Inspired by our trip to Shompole in August, I wanted to keep camera fit for my trip to Amboseli and the Mara Triangle in October. I often visit Marievale Bird Sanctuary for photographic practice. Marievale Bird Sanctuary is about 45 kms from Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Birds are busy early in the mornings so we needed to get to Marievale by 6h15 at the latest. The early timing was firstly to see the birds at their most active and also to miss the heavy traffic from Tsakane near Nigel.

“Don’t only practice your art but force your way into its secrets.” — Ludwig van Beethoven

Once we had signed in and entered through the Nigel entrance to Marievale Bird Sanctuary we drove slowly to the Hadeda hide. As we drove towards the hide we found a pair of Shelley’s francolin. I have never seen Shelley’s francolin in all the years I have been visiting Marievale. What a treat, these are magnificently coloured francolin.

The pair of Shelley’s francolin moved from behind the hide to in front of it where one individual spent some time preening itself.

Also standing at the entrance to the Hadeda hide was a pair of Spotted thick-knees. This species is primarily nocturnal which is why its eyes were partially closed to reduce the glare of the early morning sunlight.

Once inside the Hadeda hide we watched and waited. There was a pair of Wire-tailed swallows which were hawking insects from a perch just to the side of the hide.

We see Stonechats everytime we visit Marievale. The male Stonechat is on the left and female on the right. Stonechats are primarily insect eaters but will forage on fruit and seeds when they cannot find insects.

A Cape reed-warbler with its distinct white eyebrow. This character was climbing through the short reeds in front of the hide. It was picking tiny insects off the reed stems.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Springtime is baby time. This female Blacksmith lapwing was resting with her recently hatched chick in a patch of new green foliage amongst the old dead reed stems.

The two Blacksmith lapwing chicks were days old and already feeding themselves – precocial.

“Spring is proof that there is beauty in new beginnings.” — Unknown

Yellow-billed duck showing its iridescent mauve speculum. The water level in Marievale was unusually low so the ducks had to waddle through mud to find a patch of water they could dabble in.

This Purple swamphen was in its element as it could easily negotiate the shallow water, mud sections and reeds with plenty to feed on.

There were numerous Pied avocets enjoying the shallow waters. The level of the water in Marievale has a pervasive influence on the type and number of birds you are likely to see. This Pied avocet was successfully foraging for food in the shallows.

A pair of immature Greater flamingos striding through the shallows in unison. The young are grey at birth, but their plumage turns pinkish around the age of three. The beak is straight at birth but gradually curves so that it can scrape the bottom of marshes. Initially, both its beak and legs are pink, but after a week to ten days they turn black. Until their beak curves (after a month or so) the chicks cannot filter tiny organisms from the water. Instead, the adults feed them a nutrient-rich secretion called crop milk, produced in the crop area. Greater flamingo chicks begin to feed for themselves at between 2.5 to 3 months of age.

A flock of Lesser flamingos feeding in one of the deeper pools. Easily identified by their evenly coloured dark maroon bill and they tend to be pinker that their greater cousins. Lesser flamingos get their pink colour from pigments in an algae called spirulina, which is their primary food. Spirulina is high in protein 60% to 65%, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients such as carotenoids.

“A change fell upon all things. Strange brilliant flowers, star-shaped, burst out upon the trees where no flowers had been before. The tints of the green carpet deepened; and when, one by one, the white daisies shrank away, there sprang up, in place of them, ten by ten of the ruby-red asphodel. And life arose in our paths; for the tall flamingo hitherto unseen, with all gay glowing birds, flaunted his scarlet plumage before us. The golden and silver fish haunted the river.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Given the relatively small size of the Little stint’s beak it cannot prod very deep into the mud. These tiny wading birds nest on tundra in northern Scandinavia and Siberia, and then spend the northern hemisphere winter in Africa, South Asia and southern Europe. Little stints are usually found feeding on estuaries or the muddy shores of wetlands.

“Migratory birds connect people, ecosystems, and nations. They are symbols of peace and of an interconnected plant.” ~ Antonio Guterres

Little stints foraging along the edge of the water probing the mud for small insects and crustaceans.

A Marsh sandpiper watching the sky for aerial threats. Marsh sandpipers have relatively small bodies but their very long greenish legs and long fine straight bill make this species distinctive.

A Marsh sandpiper is distinguished by its long thin yellow-green legs and long thin beak. This species is migratory, with the majority wintering in Africa and India, while others travel to Southeast Asia and Australia. They favour freshwater wetlands such as swamps and lakes during the winter and are typically observed alone or in small groups.

A ruff is an early visitor from Russia. Russian ruffs migrate vast distances, often travelling 30,000 km in an annual round trip. Ruffs breed in Siberia and northern Russia migrate up to 15,000 km to Southern Africa, primarily using the East Atlantic Flyway. They fly west across Eurasia, move down the Atlantic coast of Europe, and continue to southern African wetlands for the non-breeding season, with some traversing inland routes via Kazakhstan. The East Atlantic Flyway is a migration route used by about 90 million birds annually, passing from their breeding areas in the United States, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Siberia and northern Europe to wintering areas in western Europe and on to southern Africa. It is one of the eight major flyways used by waders and shorebirds.

“To watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years… is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly thing can be.” — Rachel Carson

A Levaillant’s cisticola working its favourite area along the edge of wetlands. Levaillant’s cisticolas are insectivorous, foraging low down in vegetation for termites, grasshoppers, larvae and small beetles.

African pipit foraging through the short grass close to one of the access roads.

A juvenile Reed cormorant seen along the powerline servitude. It was warming up and drying out after fishing. The juvenile has the off-white underparts and its upper chest is a darker buff colour. Its underparts plumage will darken as it matures.

A Red-knobbed coot. The red knobs are present in both males and females making the sexes similar in appearance.
During the breeding season, two distinctive red knobs develop above the frontal shield, enhancing visibility but becoming reduced or absent outside this period.

A one legged Black-winged stilt in flight.

A scruffy Black crake striding across a muddy section at the edge of one of the large pools of water.

A male Long-tailed widowbird in his non breeding buff plumage with dark brown streaks. This male was displaying to passing females even before he had moulted into his black breeding plumage with long tail feathers.

The bird sightings are always good at Marievale. You can expect to see a selection of flamingos, herons, ducks, crakes, rails, grebes, sandpipers, kingfishers and snipes. In summer, the grassland birds are in full breeding colours. I have also seen Fish eagles, Marsh harriers and Black-shouldered kites in Marievale. I have seen reed buck, water mongooses and otters (at a distance). There many slender mongooses near the mine dumps.

“How sweet the morning air is! …How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!” ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

As I mentioned earlier, the selection of birds you can see is strongly influenced by the depth of water in the open pools of water. There are also plenty of carp to keep the darters, cormorants and herons well feed.

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” — Loren Eiseley

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

Have fun , Mike