After a few hours birding on the morning of May 15th at the excellent Marievale Bird Sanctuary I headed over to one of my favourite places anywhere - the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve. Just a thirty minute drive from Marievale, Suikerbosrand NR protects a superb area of the highveld sandwiched between farmland and townships, an undulating, rolling site of rocky hills, grassland, and acacia.

The start of the Tourist Route

I’m not sure precisely what it is about Suikerbosrand that makes it so special, but I’ve been coming here every year since I was first shown the reserve in 1990 and I’m nowhere near getting bored yet. Perhaps its because the Reserve consists of so many different biomes - and hence so many sharply demarcated populations of birds - that a visit to Suikerbos is like a visit to four different Reserves in a day!

Let me explain. Outside the Reserve itself is mixed farmland/grassland (over the years I’ve seen winter visitors like Amur Falcon, Montagu’s Harrier, Black-winged Pratincole, and White Stork, and African-breeding species like Marsh Owl, South African Cliff Swallow, Spotted Dikkop, and Orange River Francolin here, whilst the grassland-dependent Long-tailed Widowbird seems to be abundant); beyond the main entrance lies the car-park and picnic-area (excellent for birds like African Hoopoe, Cape Bunting, Cape Rock Thrush, Greater Striped Swallow, Red-eyed Bulbul, and Fiscal Flycatcher); adjacent to the car-park is the start of the one-way 60km Tourist Route, a tarred road which goes first through high, rocky grassland (superb for Mountain Wheatear, Grey-winged Francolin, Eastern Long-billed Lark, and Wing-snapping Cisticola amongst others), then descends into flatter, more extensive areas of grassland (half of southern Africa’s Larks and Cisticolas can turn up here, as well as birds like Southern Ant-eating Chat and Familiar Chat; and the last, completely different area is a large slice of thornveld, home to such species as Kalahari Robin, Violet-eared Waxbill, Titbabbler, Bokmakierie, and (in summer) Malachite Sunbird, whilst migrants like Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes are easy enough to find in the winter).

Greater Striped Swallows Cecropis cucullata: several pairs breed on the Reserve Headquarters buildings where these two were photographed.

An additional site that is always worth stopping at is the Holhoek Picnic-site: it seems to be the easiest place in the Reserve to see Mocking Chat, Ashy Tit, Red-throated Wryneck and (in the summer) Fairy Flycatcher, whilst you’re guaranteed good views of commoner species like Olive thrush, Cape Wagtail, Laughing Dove, Black-throated Canary, and Southern Masked Weaver, as well as Red-eyed Bulbul, Fiscal Flycatcher and the like. Locals may well come up with a different list, but those are the species that stick in my mind…

Red-throated Wryneck Jynx ruficollis.

As if the birds weren’t enough (and birds are definitely the speciality here, as there are no Lions or Cheetahs and what mammals there are are mostly introduced), Suikerbosrand offers three more important factors that make it so enjoyable; the scenery is just stunning (I’ve never yet managed to get photos that do the place justice, but I’ll keep on trying); access and navigation around the reserve is easy (I always follow the well-marked, circular Tourist Route); and - despite it being just an hour from Jo’burg - there’s usually hardly anyone else around if you go during the week. In fact it’s usually blissfully quiet (a fact that I’m sure grates on reserve management, but is a real plus for an anti-social grump like me).

Southern Anteater Chat Myrmecocichla formicivora

Familiar Chat Cercomela familiaris: I thought this species was perhaps named for its resemblance to a female Common Redstart a bird many of the European immigrants to this part of Africa would have been ‘familiar’ with, but apparently it is because they are often found around homesteads and are quite approachable ie ‘familiar’. Shame, I preferred my version…

Whilst the above might make it sound like I fancy myself as a bit of a Suikerbosrand-regular, I’m speaking more as an afficianado than an expert: every time I come here I realise just how hard it is to get to grips with species I only see once every twelve months or so. I’ve yet to drive round the Tourist Route without coming across a handful of birds that throw me - despite getting good views and even taking photos. Usually it’s the cisticolas that prove difficult: there are at least six species regularly found here and they can be REALLY tough when they’re not displaying or singing (actually even resident birders might baulk at naming every cisticola they see in winter). Non-breeding Wydahs and Bishops and sparrow-patterned weaver-types are going to remain impossible unless a local birder takes me slowly through each one until I really understand how to ID them. It seems to me that every variant of most of southern Africa’s pipits regularly turn up at Suikerbosrand, where they flush from in front of the car and then drop coquettishly onto the road behind you before disappearing into the grass never to be seen again. And then there’s the larks: don’t get me started on South Africa’s larks. There are now apparently some three hundred recognised species of lark (up from a hundred a few years ago), all of which look the same (except for the really distinctive ones which look like the other really distinctive ones)…Yes, I’m exaggerating, but Africa’s larks are beautiful but, oh, they’re so very hard.

All of which possibly sounds like I don’t enjoy birding here, but as I said I love the place. It’s challenging without being impossible or dangerous; it’s wild without being too isolated; it’s an incredibly threatened habitat - much of the highveld is being eaten up by development - that is full to the brim with life; and the birds I see here I don’t on the whole see anywhere else in the world (I tell you, when I finally have to stop flying I’m going to miss Suikerbosrand with a real passion…). There are probably better, or at least different, places to go to, but somehow I feel uplifted at the end of every visit, and you can’t say much fairer than that really, can you?

Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough. The list of birds I saw is at the bottom of this page, and rather than take up any more of your precious time I’m going to post a few photos with short descriptions and then end with two short identification queries that I’ve already posted to the African Birding Yahoo group. As always I’d welcome any comments (particularly any thoughts on the identification of the lark below).

Grey-winged Francolin Scleroptila africanus. This species is usually found in the higher areas of the Reserve.

Female Cape Rock Thrush Monticola rupestris.

Sabota Lark Mirafra sabota: the first one I’ve seen here.

I photographed this non-breeding plumaged cisticola on the circuit through the upper part of Suikerbosrand. It was giving a very high, thin whispery song which consisted of various, different “tsee” notes both from the ground and on the grass stem it flew up to. It didn’t call in the air or display. Bird lists for the Reserve and correspondents on AfricanBirding suggest cisticolas in the rocky, bare area of the Reserve will be Wing-snapping Cisticola Cisticola ayresii. The SASOL Field Guide says that Cloud Cisticola C. textrix and Wing-snapping are almost identical, but micro-habitat preferences do seem to be enough to name this as Wing-snapping (so-called, incidentally, from the ‘wing-snapping’ display the species gives in summer). I’d welcome any comments on the ID of this bird…

Wing-snapping Cisticola Cisticola ayresii

The photograph below (not very special as I was facing towards the sun unfortunately) is of a short-tailed, short-billed lark I saw in the lower grasslands beyond the picnic-spot. It was giving a repeated, soft and wistful “too-ee” call close to the ground from a small rock. When the bird flew off it looked dark, with dark outer-tail feathers. The only species I can find that fits is Flappet Lark - a species I’ve not actually seen before, and which is (as far as I can gather) rare here. Perhaps more likely is Melodious Lark, though I can find no reference to this species calling from the ground?

For a sound recording of this bird’s call (made as it called from the rock in the photo) please click - here

Is this Flappet or Melodious Lark (or even something else)? Does anyone know the status of either species at Suikerbosrand? I also saw and photographed the Sabota Lark above in the same area. Again, I can’t find much info on the status of Sabota here but I’m wondering if the huge areas of grass being burnt-off outside the reserve may have had something to do with their presence (or is that just speculation?) Many thanks for any comments.
(In particular thanks to Etienne Marais of Indicator Birding who provided an extremely useful analysis - see “comments” below)

Highlights:
Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala 10+; Jackal Buzzard Buteo rufofuscus 1; Grey-winged Francolin Scleroptila africanus c)10; Swainson’s Spurfowl Francolinus swainsonii 8-10; Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris 30+; Crowned Plover Vanellus coronatus 5-6; Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea 5-6; Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata 10+; Ring-necked/Cape Turtle Dove Streptopelia capicola 20+; Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis 30+; Marsh Owl Asio capensis 1; Red-faced Mousebird Urocolius indicus 8; African Hoopoe Upupa africana 8; Crested Barbet Trachyphonus vaillantii 3; Red-throated Wryneck Jynx ruficollis 1; Rufous-naped Lark Mirafra africana 3; Sabota Lark Mirafra sabota 1; Greater Striped Swallow Cecropis cucullata 4-6; Cape Wagtail Motacilla capensis 4-5; Orange-throated Longclaw Macronyx capensis 20+; Long-billed Pipit Anthus similis 1; Plain-backed Pipit Anthus leucophrys 2; Buffy Pipit Anthus vaalensis 1; African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus 7-8; Red-eyed/Black-fronted Bulbul Pycnonotus nigricans c)10; Cape Rock Thrush Monticola rupestris 1; Olive ThrushTurdus olivaceus1; Neddicky Cisticola fulvicapilla 2; Levaillant’s Cisticola Cisticola tinniens 5-6; Wailing Cisticola Cisticola lais 7-8; Ayre’s Cisticola Cisticola ayresii 4-5; Fiscal Flycatcher Sigelus silens 10+; Cape Robin-chat Cossypha caffra 10+; Kalahari Scrub-robin Cercotrichas paena 3; African Stonechat Saxicola torquata c)10; Mountain Wheatear Oenanthe monticola c)10; Capped Wheatear Oenanthe pileata 2; Familiar Chat Cercomela familiaris 7-8; Southern Anteater Chat Myrmecocichla formicivora 8-10; Ashy Tit Parus cinerascens 1; Common Fiscal Lanius collaris 5-6; Brown-crowned Tchagra Tchagra australis 1; Bokmakierie Telophorus zeylonu 2; Cape Weaver Ploceus capensis 2; Southern Masked-weaver Ploceus velatus 100+; Red Bishop Euplectes orix 100+; Long-tailed Widow Euplectes progne 30+; Violet-eared Waxbill Uraeginthus granatina 1; Common Waxbill Estrilda astrild c)20; Brimstone/Bully Canary Serinus sulphuratus 6; Black-throated Canary Serinus atrogularis 6-8; Cinnamon-breasted Bunting Emberiza tahapisi 2; Cape Bunting Emberiza capensis 5-6

Black-backed Jackal Canis mesomelas. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for this carnivore: I see one most trips trotting through the grass…