Birding Trip Report: Rooiwal
Spring has arrived and with it a new season for birds and birders.
(Click images to enlarge)
I would like to thank Dr.Hannes Coetzee, DA councilor and pastor of Harvest Ministries for giving us access to his property. It is also a privilege to have an avifaunal specialist like Rihann Geyser with you on a birding trip.

It is amazing to see the immediate change because of the change in season. Instead of birds flocking together in bird parties, more birds focus on building nests.
Birding in a team (one with a notebook and one with a camera) works like a dream.
Ben Fouche
Birdwatcher.co.za
BIRDING TRIP REPORT: ROOIWAL PENTAD 2530_2810
Ben Fouche and I went birding in the 2530_2810 pentad just north Pretoria, situated within the 2528CA quarter degree grid cell (q.d.g.c.) to gather data for the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2 (SABAP2).
Atlasing started on Portions 135, 136 and 137 of the farm Grootvlei 272 JR (25°31’48.71” S 28°14’12.49” E). These smallholdings form part of several smallholdings bordering the eastern banks of the Apies River north of Rooiwal Power Station, one of the favourite Gauteng birding spots. 50 bird species were seen during the 1st hour of birding and the list stood on 70 species at the end of the 2nd hour. Birds seen includes species such as Ground-scrapper Thrush,

Magpie Shrike,


African Wattled Lapwing, African Green Pigeon, Rattling Cisticola, African Pipit, Orange-breasted Waxbill, Zitting Cisticola, a female Northern Black Korhaan, foraging on the bare agricultural cropland in close vicinity of Spotted Thick-knees, Black-headed Oriole, Brown-crowed Tchagra, Thick-billed Weaver, Amethyst Sunbird, Burnt-necked Eremomela,

Kurrichane Thrush, Red-billed Firefinch, Bar-throated Apalis, African Grey Hornbill, and Black-backed Puffback. Red-breasted Swallow and Lesser Striped Swallow which are both intra-African migrants that has recently returned from their northern migratory range were also seen. The river and riparian vegetation added species such as African Reed Warbler actively calling from the reed next to the river,

Giant Kingfisher, Black Crake,

Lesser Swamp-warbler, Green-backed Heron, breeding Village Weavers, Little Rush-Warbler, Common Waxbill,

Brown-throated Martin, and stunning views of a Black-crowned Night-Heron.
From here we headed to Rooiwal Sewerage Works, which consists of several setting ponds that attract a variety of water bird species throughout the year. Surrounding these setting pond are open lawn areas, exotic trees and old agricultural lands. Rooiwal added species such as African Jacana, Southern Pochard,

Squacco Heron,

Cape Shoveler, Purple Heron,

Wood Sandpiper (Palearcticmigrant),

Pied Avocet,

African Purple Swamphen, Pin-tailed Whydah,

Black-winged Stilt, Burchell’s Coucal, African Fish-Eagle calling from a far-off distance, Hamerkop, Wattled Starling,

Cape Teal, Little Stint (Palaearctic migrant),

Hottentot Teal,


African Snipe,

South African Cliff-swallow (intra-African migrant), a single White-fronted Bee-eater


a single Ruff and a single Common Greenshank(both Palaearctic migrants).


A single Long-creasted Eagle was seen in the pine trees west of the settling ponds.



All-in-all it was a great day of birding and nice to see the migrating birds returning from their northern migratory range.

The day ended on 115 species seen in just over 5 hours of birding, most species seen in one day for this pentad to date. A total of 7 bird species were added to the pentad list which are African Green-pigeon, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Little Rush-Warbler, Black-crowned Night-heron, Common Ostrich, Burnt-necked Eremomela and Bar-throated Apalis.
Rihann Geyser.
List of birds observed and submitted to SABAP2:
Sequence | Ref No | Common name | Scientific name |
1 | 84 | Ibis Hadeda | Bostrychia hagedash |
2 | 784 | Sparrow House | Passer domesticus |
3 | 734 | Myna Common | Acridotheres tristis |
4 | 392 | Mousebird Red-faced | Urocolius indicus |
5 | 803 | Masked-Weaver Southern | Ploceus velatus |
6 | 317 | Dove Laughing | Streptopelia senegalensis |
7 | 649 | Prinia Tawny-flanked | Prinia subflava |
8 | 808 | Bishop Southern Red | Euplectes orix |
9 | 686 | Wagtail Cape | Motacilla capensis |
10 | 314 | Dove Red-eyed | Streptopelia semitorquata |
11 | 311 | Pigeon Speckled | Columba guinea |
12 | 557 | Thrush Groundscraper | Psophocichla litsipsirupa |
13 | 439 | Barbet Crested | Trachyphonus vaillantii |
14 | 522 | Crow Pied | Corvus albus |
15 | 245 | Lapwing Blacksmith | Vanellus armatus |
16 | 242 | Lapwing Crowned | Vanellus coronatus |
17 | 339 | Go-away-bird Grey | Corythaixoides concolor |
18 | 724 | Shrike Magpie | Corvinella melanoleuca |
19 | 763 | Sunbird White-bellied | Cinnyris talatala |
20 | 247 | Lapwing African Wattled | Vanellus senegallus |
21 | 709 | Boubou Southern | Laniarius ferrugineus |
22 | 323 | Green-Pigeon African | Treron calvus |
23 | 642 | Cisticola Rattling | Cisticola chiniana |
24 | 692 | Pipit African | Anthus cinnamomeus |
25 | 503 | Swallow Lesser Striped | Hirundo abyssinica |
26 | 545 | Bulbul Dark-capped | Pycnonotus tricolor |
27 | 100 | Duck White-faced | Dendrocygna viduata |
28 | 387 | Palm-Swift African | Cypsiurus parvus |
29 | 838 | Waxbill Orange-breasted | Amandava subflava |
30 | 431 | Barbet Black-collared | Lybius torquatus |
31 | 533 | Babbler Arrow-marked | Turdoides jardineii |
32 | 707 | Fiscal Common | Lanius collaris |
33 | 385 | Swift Little | Apus affinis |
34 | 61 | Egret Cattle | Bubulcus ibis |
35 | 629 | Cisticola Zitting | Cisticola juncidis |
36 | 402 | Kingfisher Brown-hooded | Halcyon albiventris |
37 | 288 | Gull Grey-headed | Larus cirrocephalus |
38 | 714 | Tchagra Brown-crowned | Tchagra australis |
39 | 517 | Drongo Fork-tailed | Dicrurus adsimilis |
40 | 1035 | Korhaan Northern Black | Afrotis afraoides |
41 | 1172 | White-eye Cape | Zosterops virens |
42 | 275 | Thick-knee Spotted | Burhinus capensis |
43 | 55 | Heron Black-headed | Ardea melanocephala |
44 | 581 | Robin-Chat Cape | Cossypha caffra |
45 | 606 | Reed-Warbler African | Acrocephalus baeticatus |
46 | 395 | Kingfisher Giant | Megaceryle maximus |
47 | 203 | Crake Black | Amaurornis flavirostris |
48 | 604 | Swamp-Warbler Lesser | Acrocephalus gracilirostris |
49 | 63 | Heron Green-backed | Butorides striata |
50 | 797 | Weaver Village | Ploceus cucullatus |
51 | 576 | Stonechat African | Saxicola torquatus |
52 | 843 | Waxbill Common | Estrilda astrild |
53 | 1104 | Thrush Karoo | Turdus smithi |
54 | 804 | Weaver Thick-billed | Amblyospiza albifrons |
55 | 772 | Sunbird Amethyst | Chalcomitra amethystina |
56 | 419 | Wood-Hoopoe Green | Phoeniculus purpureus |
57 | 786 | Sparrow Cape | Passer melanurus |
58 | 646 | Cisticola Levaillant’s | Cisticola tinniens |
59 | 509 | Martin Brown-throated | Riparia paludicola |
60 | 50 | Cormorant Reed | Phalacrocorax africanus |
61 | 69 | Night-Heron Black-crowned | Nycticorax nycticorax |
62 | 192 | Guineafowl Helmeted | Numida meleagris |
63 | 96 | Duck Yellow-billed | Anas undulata |
64 | 1 | Ostrich Common | Struthio camelus |
65 | 859 | Canary Yellow-fronted | Crithagra mozambicus |
66 | 501 | Swallow Red-breasted | Hirundo semirufa |
67 | 601 | Eremomela Burnt-necked | Eremomela usticollis |
68 | 552 | Thrush Kurrichane | Turdus libonyanus |
69 | 424 | Hornbill African Grey | Tockus nasutus |
70 | 837 | Firefinch Red-billed | Lagonosticta senegala |
71 | 390 | Mousebird Speckled | Colius striatus |
72 | 622 | Apalis Bar-throated | Apalis thoracica |
73 | 588 | Scrub-Robin White-browed | Cercotrichas leucophrys |
74 | 712 | Puffback Black-backed | Dryoscopus cubla |
75 | 81 | Ibis African Sacred | Threskiornis aethiopicus |
76 | 228 | Jacana African | Actophilornis africanus |
77 | 495 | Swallow White-throated | Hirundo albigularis |
78 | 89 | Goose Egyptian | Alopochen aegyptiacus |
79 | 102 | Pochard Southern | Netta erythrophthalma |
80 | 212 | Coot Red-knobbed | Fulica cristata |
81 | 210 | Moorhen Common | Gallinula chloropus |
82 | 62 | Heron Squacco | Ardeola ralloides |
83 | 57 | Heron Purple | Ardea purpurea |
84 | 6 | Grebe Little | Tachybaptus ruficollis |
85 | 47 | Cormorant White-breasted | Phalacrocorax carbo |
86 | 94 | Shoveler Cape | Anas smithii |
87 | 52 | Darter African | Anhinga rufa |
88 | 97 | Teal Red-billed | Anas erythrorhyncha |
89 | 264 | Sandpiper Wood | Tringa glareola |
90 | 269 | Avocet Pied | Recurvirostra avosetta |
91 | 208 | Swamphen African Purple | Porphyrio madagascariensis |
92 | 860 | Canary Black-throated | Crithagra atrogularis |
93 | 846 | Whydah Pin-tailed | Vidua macroura |
94 | 270 | Stilt Black-winged | Himantopus himantopus |
95 | 4142 | Sparrow Southern Grey-headed | Passer diffusus |
96 | 149 | Fish-Eagle African | Haliaeetus vocifer |
97 | 4131 | Coucal Burchell’s | Centropus burchellii |
98 | 138 | Eagle Long-crested | Lophaetus occipitalis |
99 | 72 | Hamerkop Hamerkop | Scopus umbretta |
100 | 735 | Starling Wattled | Creatophora cinerea |
101 | 98 | Teal Cape | Anas capensis |
102 | 253 | Stint Little | Calidris minuta |
103 | 99 | Teal Hottentot | Anas hottentota |
104 | 250 | Snipe African | Gallinago nigripennis |
105 | 504 | Cliff-Swallow South African | Hirundo spilodera |
106 | 409 | Bee-eater White-fronted | Merops bullockoides |
107 | 256 | Ruff Ruff | Philomachus pugnax |
108 | 665 | Flycatcher Fiscal | Sigelus silens |
109 | 83 | Ibis Glossy | Plegadis falcinellus |
110 | 130 | Kite Black-shouldered | Elanus caeruleus |
111 | 650 | Prinia Black-chested | Prinia flavicans |
112 | 607 | Warbler Marsh | Acrocephalus palustris |
113 | 263 | Greenshank Common | Tringa nebularia |
114 | 818 | Widowbird Long-tailed | Euplectes progne |
115 | 609 | Rush-Warbler Little | Bradypterus baboecala |