My enthusiastic birding wife, Helen, and I visited Marievale Bird Sanctuary at the end of January this year. For us this is a place of practice, fun and wonder at the constant changes. The Highveld in South Africa had very little rain this summer season because of the El Niño effect. Although milder than the 2015 El Niño, this time it was classified as strong and remained so until March. The effect brought drier, hotter weather.

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” ~ Anthony J. D’Angelo

The birdlife you are likely to see in this wetland is highly dependent on the level of water in the pools in the wetland in Marievale Bird Sanctuary. With so little rain this season the water level in the wetland was much lower than usual at that time of the year. Some residents are not majorly dependent on the water levels in the wetland pools. One such species is the Pin-tailed whydah. The male is usually very active courting every passing female. During the breeding season, the male whydahs grow very long tail feathers. Whydahs are brood parasites and differently coloured to widowbirds. The latter species have all black plumage with patches of colour on their shoulders and collars. Whydahs generally have a black cap and black upper parts but their belly, breast and throats are coloured as are their cheeks.

There are plenty of reeds for Southern red bishops to build nests but we did not see as many this visit as in the past because the rain had not generated a bounty of grass seed. This species of bishop is a small, dumpy sparrow-like weaver. The breeding male has a black face mask and black breast and belly. The back of its crown, its nape, upper parts and undertail coverts are a vivid scarlet red.

The low water level was ideal for the African snipe. This species is a small stocky wader with short legs and it uses its long beak to probe the muddy pool bed and water’s edge. They mainly eat insects, earthworms, small crustaceans, snails, spiders, and some plant material.

We normally see African snipe foraging on the edge of pools of water but with the water levels so low we saw this snipe wading through the water from one island to the next to forage.

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” ~ Winston Churchill

An adult White-throated swallow perched on a dead log in front of the Hadeda hide. This swallow has a small rufous patch on the forehead and a diagnostic steel-blue breast band which creates a white throat patch.

The pair in front of the Hadeda hide were mating and preening themselves. There was no large pool of water in front of the Hadeda hide but this did not stop them frequently hawking insects from their perch.

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” ~ Chief Seattle

The Greater-striped swallow perched on a dead log in front of the Duiker hide which looks onto a large pool of water. This species is a relatively large, beautiful swallow with a long, forked tail. Identification comes from its rufous cap, and rump, and pale buffy underparts with fine streaking. It is usually found in grasslands and wetlands.

The Yellow-billed duck is brown with a vivid yellow bill. Its belly and flanks have white scalloping on the feathers, giving it a scaly appearance, especially on the underparts. This dabbling duck is common but nomadic through Africa’s freshwater and brackish wetlands, where it forages for plants and invertebrates.

Dabbling ducks float high in the water, and paddle along skimming the water’s surface for food such as seeds and insects. They dabble when they stick their tails straight up in the air and put their head underwater to feed plants and worms on the pond bed.

A Red-billed teal. This small duck has a chocolate-brown ‘skull cap’, brown eyes, white cheeks, and a distinctive pink-red bill with a dark saddle. This is also a dabbling duck and although not migratory, it is nomadic looking for suitable water sources.

“Put simply, birds can choose with their wings. When things go wrong in an ecosystem, they will simply not return.” ~ Dr Steve Boyes

This species prefers foraging on open fresh water, with seeds and plant matter constituting most of its diet. The Red-billed teal prefers freshwater habitats in fairly open country. On this particular morning, the sun was shining on the reeds and the light reflected on the water surface created a beautiful background for this teal.

A petite Marsh sandpiper wading through the shallow water. This is a paleartic migrant which migrates to southern Africa during the southern hemisphere summer. This species prefers inland fresh wetlands and tends to avoid open sandbanks.

This species has a white eyebrow, as are the feathers at the base of the beak. The needle-like beak is black with grey base. The eyes are dark brown. The long legs are dull yellow to greenish-grey. Both sexes have similar plumage, but the female is slightly larger than the male.

A pair of Hottentot teals. This teal is another species of dabbling duck. It has a diagnostic blue bill and a chocolate brown crown. Its cheeks are beige and its neck, breast and belly are beige with dark brown spots.

As with all teal, this species has an iridescent green speculum on its secondaries, edged by narrow black and terminal white bars.

The level of the water in the open pools in the wetland has a strong influence on both the Greater and Lesser flamingoes. The water levels appeared to be ideal for flamingoes, not too deep but deep enough for them to feed easily. Surprisingly we found this lone Greater flamingo. Both flamingo species have black-tipped bills with a distinctive downward bend. The Greater flamingo has a light pink beak and small light pink eyering while the Lesser flamingo has a dark pink beak and a dark red eye ring.

The Greater flamingo is the larger of the two flamingo species seen in southern Africa. It has a very long neck and its body plumage is mostly white with flecks of pink. Its upper wing coverts are pink and the underwing colour of its primary and secondary feathers is black and can only be seen in flight or when they open their wings.

“Something is complete when you can let is be as it is.” ~ Antoine de Saint Exupéry

I was surprised to see this Purple swamphen avoid any conflict with the Red knobbed coot as they approached each other. The swamphen was much larger but just flew over the coot. The water levels were shallow enough for the swamp hen to wade through the water while the coot swam.

A male Yellow-crowned bishop perched on a seed stem looking for females to chase. This small bishop has a diagnostic yellow crown and yellow back feathers and yellow shoulders. It looks like a large yellow bumble bee when it flies. When the male is trying to attract females he raises his yellow back feathers making him look like a bumble bee. The male in breeding plumage resembles the yellow bishop, but the latter species is larger and lacks the yellow crown.

A Black heron walking along the edge of the open pool of water looking for a suitable place to hunt for small fish. It prefers shallow open waters, such as the edges of freshwater lakes and ponds. The Black heron uses a unique method of hunting. It opens its wings and shapes them like an umbrella in a method called canopy feeding. The umbrella creates shade which attracts fish.

“The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.” ~ Annie Leibovitz

A lone male Red shouldered widow also called the Fan-tailed widow. The male has black plumes with red shoulder and a short tail. It is resident but not often seen.

A male Long tailed widowbird in display flight. The male has between six and 12 tail feathers which grow as long as half a metre. The tail is a key part of the flight display as it is expanded into a deep long keel below the body with slow deliberate wingbeats. The red-orange shoulder epaulets with a white border are highly visible during the display.

“We cannot become what we what to be by remaining where we are.” ~ Max DuPree

The dry conditions and reduced grass seed dictated that there were fewer females in the area which required the males to spend more time and effort chasing each other away from the relatively few females. The open grassland areas alongside the reed bed at the edge of the large open pools of water were punctuated by these territorially protective males.

Only after having visited Marievale many times do you get a sense of just how different the conditions and light can be, all of which dictate the type and number of birds you are likely to see. Many of the non-migratory birds such as flamingoes, herons, sandpipers and snipe are nomadic and will move to more productive feeding wetlands as moisture conditions change.

“For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet, and we think little about it beyond this point of contact. We have lost a sense of respect for the wild river, for the complex workings of a wetland, for the intricate web of life that water supports.” ~ Sandra Postel

Marievale Bird Sanctuary is situated in the Blesbok wetland which is a Ramsar site. The Blesbokspruit is the major river coursing through the wetland. The area is relatively flat which creates an extensive floodplain and wetland. Many species of birds and mammals rely on this wetland for food, water and shelter. These areas are carbon sinks storing carbon within their plant communities and soil instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. They also act as a sponge retaining and filtering the water. Wetlands connected to underground sources of water are important because they retain water and provide time for it to filter down into aquifers. Since the closure of the Grootvlei gold mine adjacent to the wetland there have been concerns that its flooding would spill acid mine water into the wetland. The Eastern Basin Acid Mine Drainage chemical treatment plant nows plays a critical role in ensuring the quality of water feeding into the wetland remains unpolluted. This is especially so when the summer season has been so dry.

“Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.” ~ Annie Leibovitz

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike