfowl Francolinus swainsonii 7-8; Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris 100+; Blue Crane Anthropoides paradisea 1; Blue Korhaan Eupodotis caerulescens 15; Blacksmith Lapwing Vanellus armatus 3-4; Wattled Lapwing Vanellus senegallus 2; Crowned Lapwing Vanellus coronatus c)10; Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea c)10; Cape Turtle Dove Streptopelia capicola 20+; Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis 10+; Little Swift Apus affinis 2; Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus c)10; African Hoopoe Upupa africana 2; Ground Woodpecker Geocolaptes olivaceus 1; Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea c)20; Spike-heeled Lark Chersomanes albofasciata 6-8; Brown-throated Martin Riparia paludicola 3; Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula 2; White-throated Swallow Hirundo albigularis 2; South African Cliff-swallow Petrochelidon spilodera 4; Cape Wagtail Motacilla capensis 1; Orange-throated Longclaw Macronyx capensis c)20; African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus 20+; Long-billed Pipit Anthus similis 1; Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus 4-5; Sentinel Rock Thrush Monticola explorator 4; Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus 1; Wailing Cisticola Cisticola lais 1; Cape Robin-chat Cossypha caffra 1; African Stonechat Saxicola axillaris c)20; Mountain Wheatear Oenanthe monticola 4; Capped Wheatear Oenanthe pileata 1; Familiar Chat Cercomela familiaris 1; Southern Anteater-chat Myrmecocichla formicivora 20+; Malachite Sunbird Nectarinia famosa 1; Cape White-eye Zosterops pallidus 1; Fiscal Shrike Lanius collaris 10+; Bokmakierie Telophorus zeylonus 2; Cape Crow Corvus capensis 6-8; Common Myna Acridotheres tristis 5+; Pied Starling Spreo bicolor 20+; Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio 10+; Pale-winged Starling Onychognathus nabouroup 1; Cape Sparrow Passer melanurus 10+; House Sparrow Passer domesticus 3-4; Cape Weaver Ploceus capensis 3-4; Southern Masked Weaver Ploceus velatus 30+; Yellow Bishop Euplectes capensis 30+; Long-tailed Widow Euplectes progne 20+; Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura 4; Cape Canary Serinus canicollis 30+

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 name for a crowned crane in the local dialect 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 lovely spinach crepe, a fresh fruit salad, yoghurt and as much toast as I could eat.
With the exchange rate so favourable to travelling Brits 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, spotlessly clean, tea and coffee was supplied, and I collapsed into a large 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/discounted me for saying nice things about them - phone (+27 0)58-9240034 or email via the Where to Stay website.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores 2008