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

This is my first post in seven months after an extensive home renovation which was a complete and prolonged distraction.

Helen and I visited Marievale Bird Sanctuary in mid-September. This bird sanctuary is about 45 kilometres south of Johannesburg in the Highveld region of South Africa. Marievale Bird Sanctuary is a protected wetland area and a Ramsar site. It is about 15 km² in size, and constitutes the southern half of the Blesbokspruit wetland, which extends from near the town of Springs to the town of Nigel. The Blesbokspruit is a major perennial river in Gauteng and is flanked by extensive floodplains. Surrounding the Marievale sanctuary are the old mine dumps left over from an erstwhile thriving gold mining community.

The Blesbokspruit wetland is designated as an Important Bird Area with almost 300 bird species recorded, according to the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA). Helen and I have been visiting Marievale for about 15 years. It is a wonderful place to practice bird photography skills and to see and learn about new birds and bird behaviour.

Mid-spring on the Highveld in South Africa was a time when the temperature started to warm up but it was very dry. The rains were only expected to start around mid-November and turned out to be late. The weather on this particular day was variable. It was cool in the early part of the morning with plenty of wind but it warmed up by late morning. It was partly cloudy dictating that the photographic light and colour was variable.

A view from the access road looking east across a dry pan in front of the Flamingo hide. This was the first time I had seen this pan bone dry.

From a hydrological perspective, wetlands have many functions. Although often viewed as waste lands they play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of both flood and drought conditions in a watershed. Wetlands act like a sponge and in so doing help store and release water relative to the amount of water in the surrounding area. They also filter and clean polluted water, recharge ground water, provide habitats for wildlife, and provide recreational value.

Natural water regimes dictated by rainfall and groundwater flow provide a pattern of wetting and drying which are the key to the health of rivers, wetlands and floodplains. High flows and floods connect rivers to floodplains and wetlands, moving nutrients around, allowing seeds to germinate and supporting breeding and movement of birds, frogs, fish and other animals. Low flows keep rivers flowing, allowing fish to migrate and breed. Dry periods where there are no flows can be important too and don’t necessarily indicate a wetland is not healthy. (Source: Wetlands and changes in water flows, Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water Wetland publications).

On the South African highveld, late spring and early summer was a particularly dry period which reduced the water levels in the Marievale Bird Sanctuary to the lowest I have seen in the years I have been visiting this bird haven. The intriguing aspect of the water levels in the wetland waterways is the profound effect it has on which birds you are likely to see and photograph.

An African rail, skittish as usual, running away to hide in the reeds.

Prolonged low water flows have an important impact on wetlands such as reduced carbon absorption through loss of river bank vegetation; increased algal blooms; decreases in waterbird populations—when wetland habitats are lost or reduced and water is not available at the right time for breeding or feeding; increased pest fish species (such as carp) leading to loss of native species—when the patterns of flow favour introduced species over native species.

The unusually low water levels meant that the water’s edge was further from the hides so longer lenses were needed to capture the small birds.

On this particular visit we saw more African snipe than in all our previous visits combined. Usually when the water levels were higher we found African snipe foraging at the edge of the reeds because the water was too deep for them. On this occasion, the depth of the water was ideal for them given their short legs and long beaks.

This snipe’s plumage looks cryptic from above. Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with bold dark brown stripes and gold edges to the feathers forming lines down its back. The belly is white, with some brown barring on the flanks. Its beak is dark brown, long (for the bird’s size), straight and fairly robust. The legs and feet are yellowish-olive to greenish-grey. The sexes have similarly coloured plumage.

It was very unusual to see these African snipe wading around in the open water areas. The image below on the right hand side shows several African snipe together in just small area. Usually, we only see an individual.

Ruffs are often the first Palearctic migrants to arrive at Marievale. These large sandpipers have their non-breeding plumage in the South African spring and summer months. They are plain-looking waders, with a longish neck and small head. Non-breeding birds are a pale fawn-brown all over, with a paler belly. These waders have a slightly de-curved beak and long yellow-orange legs.

Ruffs are usually found foraging either in shallow water or exposed mud flats. They feed mainly on insects but will also go for spiders, crustaceans, worms, small fish, frogs, and seeds.

Little stint stretching its wing. This diminutive wader forages for mainly small invertebrates such as midges, crustaceans and gastropods, like slugs and snails. This diminutive wader does most of its foraging in very shallow water or mud.

The low water levels suited the Lesser flamingos. Lesser flamingos have a much finer beak filter than Greater flamingos and are surface feeders that skim the top layer of water for nutrients like blue-green algae and diatoms. Lesser flamingos and Greater flamingos can feed in the same water sources without competing for food because they have different diets and feeding methods. By contrast, Greater flamingoes forage by sifting food from the lake bed of shallow water bodies consuming mainly crustaceans like shrimp, mollusks, and other invertebrates but will also feed on small organisms like plankton, tiny fish, and fly larvae.

Lesser flamingos have a carmine red beak and pink plumage whereas Greater flamingos have a pink beak with a black tip and its plumage is white with pink tinges. Its wing covers are pink and its primary and secondary wing feathers are black.

A group of Lesser flamingos walking through the shallows. It was cold so the front flamingo was puffed up and had pulled its neck in to keep warm.

A pair of Cape shovellers with their unique shaped bill.

Glossy ibises were the only species of ibis we saw at Marievale on this visit. Glossy ibises have a purple and green iridescent gloss on the feathers. In the breeding season, the head and neck have a reddish brown plumage. When non- breeding, the head and neck are a duller brown with white streaks and the plumage loses its iridescence and so is duller.

There were quite a few Pied avocets enjoying the relatively shallow water. Avocets use their long, up-curved beaks to feed by sweeping them from side to side in shallow water to stir up prey.

Avocets feed on aquatic insects, worms, crustaceans, and sometimes seeds. They are good swimmers and are able to dabble when the water is too deep for them to stand in. The food that this species feeds on is small so they have to forage for long periods to ingest sufficient nutrients.

There were several pairs of Red-billed teal swimming in the open channels of water feeding regularly. Red-billed teal are a type of dabbling duck. The species is the largest of all the teal family, and slightly smaller than a Yellow-billed duck. The Red-billed teal and Cape teal look quite similar but the Red-billed teal has a brown crown, forehead and nape where as the Cape teal has a pale, mottled gray head and neck, with distinctive pink rather than red bill. 

A Black crake walking across the muddy remains of an erstwhile channel in front of the Hadeda hide. The wetland birds looked quite scruffy due to all the mud. This member of the rail family usually has a vivid yellow beak and bright pink-red legs. As usual this Black crake was skittish and dashed for the reeds as soon is it saw us.

The only Marsh sandpiper we saw was also enjoying the relatively shallow water which enabled it to forage over a larger area. This is a relatively large sandpiper which feeds by probing in the shallows. The Marsh sandpiper is easily mistaken for a Greenshank but the former has longer legs, is more slender and has a longer neck and beak. The Marsh sandpiper is a Palearctic breeder so it migrates to Southern Africa in our summer season.

The ubiquitous Black-headed heron in the wet and marshy areas along side the water ways. This voracious hunter seeks rats, mice, frogs and insects in the undergrowth and grasses. It does not usually venture into the water or even hunt along the water’s edge like a Grey-headed heron.

A Cape wagtail walking in the shallow water in front of the Otter hide. This wagtail forages on tiny insects on the surface of the water and sand and mud on the water’s edge. The Cape wagtail has a grey head and back and a distinctive black “v” shaped collar. All wagtails forage for food while walking along the ground, bobbing its head and tail constantly.

A White-throated swallow perched on a falling log in front of Otter hide. We always see a pair at this hide because they have built their mud nest in the roof of the hide. The White-throated swallow has distinctly different markings to the Barn swallow in that its throat is white and it has a dark blue necklace.

A male Long-tailed widow bird with its non breeding plumage. Outside the breeding season, the males of this species lose their long black tail feathers and black body and wing plumage. These seedeaters are normally seen around many females but we saw very few females on this visit.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the largest wetland area in South Africa but the largest and most unique wetland in southern Africa is the Okavango Delta. To better understand the dynamics of one the main rivers feed the delta, Dr Steve Boyes and his research team’s journeyed from the source of the Cuito river in the Angolan highlands to the Okavango Delta. En route they encountered a huge peatland which is a unique type of wetland which is estimated to be 1634 square kilometres in size in the Cuito river basin (Source: Jennifer M. Fitchett etal, Angolan highlands peatlands: Extent, age and growth dynamics). Through carbon dating the team revealed that for thousands of years this living landscape has been absorbing carbon dioxide. Peat layers are estimated to contain between 4 and 25 times more carbon than the trees. Healthy peatlands capture CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. Because the plants that grow on peatlands do not fully decompose under wet conditions, they do not release carbon which would otherwise be returned to the atmosphere as CO2. The peatland is also a massive sponge which regulates water flow of water from the Quito river into the delta.

The Marievale wetland is less than 1/100 th of the area of the Cuito peatland but plays an important role in the urban highveld environment and is a wonderful place for avian enthusiasts to enjoy a large variety of species up close.

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

Have fun, Mike

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

Helen and I visited Marievale Bird Sanctuary in late August last year. This wetland is a RAMSAR site and is therefore judged to be of International importance because of its uniqueness and biodiversity. The water levels in the wetland have a strong influence on what birds you are likely to see. The time of year also dictates whether you will see migrants or not. Being the end of Southern African winter only the very early migrants were seen. In the southern African winter many of the grassland birds lose their colourful breeding plumage and the grass and reeds in the wetland turn to yellows and browns.

“The changing of the seasons marks our journey through life, embracing and learning from each experience.” ~ Anonymous

We have seen many Purple swamphens during our wanderings around Marievale Bird Sanctuary. This is a big bird around 43cm in height, the size of a chicken. When the sun is out it shows a spectacular purple, green and blue colouration. It has a bronze green back and wing coverts. Its underparts and head are a royal blue. The throat and ear coverts are a light blue and it has a red beak and frontal shield. Its legs are red and and it has white undertail which it flicks up and down as it walks along the bank of a waterway.

This species of swamphen is an omnivore and feeds mostly on soft shoots of reeds and rushes and small animals, such as frogs and snails. It is also known to feed on eggs and other bird’s chicks. The Purple swamphen is often heard and tends to hide in the reeds along the bank. It is not often seen out in the open, much like a Black crake.

A Black-winged stilt is wader recognised by its very long pink legs, black back and wings and white underparts, neck and head. It has an untidy black crown and a long thin beak, red eye which is black when immature. Marievale is ideal for this wader as it prefers marshes and wetlands. With its long thin beak it picks edibles such as insects and crustaceans from the sand and surface of the water.

A pair of Avocets. These waders are easily identified by their upcurved black beak, black and white colouration and ruby red eyes. Their head nape and back is black as are their upperparts. The primary feathers on the wings are black as are the coverts with the greater coverts mainly white forming a white shoulder patch. They have long blue-grey legs suited to wading in shallow water.

The Pied Avocet feeds by swishing its beak back and forth in the shallow water to catch insects, worms and crustaceans. Their short rounded wings are suited to short quick flights. Pied avocets have been a great conservation success story globally and especially in the UK.

A Hottentot teal foraging as it is swimming in the shallow waters of the Marievale waterways. This is a small dabbling duck with a black head and nape and buff-colored cheeks and throat. Its bill is an unusual blue colour with a black stripe on the upper mandible. Its back is blackish-brown edged with buff, the breast is brown spotted with black, and the belly is mottled buff. As with all teals, its has a green wing speculum, a distinctly coloured patch on the secondary wing feathers.

A female ruff in non-breeding plumage foraging for insects, worms and crustaceans in the mud. This migrant must have been one of the early arrivals. Ruffs undertake the longest migration of any terrestrial bird, as they first leave their Siberian breeding colonies in July before heading west to the Black and Caspian Seas, then on down south to southern Africa, a journey of approximately 16 000km.

A lone Kittlitz plover foraging for insects in the mud among the dead reed stems. There is a difference between plovers and lapwings. Plovers are much smaller than lapwings and the latter has broad, rounded wings. Lapwings also have long legs and carpal spurs on their wings.

This Little stint is a tiny wader and was seen foraging along the water edge. This migrant was also an early arrival. It breeds in arctic Europe and Asia and migrates down to South Africa in the late winter, early spring.

A pair of Red-billed teal sunning themselves and preening on a small island in one of the large open waterways in Marievale.

A pair of Red-billed teal and Yellow-billed ducks flushed by our approach. Interestingly, the popularity of Marievale with birders has not had much effect habituating these waterfowl to humans. The duck species are still wary of humans.

“Tame birds sing of freedom. Wild birds fly.” ~ John Lennon

A male Long-tailed widowbird in non breeding plumage. Non-breeding males lose their long tails and become streaky and brown but keep the distinctive wing pattern.

A Cape wagtail singing to its heart’s content from a fallen tree trunk mostly submerged in the water. This a long-tailed insect eater with a brownish back, pale underparts, and a black chest band. White outer tail rectrices are conspicuous in flight. Found in most open habitats, especially those near water. Like all wagtails it has a distinctive way of walking, bobbing its tail constantly.

“A heart without dreams is like a bird without feathers.” ~ Suzy Kassem

A male Stonechat singing away from its dead tree stump perch. Stonechats are abundant in Marievale.

A White-throated swallow. Like most swallows it has a blue back, nape and crown. Its forehead is a chestnut brown. Its throat is white and it has a blue horizontal breast band. Its belly, undertail coverts are white. It also has two long thin tail streamers which are characteristic of this species.

A Black crake out in the open but surprised by a noise on the other side of the stream. It immediately dashed for the cover of the reeds next to the stream. This species of crake is secretive and is usually only seen sulking on the edge of a reed bed. This is a small black wader with a vivid yellow beak, red eyes and pink legs. This species prefers freshwater marshes.

An African snipe. This is a stocky short legged, long billed wader. It has cryptically coloured plumage which provides effective camouflage making it difficult to see amongst the vegetation at the edge of the waterway.

This species of snipe is active at night, especially in moonlight. It uses its long beak to probe the mud for invertebrate organisms, especially earthworms. These were collected while the bird walks on soft mud and sandy edges of streams and in short grasslands.

We never got to see these African snipe winnowing with its associated unusual flight pattern and sound. We did see another of this snipe’s unique features which was the bending of the ends of its long beak. This snipe eats with its bill closed. It has a long, sensitive, flexible beak used to probe loose soil and mud for food. Without removing its bill from the mud, the snipe flexes the tip of its upper mandible like a pincer to grab and consume food. Serrations on the bill and spikes on the tongue help it to move food from the bill-tip to the throat

A Red-knobbed coot chasing another coot away from where it was feeding on submerged plant matter. This species of coot is a charcoal black waterbird with a white frontal shield, white beak, red eyes and two red knobs on its forehead. It has yellow legs and webbed feet. The red-knobs are only evident in the breeding season. This is a highly territorial species and can often be seen bullying larger birds by running across the water at them with open wings.

We were lucky enough to see several large flocks of flamingos. The flock in the next image was of Lesser flamingos.

“No human ever lived in a birdless world.” ~ Richard Smyth

An adult Lesser flamingo in flight with its legs and neck extended for longitudinal balance. This species is smaller than the Greater flamingo but has the same slender build. It has a dark pink beak and pink legs. The wings are narrow and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black, and their wing coverts are red. Their eyes are orange to yellow, surrounded by a ring of maroon.

The Lesser flamingo feeds on various types of algae. When feeding it submerges its head in the water with its beak upside down and uses its legs to stir up the water to release the algae and other organisms, which are filtered through the beak. The Lesser flamingo has an upper mandible which is triangular in cross-section, and narrower than the lower mandible, so acts like a lid for the lower mandible. Both the upper and lower mandibles contain two rows of a bristled, comb-like or hair-like structure called lamellae. When the mandibles come together, the lamellae of the upper and lower mandibles mesh forming a filter. The flamingo’s large, fleshy tongue is covered with bristle-like projections which help filter water and food particles through the lamellae.

A Lesser flamingo coming into land. Flamingos are strong fliers capable of both short-distance and long-haul flights, often traveling in V-shaped formations for energy conservation and safety during migrations. All species of flamingos demonstrate remarkable takeoff and landing skills, using water surfaces to gain momentum for takeoff, and gracefully touching down with their webbed feet acting as natural landing gear. At a point they appear to skip along the surface of the water.

A Marsh harrier quartering the grasslands and edge of the reed beds for prey. Quartering is slow flight over open areas in search of prey. When prey is spotted the raptor will often hover for a short while to pinpoint the prey’s location before diving down to grab it.

“Wild beasts and birds are by right not the property merely of the people today, but the property of the unborn generations, whose belongings we have no right to squander.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

An African rail. This is a mid-sized rail. Its back and nape are brown and its head and chest are grey. Its belly, flanks and undertail have a barred pattern of black and white. It has a long red beak and red legs. Both male and female have similar colouring.

Like most rails this species is secretive though less so than other rail species. It prefers reedbeds and dense vegetation along the edges of wetlands in which to feed and bred. It feeds by probing the mud and shallow waters along the bank with its long red beak. It eats insects, earthworms, spiders, small frogs, small fish and soft plant matter such as seeds.

You never know what you are going to see when wandering around Marievale Bird Sanctuary. There are the perennials like stonehats, moorhens and coots but what you see and where you see it is dependent on the level of water in the wetland and its open waterways. If you are lucky you may even see a spotted-necked otter, water mongoose or a yellow mongoose and a variety of interesting birds.

“Not just symbolic representations, birds bring forth a myriad of life lessons, inspirations, and vibrant imagery that imprint themselves on our creative and philosophical landscapes.”~ Isabella Sedano

Marievale is a wonderful place to reinforce your bird identification skills and keep photographically fit.

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

Have fun, Mike

We visited Marievale in early spring knowing full well that the warmer weather would bring more birdlife and low water levels in the wetland would attract certain species. The Marievale Bird Sanctuary is situated in the southern half of the Blesbokspruit RAMSAR site, an area that is also a designated Important Bird Area (IBA SA021) in South Africa. Marievale Bird Sanctuary is about five kilometres east of Nigel, a small town a drive of about 45 minutes south from Johannesburg in South Africa.

It was a couple of weeks since our previous visit to Marievale but were interested to see the change in birdlife activity with the warmer weather. We normally get to Marievale around 06h00 when it is light but before the sun has risen.

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” ~ J. B. Priestley

Just after we had entered the bird sanctuary we found a pair of Black-winged kites. The female was perched on a dead reed and had a small feather stuck to her beak, the remnants of some prey she must have recently fed on. Her primary wing feathers are black and she has grey upper parts and a white neck, chest and belly which are diagnostic as is her ruby red eye.

It was not long before she moved and was joined by a male and they proceeded to mate. It was certainly a brief unbalanced affair.

A Grey heron foraging along the transition between the reeds and the water’s edge.

We stopped at the Hadeda hide to see what we could find and to our delight we saw an African rail following the small remaining stream of water flowing in front of the hide.  Its plumage is brown on its back, its head and chest are dark gray, it has a dark grey belly with white barring, red eyes, and a red beak and legs. This rail is elusive so this was a fortunate sighting.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” ~ Anonymous

The long red beak is ideal for probing the mud and shallow waters. During its short visit in front of the hide it remained in the mud along the stream and did not venture into the vegetation. This rail forages for food by sight and looks for insects, crabs and other small aquatic animals.

A White-throated swallow stretching its wing just before taking off. This swallow was perched on a stick directly in front of the Hadeda hide. It has glossy dark blue upperparts and a bright chestnut fore crown. A dark blue-black breast band separate the white throat from the greyish white underparts and underwing coverts. The White-throated swallow looks similar to the barn swallow but has white throat not the chestnut coloured throat of the barn swallow.

“Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it.” – Mary Pickford

A Levaillant’s cisticola foraging in the greenery next to the stream in front of the Hadeda hide.

This little Levaillant’s cisticola was drying out after foraging in the dew laden vegetation.

A male Stonechat with its rufous chest puffed out because it was cold. This chat was foraging for insects in the dried out section of the stream bed in front of the hide.

Our time in the Hadeda hide proved to be very productive with a pair of Hottentot teals moving up the stream, but some distance behind the African rail. This Hottentot teal was using its bill to scoop up grass seeds, though it is omnivorous so will also eat crustaceans like ostracods, molluscs, water insects such as beetles and their larvae if it can find them.

A Hottentot teal foraging in its ideal environment in front of the Hadeda hide.

A Three-banded plover foraging in the wet mud section in front of the hadeda hide. Its beak dictates that it is only able to probe shallowly in the mud. It forages mainly along the water’s edge of open lakes, rivers and streams. It uses a “run-stop-search’ technique for finding its prey. This little plover focuses on insects and their larvae, small crustaceans, molluscs and worms.

A Malachite kingfisher perched on an angle iron protruding from the water next to the Otter hide. There are plenty of small fish for this diminutive hunter.

This wetland sanctuary attracts Hadeda, Glossy and Sacred ibises. The next image is of a Sacred ibis foraging among the rocks next to the elevated access road leading to the main picnic area. This section of road can be highly productive when the water levels are low.

A Marsh sandpiper caught an aquatic insect after wading relatively deeply into the water. This is a small sandpiper that does not have long legs so you can get an idea of how shallow the water was in this pool.

“Much learning does not teach understanding. ” ~ Heraclitus

The water levels around the Otter hide had all but disappeared leaving mud flats which were ideal for this Little Stint to forage in. Again the small beak only allows a shallow probing action.

One of the first species of the migratory waders to arrive in Marievale was the Ruff. This female was very busy probing the mud flats for flies, frogs, beetles, snails, spiders, and worms. These birds are omnivores, and will feed on both invertebrates, seeds or berries.

An adult Black-winged stilt picking small insects off the surface of the water. This stilt is aptly named because of its exceptionally long legs. It is a black and white wader with long stilt-like pink-red legs and a straight black bill. It has black plumes on its back and a white underparts, head and neck and has a red iris.

“The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.” ~ Heraclitus

A Pied Avocet resting in the open water on one leg. The still water early in the morning provided a near perfect reflection.

A Glossy ibis caught an aquatic insect. Glossy Ibises look uniformly dark, but a close look in good light reveals stunning colours with deep brown-maroon upper and under parts with an iridescent emerald, bronze, and violet gloss on its wings.

A Speckled pigeon walking on a fallen tree stump in front of Duiker hide. There are many Speckled pigeons in Marievale probably because of the abundant grass seed and a farmer’s lands adjacent to the sanctuary.

An Orange-throated longclaw. This is a large ground-dwelling pipit-like bird. Its upperparts are brown and cryptic, but the underparts are particularly colourful. It has a yellow supercilium and yellow chest and belly. Its neck is a red-orange enclosed by a black band which runs from its beak down to the lower part of its throat and back up to the other side of the beak enclosing the orange-red throat plumage.

This Orange-throated longclaw was very busy foraging on insects in a dried out section of the normally waterlogged section of the wetland.

“What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open.” ~ Jose Manual Barroso

I was sitting in the Duiker hide watching a Goliath heron hunting in the deeper waters on the other side of the pool from the hide. This section of the wetland has water all year round and as such has some large carp living in it. We watched several carp jumping out of the water. The main reason carp jump is to clear debris from their gills. When foraging for food, carp gulp sediment from the bottom and filter out the edible bits. During this process, some particles get lodged in their gills as they are expelled. A jump clears the gills of these particles (Source: Improvedcarpangling.com). I had to smile, this Goliath heron was not even looking in the direction of the airborne carp.

The Goliath heron is extremely patient which can be frustrating when you are trying to capture it spear its prey. Patience paid off and it managed to capture a small fish while we were watching it.

A Long-tailed widowbird coloured in its transition plumage. In winter, the male loses his black plumage and long tail feathers. In summer, the male Long-tailed widowbird has black plumage with orange-red and white shoulder (lesser and median) coverts.

The access roads through the wetland are elevated embankments with water on each side. The main access road to the picnic site can be very productive. On this occasion we saw a lone Great crested grebe fishing in the open water.

“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” ~Heraclitus

The grebe’s long, slim neck and pointed bill are used for catching fish underwater in a similar way to a Reed cormorant or Darter. Grebes dive underwater to search for prey. It can remain underwater for up to 30 seconds and can dive up to five metres, depending on the depth of the water. Like a heron, this grebe rotates the caught fish to swallow head-first to ensure the spiky dorsal and pectoral fins will flatten against the body so it will go down smoothly.

The images shown represent just a few of the birds and their behaviour that we saw during one morning visit to Marievale Bird Sanctuary. Some birds we only saw fleetingly, and others were not easily photographed. A visit to this bird sanctuary is a great way to brush up on your bird recognition and photographic skills.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this wetland sanctuary is that the water level has a major influence on what birds you are likely to see and how frequently you are likely to see them. In early spring, it is ideal for the small waders as they can probe the open mud flats. There are still large stretches of water which attract coots and moorhens. The Red-billed and Hottentot teal are resident as are the Cape shovellers and Yellow-billed ducks. Most of the migrants have yet to arrive but the large flocks of Spurwing geese and the flamingoes are sensitive to the level of water in the open stretches. If the water is shallow you may see the flamingoes, but if it the water is too deep you will not see a single flamingo.

“Go to a bird sanctuary frequently. Be quiet and present, and the more you will notice its subtleties. The weather, the light, the water levels yield different birds in different numbers. These subtleties alter their behaviour which will give you a quite different experience.” ~ Mike Haworth

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

Have fun, Mike

We visit Marievale bird sanctuary regularly to practice our wild bird photography and expand our knowledge of birds and their behaviour in this wetland sanctuary. The Marievale Bird Sanctuary is located about five kilometres north of Nigel and lies within the Blesbokspruit Ramsar wetland which is internationally recognised.  The Blesbokspruit forms part of one of the tributaries of the Vaal River, which provides water to Gauteng province. 

“If you stay stuck in the past season or fixated on the future season, you will miss the one you’re in.” ~ Maree Dee

The major habitat consists of shallow open water, extensive phragmites and typha reedbeds, and surrounding grassland. During winter the grassland is often burnt which causes the regeneration for the spring. The water level in the shallow open water varies depending on the season, being high in summer and low in winter.

“Creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.” ~ Anne Lamott

An adult Pied Avocet with its pied plumage and ruby bred eye. Given its up curved beak it uses two feeding methods. In clear water, avocets feed by sight by picking prey from the surface of water or mud which they can do very accurately with that sharp posted beak. When the water is murky and when foraging in the sediments, they forage by touch, sweeping the long, upcurved bill from side to side through water or loose sediment to locate hidden prey. The avocet’s primary food is invertebrates, especially crustaceans and worms but in fresh water they also feed on insects found on the water’s surface or within the top layers of the bottom sediments.

An adult Glossy ibis in his breeding plumage. The bronze-brown plumage glistens and the primary and secondary wing feathers are an iridescent green in the sun. Outside the breeding season the adult’s neck and head is flecked with white.

An adult female Ruff in non-breeding plumage of bold mottled brown on the back and wings. The male is much larger. The mud on her beak shows she prefers invertebrates but will feed on seeds as well as small frogs and fish. The Ruff breeds in colder regions of Northern Eurasia and migrates down to, amongst other places, southern Africa for the northern hemisphere winter. 

In adult Purple swamp hen foraging in the mud among the reeds. The mud was exposed because the level of water in the wetlands was low at the end of winter. Its red beak, red frontal shield and red legs are diagnostic as its green back and wing coverts and blue head, neck, chest and belly feathers.

“The colours of winter are browns and yellows illumed by icey blue skies. Many grasslands are blacked by fire, but birds provide colourful jewels in this otherwise subdued winter wetland.” ~ Mike Haworth

The frontal shield appears to relate to protection of the face while feeding in, or moving through, dense sharp vegetation like reeds, as well as courtship display and territorial defence.

An adult female Fiscal shrike perched on a broken reed stem. I never realised that the female had a rufous patch on her flank just below her wings. The male is just black and white.

A juvenile Black-shouldered kite perched in the gum trees near the Duiker hide. The adult has ruby red eyes and its back and primary and secondary wing feathers are a light grey and its neck, chest and belly are white. Its shoulder coverts are black, hence the name.

A Lazy cisticola foraging in the grasses exposed by the lower water levels. Its plain light brown upper parts are its non breeding plumage but in the breeding season its upperparts become more rufous.

A pair of Pied kingfishers watching the water below carefully from their perch on a fallen tree branch. The female looked to be on top with a single breast band and the male at the bottom with two breast bands.

“Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we’ll soon be in trouble.” ~ Roger Tory Peterson

A Marsh sandpiper with white underparts and well defined grey-brown mottling on the upper parts. This sandpiper has yellow-green legs much like a Greenshank but is smaller and has a long thin beak. The length of the beak probably enables it to wade in relatively deep water while foraging.

A Wattled lapwing chick identified by the patchy brown down on its head and upper parts and the early vestiges of its black primary wing feathers. There is no early sign of the black head of a Crowned lapwing.

“What people call serendipity is sometimes just keeping your eyes open. ” ~ Jose Manuel Barroso

An adult Wattled lapwing. Two lapwings have yellow wattles – the White-crowned and Wattled lapwing. The latter has shorter yellow wattles and the white patch is only on the fore crown and it has a red skin immediately above the beak and below the fore crown. The Wattled lapwing also has a yellow eye but its head is brown and its neck is streaked brown and white. 

Being August which is the end of winter in southern Africa, this male Long-tailed widow bird had not yet grown his black breeding plumage and long tail feathers. His red-orange shoulder patch was evident as were his beige primary coverts and his black primary wing feathers had a beige leading edge.

Searching through the burn grassland with green shoots was this Orange-throated long claw, which is a colourful large pipit. It was foraging through the new grass shoots for insects.

“The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind.” ~ Carly Simon

This was the first time I had seen a Capped wheatear at Marievale. This wheatear was also foraging through the burnt grassland.

A Yellow mongoose ventured onto the burnt grassland from its sanctuary at the base of the mine dumps on the western boundary to Marievale. This is an opportunistic carnivore which mainly eats insects including, ants, termites, locusts, and beetles but will also go for baby birds, eggs, frogs, lizards, rodents and snakes and lizards. This species is mainly diurnal.

There were plenty of Grey-headed gulls flying around the wetlands and some nesting on the reed tufts and mud mounds protruding out of the water. This is a striking grey and white gull with a red beak and red eyering surrounding a pale yellow eye.

We did not see many species of duck on this visit but we did see quite a few Cape shovelers with their unique shaped bill and bright yellow eye. 

We always see Stonechats during our wanderings around Marievale. This is a male. The female has a grey-brown head.

We only saw Little grebes this time but occasionally also see the Great-crested grebe. The Little grebe is a very busy paddler which often dives under the water in search of food. This is a juvenile which still has to develop its ochre cheek and neck colours.

The time of the year has a big influence on what and where you see birds in Marievale. There are two reasons, the warmer weather brings the migrants and from December to April the water level rises with the summer rains.

When the weather has warmed somewhat in late August and September, the water levels are low enough for the sandpipers, stints, snipe, rails and egrets to forage in the muddy water’s edge. When the water level deepens the ducks, teals, cormorants, darters and flamingo numbers increase.

It is fun to visit the bird sanctuary with no expectations and then be amazed at the variety of birds you can see. More often than not you see a bird you have never seen at Marievale before or it is doing something that gives you a much deeper insight into the nature of the species.

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

“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?” ~ David Attenborough

Have fun, Mike

South Africa is fortunate to have a stunning diversity of birds. We have several well known sanctuaries for our avian friends. One of them is close to where we live in Johannesburg. It is Marievale bird sanctuary near Nigel about a 45 minute drive away. It is Ramsar site which is a wetland site designated to be of international importance. Marievale has an especially diverse array of wetland birds which attracts birders and wildlife photographers alike.

“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

Helen and I go to Marievale several times a year. Each time the weather and the water level in the wetland are different. These changing wetland conditions attract different combinations of waders, ducks and geese, raptors, seed eaters and insectivores. It is never the same.

Being an enthusiastic wildlife photographer I also get much needed photographic practice. Photography like any language needs constant practice.

I am a keen birder, not the “list ticking” kind but I am very interested in bird physiology and flight and why you finds certain birds in particular places at specific times. There is a fascinating natural intelligence at play which I am keen to tap into to better understand behaviour which should help me anticipate what my subject will do next and so get that more interesting images.

“Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.” ~ Wendell Berry

A male Stonechat, a little wet from the grass after it had rained earlier that morning. These little chats are ubiquitous in Marievale and the male can be seen staking out his territory.

A female Stonechat perched on top of purple statis.

A male Long-tailed widowbird in full breeding plumage. This male was displaying with his slow deliberate flight with his luxurious tail feathers between his legs. His short broad wing shape allows him to display in flight the way he does.

Another image of a male Long-tailed widow bird. This character was perched on an old statis stem. He was displaying to passing females. His display when perched consists of puffing out his head and body feathers and opening his wings to show his colourful epaulets.

A Squacco heron wading through the shallow marsh water to warn off a nearby competitor. The main diet consists of relatively small prey, particularly fish, frogs and tadpoles, and insects and insect larvae, depending on the area. It is a solitary feeder and will defend its feeding territory against other Squacco herons using forward displays (when the back, crest and breast feathers held erect and puffed out to make the defender look bigger) and supplanting flights, where the heron suddenly and aggressively flies and lands either on top of its opponent or on the spot it has just vacated.

The Squacco heron is very comfortable in water but also forages in the short grass for insects. It has an amazing ability to stretch its neck which comes in handy when fishing from an overhanging branch or when walking through longish grass.

“Hardly any one is able to see what is before him, just as it is in itself. He comes expecting one thing, he finds another thing, he sees through the veil of his preconception, he criticizes before he has apprehended, he condemns without allowing his instinct the chance of asserting itself.” ~ Arthur Symons

A male Swanson’s spurfowl. It was early and the sun had just risen. This male was noisily declaring his territory. Looking at the spurs on the back of his legs, he was a youngster who had not been in many territorial fights.

A Black shouldered kite perched on a power line which traverses the wetland. This is an ideal perch from which to look for prey scurrying below in the grass. This kite feeds on mainly rodents and larger insects,but not fish. This kite has an incredible ability to hover when aerial hunting. Once locked onto its prey it dives into the grass to capture it. It can often be seen feeding on the wing. If the prey is too big it will find a suitable perch to support it while it feasts.

A Purple swamphen was feeding on something in the reeds. I could not see what it was, but its beak had plenty of yellow residue on it. This image gives a good idea of the large size of its feet. It can remain elevated in the reeds by bunching the reeds together with its feet. The large feet help spread its weight out over a large area enabling it to walk easily over fallen reedbeds along the water’s edge. These swamphens are also good swimmers.

“Telling a story is like reaching into a granary full of wheat and drawing out a handful. There is always more to tell than can be told.” ~ Wendell Berry

As we arrived this is the scene we were confronted with – a Black headed heron had caught a large rat in the grass and had just started to swallow it whole and semi-alive. You can see the nictitating membrane covered its eye as it began to swallow its prey as the front legs of the rat were still moving. This heron’s neck is able to kink in an S-shape, due to the modified shape of their 20 cervical vertebrae.

It was incredible to watch this Black headed heron swallow this rat head first and whole. No taste involved and it went straight into its stomach. A special vertebrae in their necks enable it to create an “s” shape, almost like a recoil which allows them to snap their necks deep into water or in the air to catch their prey at lighting fast speeds. Their razor sharp beaks allow them to stab their prey. Herons do not have gizzards which are in most other birds and help break down tougher parts of the food like bones. Instead herons just swallow their prey down their flexible esophagus and into their loose and stretchable stomachs.

Seeing this hunting Black headed heron as we entered Marievale was a good reminder that you need your camera set up and ready before you drive into the sanctuary. You just never know what is around the corner. Also understanding the hunting behaviour of a Black headed heron helps exercise a little patience as you can anticipate this kind of image.

“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
~ Wendell Berry

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

May is late autumn in South Africa. We took a Sunday morning trip to Marievale to get some bird photography practice and just enjoy all the birdlife at Marievale Bird Sanctuary on the Highveld near Nigel about 75 kilometres south west of Johannesburg.

“Every creature was designed to serve a purpose. Learn from animals for they are there to teach you the way of life. There is a wealth of knowledge that is openly accessible in nature. Our ancestors knew this and embraced the natural cures found in the bosoms of the earth. Their classroom was nature. They studied the lessons to be learned from animals. Much of human behavior can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe, but most people are too blind to watch and listen.” ~ Suzy Kassem

Most bird photographers know to get to their destination before sunrise. The Highveld, especially around Marievale, in late autumn and early winter is prone to thick mist which burns off after sunrise. The mist creates a very moody scene and some interesting potential photographic opportunities.

As the sun rises and the mist thins out so the colour starts to change introducing blues from the cloudless sky. It is cold but there is a surprising amount of bird activity at this time of the day.

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” ~ Ansel Adams

The misty atmosphere creates a heavy dew which provides photographers with many opportunities for interesting and unique images. The dry grass in this next image was heavily laden with dew creating delicate detail. Spider webs make particularly attractive dew-laden subjects.

This Hottentot teal was happily swimming around in the frigid water. The water never freezes but the temperature must fall very low. The duck’s feet have no feathers so are fully exposed to the cold water. The remarkable adaptation is that veins and arteries to and from the feet are located close together and act as a heat transfer system. The hot blood carried in the arteries to the feet transfer heat to the cold blood in the veins from the feet. This ensures body heat is not lost unnecessarily through the feet and the heart is not supplied with blood which is icy cold.

Birds retain their body heat by fluffing up their feathers which acts as a insulator. Bird’s body temperatures also drop at night which reduces the temperature differential and therefore heat loss.

Teals are smaller, petite ducks characterised by short necks and short tails. The Hottentot teal is a dabbling duck which upends itself with it tail sticking vertically upwards as its head reaches down to the river bed to feed on aquatic invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans and aquatic vegetation. These teals have a green wing speculum ( a patch of iridescent colour on the secondary wing feathers) and a blue bill with a black/dark brown crown on their head.

“Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.” ~ Ambrose Bierce

You will find a variety of herons at Marievale. Although not abundant, you are likely to see a Goliath heron. Invariably you will only see an individual. This is the largest of the African herons. It is a wading bird with slate grey plumage with a chestnut coloured feathers on its head, neck and belly. The chin and throat are white in colour.

The Goliath heron feeds mainly on fish but will also eat frogs, small mammals and reptiles. This heron spears its prey and swallows it whole once it has subdued it. Since the Goliath heron often catches large fish it is regularly subject to kleptoparasitism by fish eagles.

In late autumn, once the mist has burned off the days can be sunny with little wind. There are old gold mine dumps in the background from the mining activties of yesteryear.

In autumn there is plenty of grass seed around which attracts queleas. We do not see the swarms of queleas around Marievale which are often seen in the bushveld or on farmlands because this is predominately a wetland area. The next image is of a male red-billed quelea in flight. It still has its breeding colours. This quelea is a small sparrow like bird of the weaver family. Queleas most often seen feeding and drinking in large flocks which form murmurations.

The Squacco heron is a small heron about 43 centimetres in height weighing around 300 grams. This small heron is uniquely coloured in tawny buff and brown feathers. It has a yellow iris and yellow legs. Its neck and breast have light brown streak and its belly and sides are white. This character was crossing the access road from the Duiker hide to the old bridge. It stooping in the middle of the road to assess what we were doing.

A Burchell’s coucal climbed up to to the higher sections of grass to get into the sun and dry out. The grass was still very wet from the dew. These coucals skulk through the underground looking for prey. This coucal is predatory and a member of the cuckoo family. It is often seen in pairs and can be heard dueting. It is affectionately called the rainbird because is it regularly heard during and after rains.

A male long-tailed widowbird in non breeding plumage. This plumage colouration is in stark contrast to its breeding plumage which is black with long luxuriant tail feathers.This widowbird retains its red-orange shoulder feathers and white trim below the red shoulder. Its beak shape infers that it is a seedeater.

A peaceful scene looking west, from the access road between the Duiker hide and the old bridge across, the wetland to the old mine dumps in the background.

“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful. An endless prospect of magic and wonder.”~ Ansel Adams

To see a black heron is always a treat. This small heron the size of a Squacco heron. Although black in colour it appears slate grey in the sunlight. Its legs are black but it looks like it stepped in a puddle of yellow road paint because its feet are bright yellow.

What makes the black heron unique is its hunting method. Many storks use their wings to cast a shadow on the water which attracts the fish and enables the bird to see into the water more easily. The black heron goes one step further, it lifts both its wings into a umbrella shape with its head underneath its wings. The fish swim into the shade and the heron has a good visual so can catch them easily. This method is called canopy feeding. The black heron is diurnal.

I have not often seen a purple heron at Marievale. This heron is so called because of its purple colouring from a distance. This heron is similar in size to the grey heron and is clearly distinguished by its reddish brown plumage. It also has a more elongated and narrow appearance with a long thin head. Its body shape and size of feet are well adapted for living among the reeds. This heron feeds mainly on fish.

The purple heron is distinctive in flight with its large feet and its distinctively chestnut to orange buff to red buff colouring on the sides of its head and neck. It has a clear black streak which runs from its eye down the side of its neck.

“Cherish the natural world because you are part of its and you depend on it.”~ Sir David Attenborough

You will always see Stonechats when you visit Marievale, they are ubiquitous. This is a female Stonechat perched on top of a dead broken reed. The male was close by but did not pose.

Spoonbills are attracted to Marievale because the water level in the wetland is usually shallow and suits their size. Spoonbills are not abundant but you are likely to see one or two each time you visit this bird sanctuary.

This was an unusual find. A common moorhen with unusual plumage. Two birds you will always see at Marievale are red-knobbed coots and common moorhens. Usually, the adult common moorhen has black body and wing feathers. Its rump is a olive-brown colour and its has white tail feathers. It also has a white stripe down the side of its body and on its shoulders. It has a red facial shield and red bill with a yellow tip. Its legs are yellow but half way up the femur it turns red.

“Nature experiments with life and celebrates diversity.”~ Willis Harman

This particular adult had all white body and wing feathers. Its primary wing feathers looked to be grey and its neck was a blotched black and white. The colouring of its head, front facial shield, bill and legs were the same as a normal common moorhen.

The lesser moorhen is much less common. It looks like a common moorhen though is a lighter black. Its legs are a pinkish colour and its bill and front facial shield are mostly yellow. The top of its facial shield is red but the shield is predominately yellow in colour. The lesser moorhen can be found in the northern part of South Africa, but I have never seen one.

“With our cameras we capture moments which remind us of how extraordinary this world is that we move through.” ~ Mike Haworth

The only bird list I have is the “to find” one.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

March is late summer on the Highveld in South Africa. We visited Marievale, an important bird sanctuary in Gauteng, in March to do some birding and for me to practice my bird photography. Marievale is well known to birders and bird photographers alike.

What makes this area unique is that it is a protected wetland. It is a Ramsar site which is a wetland designated to be of international importance, especially as a waterfowl habitat, under the Ramsar Convention.

What is interesting about this area is that it is a wetland amongst old gold mines. There are mine dumps in the background and although most of the mining activity has now stopped, the water is still polluted by the mining activities of yesteryear. The water pollution does not seem to have unduly affected the wetland vegetation or the birdlife.

“It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.” ~ Aristotle

Marievale is just outside Nigel in Gauteng and about 45 minutes drive from Johannesburg. The idea is to get there by sunrise as the bird activity seems to be best for the first few hours after sunrise.

“In that dawn chorus one hears the throb of life itself.” ~ Rachel Carson

Marievale is known for its waterfowl, but all the grasslands around it provide a wonderful habitat for herons and seedeaters.

Cape Shovelers can be found, but not always seen at Marievale. They are dabbling ducks, meaning they swim in shallow water and feed by tipping headfirst into the water to graze on aquatic plants on the bed of the waterway. They also eat lavae and insects when available. This duck is cryptically brown coloured and has a characteristic large spatulate bill and yellow eyes and legs.

You are not likely to go to a wetland or open grassland and not find a lapwing. On this particular trip to Marievale we saw an plethora of blacksmith lapwings. Not just the old pair but hundreds. Lapwings play an important role as alarm systems for other birds and animals. Adult blacksmith lapwings have unmistakable black grey and white markings. You can hear them from afar.

The one thing you can be sure of at Marievale is that you will see a base of familiar wetland birds but there will always be a few interesting characters which pop out of the reeds. One such surprise was this lone juvenile common moorhen.

One of the aspects about bird photography I have found is that you can spend hours trying to get a image of a species of bird that is skittish and always moving around. Then all of a sudden one specimen just stops and provides the perfect photographic opportunity. This juvenile common moorhen knew we there, it could see us, but was not phased by our presence at all. these birds are normally very skittish.

This was a juvenile blacksmith lapwing, one of the hundreds we saw that day. This youngster was resting. Lapwings like storks and herons sit with their legs bent forward from the knee.

I have been to Marievale many times over the past ten years and this was the first time I had seen a South African Shelduck. It looks like a small goose and sounds like a goose. They have very distinctive markings with ruddy colored body feathers and wings strikingly marked with black, white and green. The male has a grey head, and the female has a white face and black crown, nape and neck sides. The only other times I have seen this shelduck has been in the Kalagadigadi and Etosha.

There are numerous black headed herons at Marievale. They occupy the grasslands adjacent to the open water in the marshy areas. These birds are supreme predators capable of eating anything from a frog to a fish, rat, rabbit or terrapin. This black-headed heron had its neck retracted during flight for longitudinal stability.

In March it is still summer in Marievale and this was a red-shouldered or fan-tailed widowbird. It looks like a long tailed widowbird without the long tail. The red-shouldered widowbird does not grow a long tail and it has a pure orange-red shoulder with no white border to its red shoulder. This widowbird prefers swampy areas so Marievale was ideal.

One of the most common plovers in Marievale is the three-ringed plover. This is a very small bird with the characteristics three rings on its collar. It also has distinctive red eye ring.

All plovers and lapwings are in the same family and are all considered wading birds. There are eight South African ‘lapwings’ which are easily identified by their larger size, bold colouring, active habits, and very loud calls. They are often found in grasslands away from water. There are ten Plovers in southern Africa and all are small waders which are found along the edge of water.

The southern red bishop looks like a jewel in the golden grass waving in the breeze. The southern red bishop has a red crown, neck, back, rump and a black belly, chest and face. The southern red bishop is not to be mistaken for a fire-crowned bishop which also has both a red crown but it has a red breast band. The male of this species is hyperactive during breeding season trying to solicit females. As one passes by or comes close he puffs his chest out and fluffs up his back feathers

Marievale is a wetland in amongst disused mine dumps from the surrounding gold mines.

This Levaillant’s Cisticola posed beautifully for a few seconds on the end of a dead reed stem. This little cisticola has a ruddy coloured cap and buff coloured breast and heavily streaked back feathers.

This is one of my favourites, a golden crowned bishop. This male is, like the red bishop, hyperactive when females are anywhere near in breeding season. It flies around like a little golden bumble bee.

Don’t confuse a golden-crowned bishop with a yellow bishop. The latter has an all black head.

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

A red-billed teal flying over some open water with reeds in the background.

A male golden crowned bishop in full breeding plumage. He was perched at the top of a dead reed, looking out for passing females.

A yellow billed duck. They are usually seen in pairs. These are also dabbling ducks. It is much bigger than a teal and more the size of a mallard duck.

It has taken me ages to get some decent images of a long-tailed widowbird displaying in flight. On this particular occasion the light was behind me and the widowbird must have been about 30 metres away and its was around 8h00 in the morning

The long-tailed widowbird puts on a spectacular plumage display in flight. The display consists of a slow emphasised wing flaps with its tail between its legs. Its tail comprises around eight or nine long luxuriant black feathers which it fans out. This widowbird has broad black wings with red shoulders underlined by a white stripe.

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Widowbirds are so called because they are all dressed in black.

These widowbirds are often found communally with bishops and weavers. They are all seedeaters.

The breeding male regularly performs slow display flights low over his territory. The flight displays are aimed at attracting females. Each display comprises slow and erratic wing flapping, while extending and pushing down its long tail feathers between its legs.

The luxurious black tail feathers of a male long-tailed widowbird in breeding plumage must be three times longer than the body of the bird.

“At the heart of art is learning to see.”~ Seth Godin

A long tailed widow bird with a degree of backlighting to illuminate its wing and tail feathers.

A reed cormorant drying itself on a dead reed. Once you look closely they have very attractive colouring on their faces and backs.

A southern red bishop in breeding plumage perched near the top of a dead reed stem on the look out for female and ready to chase away other males in an instant.

We always see a black headed heron on the narrow track from the Duiker hide down to the old Marsh owl hide. I am always impressed by these voracious predators. Herons are carnivorous and the black headed heron seems to be capable of devouring the most surprising mammals, birds and reptiles. It clearly had swallowed something large. Herons just swallow their catch down their flexible esophagus’s and into their loose and stretchable stomachs. They do not have a crop like most birds.

An adult African Purple Swamphen. This bird is part of the rail family. It is a skulker. It is found in swamps and reedbeds. This swamphen has especially large feet which helps it to spread its weight across the reeds making its movement easier. It is also very dexterous with those feet holding stems of water-based plants while stripping the outer layers to feed on the soft inner pith.

The African Purple Gallinule has a new name the African Purple Swamphen. It is a beautifully coloured bird with blue and purple feathers on this head, neck and body. Its back and the top of its wing feathers are an olive green. It has distinctive red bill and frontal shield and pink legs with exceptionally large feet with long toes.

This is a skittish waterfowl and not often seen clearly but for some unknown reason this adult wandered around in the open in front of us for about half an hour. The African Purple Swamphen has white feathers under its tail which it flashes regularly by flicking its tail up.

Wetlands play a vital role in our hydrological systems. It was only in Dr Steve Boyes video “Into the Okavango” that I begun to realise how important these wetlands are in controlling the flow, for storing water like a sponge and clean up the water flowing through them. These wetland areas also provide a vital sanctuary and food for a diverse range of waterfowl, seed-eating birds and numerous insects, reptiles and small mammals.

“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

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness, and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

In this post I have shown a selection of birds which you are likely to see at Marievale Bird Sanctuary in springtime. Marievale, located near Nigel in the Gauteng province in South Africa, comprises the wetlands of the Blesbokspruit Ramsar site plus over 1 000 hectares of open grasslands, reed beds and open water. This is a perfect place for birders and avian photographers alike.

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” ~ H. D. Thoreau

An adult Grey-headed gull in flight. It has a characteristic grey head with a red bill, red-eye ring and red legs and feet.

This is a freshwater gull which is found around in land lakes and dams and seldom along the coast.

The grey head colouring is this gull’s breeding plumage. In winter it loses the grey colouring on its head.

A skein of Spur Winged geese flying over the wetland.

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.“ ~ Vincent Van Gogh

A wide variety of ducks can be found at Marievale. The next image is a pair of Fluvous Whistling ducks with their distinctive bluish gray legs and bill. They have cinnamon brown feathers and dark brown wings with a silvery-white stripe on the edges. Males and females look alike, though the males are slightly larger.

The Spoonbill has a unique shaped bill ideal for catching fish, insects, larvae and crustaceans. Its bill is highly tactile, feeding with lateral movements (sweeping) and for pecking, but not for probing into sediments. Its long legs are ideal for wading through shallow water searching for food.

Once the Spoonbill has caught a morsel in the spoon part of is bill, it flicks the food into the air and catches it in its mouth.

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” – Gary Snyder

A Three-banded plover. Both lapwings and plovers are classified in the Charadriidae family. The essential difference is that plovers are the smaller cousins and lapwings the larger ones.

The Three-banded plover has two black breast bands separated by a white band which gives this species its name. It has a distinctive red eye-ring. This is a tiny plover  growing to 18cm in length.

You will see many Whiskered terns trawling back and forth along the open waterways in the wetland search for  edibles at the water’s surface. These terns are highly nibble with long wings, and are able to turn and stall in an instant to plunge onto the surface of the water to catch a fish.

A Red-billed teal sunning itself in the warmth of the early morning spring sun. Like the Fluvous whistling duck this is a dabbling duck, meaning these ducks feed mainly on the surface of the water with their neck stretched out while quickly “chewing” or “nibbling” at the water with little bites. They also sweep their head from side to side at the same time to cover more surface area. Dabbling ducks also feed by tipping headfirst into the water to forage on aquatic vegetation and insects in the shallow water. Often all you will see is their tails sticking up into the air. 

A pair of Red-billed teal in flight over the wetland in Marievale.

“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.“ ~ E. O. Wilson

A Levaillant’s cisticola preening itself in the early morning after foraging in the dew laden grass for insects. This cisticola has a distinctive red cap and grey back with heavy black streaking.

A White-breasted cormorant is so-called because of its white breast. This species is often found in inland waterways together with its smaller cousin the Reed cormorant and darters. 

Perhaps my favourite teal is the Hottentot teal because of its colouring. I think all the teals are exquisitely coloured ducks. Teals are petite ducks and are characterised by short necks and short tails.

The Hottentot teal is a small dabbling duck. It has a dark brown crown, a fawn face and neck and mottled brown back with green sheen on its secondary feathers. This teal has a characteristic blue bill. Females have lighter brown crowns, they have less contrasting facial markings.

“We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.” ~ Andy Goldsworthy

We don’t always see Avocets at Marievale. We get Pied Avocets in South Africa. This is a really unusual bird. It has long legs, webbed feet and a long thin upward curved bill. The Pied Avocet has a black crown, nape and neck, a white throat and breast.

Avocets feed by sweeping their long thin bill from side to side in the water to catch food.

This was a first for me. I have never seen a Little-ringed plover before. This Little plover is easily recognisable by its black and white head pattern with a brown crown.

This little character was foraging along the water’s edge for insects and aquatic invertebrates. It looked to be even smaller than the Small three-banded plover.

A male Stone chat, a ubiquitous species in this area.

This female Blacksmith lapwing was disturbed off her nest. This lapwing species has a unique, noisy, metallic-sounding ‘klink klink klink’ or ‘tink tink tink’ call which it repeats loudly and continuously, especially when disturbed. The clinking notes sound like a hammer on an anvil, hence its name.

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” ~ John Burroughs

After careful searching we saw the four cryptically coloured eggs of a Blacksmith lapwing. This was a loosely formed nest formed next to the water’s edge. This was a precarious position which would be flooded if more rains came along and raised the level of the water in the wetland.

This ruff was an early arrival of this long distance migrant. It is a migratory sandpiper journeying to this part of the world for summer from Europe and Russia.

 This little stint’s beak is perfect for probing  the soft mud for insects and invertebrates.

A male Long-tailed widowbird  which was starting to take on its breeding plumage. Once fully plumed, it is black all over except for a red shoulder with a white strip.

This male Long-tailed widow bird has attained most of his breeding plumage but his tail feathers have still further to grow.  These long black tail feathers are used in slow flight displays when females are around. 

A family of Egyptian geese, with mother and five goslings.

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty.” ~ John Ruskin

A pair of Cape shovellers, with the male behind and the female in front. The Cape shoveller is endemic to South Africa.  This is also a dabbling duck. Many of the dabbling ducks use their flat bills to strain food items from the water, but the big spatulate bill of the Cape Shoveller is adapted to take this habit to the extreme. Flocks of shovellers often swim along with their big bills barely submerged in front of them, straining food from the muddy soup of shallow waters.

The Cape shoveller has a dark, large spatula-shaped bill. Its eyes are yellow and its legs and webbed feet are bright orange-yellow.

“Nothing in nature lives for itself. Rivers don’t drink their own water. Trees don’t eat their own fruit. The sun doesn’t shine for itself. A flower’s fragrance is not for itself.”~Unknown

A head shot of a sacred ibis. The Sacred ibis, was often mummified as a symbol of the god, Thoth, in ancient African and Egyptian traditions. Thoth was said to have the head of an ibis, and was responsible for writing, mathematics and measurement as well as the God of the moon and magic.

The Sacred ibis is a wading bird often found along the edge of rivers and lakes foraging in the reeds and vegetation. It uses its long beak to prone the reeds and mud for fish, insects, frogs worms and crustaceans. 

A Glossy ibis has a long, decurved bill, and in good light its plumage is metallic bronze with a striking mauve and green tinge. The non-breeding plumage is similar but much duller appearing darker brown in colour, with dense white streaks on the head and neck.

A Glossy ibis preening itself with the morning light illuminating the green sheen on its wings

Over 240 bird species have been seen at Marievale. It is best known for its birding but you might be lucky to see Water or Yellow mongooses, Cape Clawless Otters or even Reedbuck. This a wonderful example of humanity just giving mother nature a chance to establish herself,  and she delivers a bounty for all to enjoy.

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order.“ ~ John Burroughs

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike