Thornveld birding: The Zaagkiuldrift gravel road to Kgomo-Kgomo (north of Pretoria)
04 October 2006

 

A section of the Zaagkiuldrift gravel road to Kgomo-Kgomo

 

Another superb day in South Africa, this time spent birding along a 20km gravel road going through dense thornveld about 120km north of Johannesburg. As different from the open grasslands south of Jo’burg as the Karoo was to the mountainous areas around the Cape, the dry acacia “cattle country” offers some really excellent birding - and a long list of species that I haven’t seen for many years including Black-chested Snake-eagle, Gabar Goshawk, Greater Kestrel (at least three, hunting over the barer patches of thornveld), Pearl-spotted Owlet (which I only found because of the racket being made by a tree full of birds mobbing it), both Red-billed and Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills, Long-tailed/Magpie Shrike, Marico Flycatcher (which was surprisingly frequent), White-throated Scrub-robin, the utterly beautiful Orange-breasted Bush and Crimson-breasted Shrikes, a very unconcerned Burnt-necked Eromomela, and Red-billed Buffalo-weaver, and a raft of ‘lifers’ (many of which I could have easily seen if I’d come out of the hotel and turned north rather than south towards Suikerbosrand over the last few years to be honest) including Crested Francolin, Chestnut-backed Finchlark, African Barred-warbler, Ratlling Cisticola (very common here and often seen singing from the tops of acacia bushes), and - mainly around Kgomo-Kgomo - the rather lovely Scaly-feathered Finch (a bird that if I was ever to take part in a “Which ‘lifer’ was better than you’d expected it be” meme would be right up there towards the top of the list).

 

Black-chested Snake-eagle Circaetus pectoralis

Pearl-spotted Owlet Glaucidium perlatum

Red-billed Hornbill Tockus erythrorhynchus

Crimson-breasted Shrike Laniarius atrococcineus

Burnt-neck Eremomela Eremomela usticollis

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver Bubalornis niger

 

Detailed in the excellent “Southern African Birdfinder” (SAB, pages 168-9), the Zaagkiuldrift gravel road is just off the main N1 highway about 65 km north of Pretoria (almost exactly 100km from our hotel for any airline crew reading this) and found by taking the Rust de Winter/Pienaarsrivier offramp.

From the N1 Rust de Winter/Pienaarsrivier off-ramp go left down to a T-Junction. Turn right and within a few hundred metres you’ll go over a hump-back railway bridge. Take the left turn immediately after the bridge which takes you over the unguarded railway track: from here the dirt road bends back on itself and goes straight back towards the town or (within about 100m) curves around to the right by a large ‘field’ - this is the start of the Zaagkiuldrift gravel road.

The Zaagkiuldrift gravel road follows the Pienaars River - it is out there a little distance away from the road, though I couldn’t see any water from where I was - through the middle of dense thornveld alive with birds.

Primarily an access route to various cattle farms and game ranches, the gravel road has little traffic on it - though what traffic there is drives fast and, as I found, you do need to keep an eye in the rear-view mirror before slamming to a halt to look at a bird! - and is easily traversible in a standard rental-car (though what Avis made of the thick layer of red dust coating their vehicle when I dropped it off back at the hotel I’m not sure).

As an experience driving along this gravel road actually feels remarkably like birding in a National Park - the land off the road is privately-owned so (much like in a NP - though for different reasons: there are no lions or elephants here) you’re more or less confined to the car. That didn’t feel like a problem though: the bush isn’t so thick that you feel like you’re missing hundreds of birds “just out of sight”, and many areas were recently burned over giving good views anyway.

 

Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris (somehow more natural here than in a farmyard!)

Long-tailed/Magpie Shrike Corvinella melanoleuca

 

In fact standing beside the burnt area above I was at one point watching Helmeted Guineafowls, two Crested Francolin, two Crimson-breasted Shrikes, five Southern Pied Babblers, two Cape Glossy and three Burchell’s Starlings, and four Long-tailed/Magpie Shrikes all picking through the ashes at the same time…fantastic birding for us UK birders I can tell you.

Where are the photos I hear you ask? Well, I don’t ALWAYS get that close, and I don’t ALWAYS get the exposure levels right (especially when photographing birds in very bright light on a background of white and black ash…)

Like any birding done in these conditions, it’s also always worth keeping an eye on the road ahead - Francolins in particular seem to like following the edges of dirt roads (presumably it’s easy to find windblown seeds or insects caught out in the open), and all three species I saw - Crested, Natal, and Swainson’s - were doing just this. At one point I came around a bend to find the road hopping with a Marico Flycatcher, a White-browed Scrub-robin, a breeding male Black-chested Prinia, a pair of Melba Finches, a Rattling Cisticola, and a small mixed flock of Blue Waxbill and Scaly-feathered Finch: quite very memorable really (though I couldn’t get close enough for a decent photo through the smudgy windscreen)!

 

Crested Francolin Francolinus sephaena

Natal Francolin Francolinus natalensis

 

The majority of the birding along this road is - as I said - done from the car, and is a matter of driving slowly along checking fences, the nearby trees, and any areas of thicker bush. It’s also definitely looking carefully at any watercourses or around the dams mentioned in SAB - one of the dams held about ten African Jacanas, another 28 Knob-billed Duck, a flock of White-faced Whistling-duck, and a Southern Pochard.

I heard a lot of calls I didn’t know of course, though it seemed that most of the time I was hearing the mocking “worrk-harrr-derr, worrk-harrr-derr” calls of African Collared Doves, the distinctive rattle and “tooi,tooi” whistle of Rattling Cisticolas, and the pleasant, loud fluty song of Tit-babblers. I’ve no idea what I missed (obviously) but most birds here seem to respond to pishing and it’s not too difficult to get reasonable views of most of them with a little effort and patience.

 

African Collared Dove Streptopelia capicola

 

At the end of the gravel road (about 20km from the humped-back bridge) is the village of Kgomo-Kgomo - and a busy tarmac highway connecting it to larger towns, which kind of shattered my stupid fantasy that I was driving to a rural village in the middle-of-nowhere.

The village itself (complete with a soccer ‘pitch’ dotted with African Pipits, Laughing Doves, and Donkey dung) sits above a bare floodplain, and exactly as detailed in SAB is an excellent place to see Scaly-feathered Finch and Chestnut-backed Finchlark and - rather incongruously - Kittlitz’s Plovers which were sitting around in the dust breathing heavily (unfortunately there was no sign of the Temminck’s Coursers that SAB notes are usually found here: I did get to Kgomo-Kgomo around midday on a cloudless and hot early-summer day when most birds had long retreated into the shade of the few bushes that hadn’t been taken for firewood so they may well have been in the area somewhere).

Other species here (and/or in some very dry thornveld about 2km down the tarmacced highway on your right as you drive away from Kgomo-kgomo) that are more often associated with open areas included Rufous-chested Swallow, Namaqua Dove, good numbers of Capped Wheatear - including a parent feeding a couple of juveniles which popped up out of a hole in the ground, a beautiful male Gabar Goshawk which hurtled over the car and disappeared into an acacia tree full of weavers and finches which scattered in an explosion of panicking passerines (Scaly-feathered Finches sound remarkably like Budgerigars - another bird found in very arid habitats, though I think I’m probably pushing a connection too hard here…), and a small flock of Greater Rufous Sparrow (which I had frustratingly brief views of).

 

Gabar Goshawk Micronisus gabar

African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus

Capped Wheatear Oenanthe pileata

Scaly-feathered Finch Sporopipes squamifrons

 

Just outside the village the tarmacced highway crosses what I took to be the Piennaar River, and the road-bridge here is a good place to scan the area.

I picked up Little Swift and South African Cliff-Swallow here, a Cape Vulture flying overhead, and had my best (if still a little distant) views of the gorgeous Chestnut-backed Finch-lark as a small flock came in to drink.

 

Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres

Little Swift Apus affinis

Chestnut-backed Finch-lark Eremopterix leucotis

 

I ended the day looking for koorhaans towards dusk in the large fields back near the start of the gravel road, but was probably too tired to really make the effort necessary - however, I did get great views of a Marsh Owl which brought the day total up around the eighty-mark, though by then it was almost impossible to get decent photos in the poor light (which on reflection sounds peevish, considering what a great day I had, but isn’t meant to).

 

Marsh Owl Asio capensis

 

I spent the whole day in the thornveld/Kgomo-Kgomo area just slowly wandering around in the car and occasionally on foot. A local birder would probably have covered the same ground in a few hours and left before it got too hot (especially one familiar with the species found here), but it was immensely enjoyable and well worth doing - and very ‘different’ to the birding I usually do when I’m in Jo’burg (where I’ve tended to visit grassland/highveld sites like Suikerbosrand) though I still ended up hot, dirty, and dehydrated, so some things were the same…

 

Day List:
Ostrich Struthio camelus 1 (domesticated); Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 2; Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala ; Great Egret Egretta alba 1; Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis 2; White-faced Whistling-duck Dendrocygna viduata c)40; Knob-billed Duck Sarkidiornis melanotos 28; Southern Pochard Netta erythrophthalma 1; Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus 3-4; African Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vocifer 1; Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres 1; Black-chested Snake-eagle Circaetus pectoralis 1; Gabar Goshawk Micronisus gabar 1; Greater Kestrel Falco rupicoloides 1; Crested Francolin Francolinus sephaena 10-12; Natal Francolin Francolinus natalensis c)8; Swainson’s Spurfowl Francolinus swainsonii 6-8; Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris c)20; African Jacana Actophilornis africanus c)10; Crowned Plover Vanellus coronatus 8-10; Kittlitz’s Plover Charadrius pecuarius 2; Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola 2; Ring-necked/African Collared Dove Streptopelia capicola 20+; Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis 20+; Namaqua Dove Oena capensis 7-8; Grey Lourie Corythaixoides concolor 4; Pearl-spotted Owlet Glaucidium perlatum 1; Marsh Owl Asio capensis 1; Little Swift Apus affinis 4; White-backed Mousebird Colius colius 6-8; Red-faced Mousebird Urocolius indicus 3; Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis 1; Lilac-breasted Roller Coracias caudata 1; African Hoopoe Upupa africana 2; Green Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus 6; Red-billed Hornbill Tockus erythrorhynchus 4-5; Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill Tockus leucomelas 2; Crested Barbet Trachyphonus vaillantii 2; Sabota Lark Mirafra sabota 3; Chestnut-backed Finch-lark Eremopterix leucotis 10+; Pearl-breasted Swallow Hirundo dimidiata 2; Rufous-chested Swallow Hirundo semirufa 4-5; South African Cliff-swallow Hirundo spilodera 3; African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus c)20; Rattling Cisticola Cisticola chinianus 10+; African Barred-warbler Calamonastes fasciolatus 1; Black-chested Prinia Prinia flavicans 3; Burnt-neck Eremomela Eremomela usticollis 2; Long-billed Crombec Sylvietta rufescens 2; Tit-babbler Parisoma subcaeruleum 6; Marico Flycatcher Bradornis mariquensis c)10; White-throated Robin-chat Cossypha humeralis 1; White-browed Scrub Robin Cercotrichas leucophrys 1; Kalahari Scrub-robin Cercotrichas paena 1; Capped Wheatear Oenanthe pileata c)10; Chinspot Batis Batis molitor 3; Southern Pied-babbler Turdoides bicolor 6-8; Arrow-marked Babbler Turdoides jardineii 8-10; White-breasted Sunbird Nectarinia talatala 1; Long-tailed/Magpie Shrike Corvinella melanoleuca c)20; Brown-crowned Tchagra Tchagra australis 2; Crimson-breasted Shrike Laniarius atrococcineus 4; Orange-breasted Bush Shrike Telophorus sulfureopectus 2; Fork-tailed Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis 10+; Pied Crow Corvus albus 4-5; Cape Glossy Starling Lamprotornis nitens 10-12; Burchell’s Starling Lamprotornis australis 6-8; Greater Rufous Sparrow Passer motitensis 5-6; Southern Grey-headed Sparrow Passer diffusus 3; Red-billed Buffalo Weaver Bubalornis niger 1; Scaly-feathered Finch Sporopipes squamifrons 60+; White-browed Sparrow-weaver Plocepasser mahali 4; Southern Masked-weaver Ploceus velatus +; Melba Finch Pytilia melba 4; African Firefinch Lagonosticta rubricata 2+; Jameson’s Firefinch Lagonosticta rhodopareia 2+; Blue Waxbill Uraeginthus angolensis 5-6; Black-cheeked Waxbill Estrilda erythronotos 5-6