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Falls National Park:
The park can be reached along a 39-km road that leads northwest
from the riverside town of Kakamas, which is 88 km west of
Upington on the N8 national road. The focus of the park is
the falls, and most visitors venture little further than the
river. However, the surrounding plains and rocky outcrops
provide good birding, offering such typical Karoo species
as Double-banded Courser, Ludwig’s
Bustard (p.105*), Burchell’s
Courser (p.96*), Spike-heeled and Karoo
Long-billed Larks and Chat Flycatcher. Stark’s
Lark and Black-eared
Finchlark (p.96*) are erratic, and not always present
in dry years. Two sought-after species of the rocky outcrops
adjacent to the river are Short-toed Rock Thrush (look
on the out-crops around the campsite) and Cinnamon-breasted
Warbler (look around the viewsites along the gorge,
such as those at Oranjekom, Swartrand and Echo Corner; p.85*).
The
acacia thicket of the campsite at the park headquarters is
also rewarding. Here, you can see Golden-tailed Woodpecker,
Acacia Pied Barbet, Ashy Tit, Red-eyed Bulbul,
Namaqua
Warbler (common; p.85*), Black-chested Prinia,
Pririt
Batis (p.85*), Pale-winged Starling, Dusky
Sunbird, and the attractively peachy-flanked Orange River
race of Cape White-eye (see page on changing
bird taxonomy). The short walk from the camp to the falls
themselves may produce cliff-nesting species such as Black
Stork, Black Eagle and Peregrine Falcon, as well
as huge mixed flocks of aerially feeding swifts and swallows.
You are likely also to see the multicoloured Cape Flat Lizards
(Platysaurus capensis) that sun themselves conspicuously
on the burnished granite.
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27/09/09: Dalton
Gibbs reports back from Gough
Island! Read the blog!
26/09/09: New Cape
Town Pelagics trip report from trips of 12 and 19 September
2009.
30/08/09: British
Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water proved very successful,
with sunny weather and over 20,000 visitors. Callan's "Birding
Namibia and the Okavango" was the most highly-attended
lecture on the Saturday, with over 240 people. Congratulations
to the winners of the Birding Africa competition and the
African Bird Club raffle that we helped sponsor!
12/08/09: New Cape
Town Pelagics trip reports from August and July 2009.
Highlights: Little
Shearwater and more!
07/08/09: The
sub-adult Black Sarrowhawk visits our garden again! Read
on about Raptor Research in the Western Cape.
27/07/09: Cape
Town's Verreauxs' Eagle Chick has grown! And its sibling
never had a chance to hatch. See the pictures of the chick,
its nest and the breeding pair. Find out more about the Western
Cape Raptor Research Programme.
27/07/09: To follow modern nomenclature and systematics, we've
adopted the IOC
World Bird List, Version 2.1.
13/07/09: The 8th
African Bird ID Challenge has launched! Win a 50% discount
on a Cape Town Pelagics
trip, a copy of Southern
African Birdfinder, or African
Bird Club membership for 1 year.
6 July 09: Cape
White-eye research in our garden.
2 July 09: Cape
Town's Verreauxs' Eagle Chick has hatched! See the pictures
of the chick, its nest and the breeding pair. Find out more
about the Western Cape Raptor Research Programme.
2 July 09: Campbell
Fleming, a Cape Town scholar, avid birder and photographer,
joined Birding Africa last month as an intern. Click here,
to see what he got up to.
2 July 09: New pelagic
trip reports from the Cape Town Pelagics trips in June
2009. Highlights: Slenderbilled
Prion and Leach's Storm Petrel
30 july 09: Our latest Cape Fynbos and Karoo trip
reports feature Hottentot
Buttonquail, Cinnamon-breasted
Warbler and other fynbos and Karoo endemics...
26 June 09: Tungsten
mining threatens RAMSAR site, South Africa's Verlorenvlei.
Read the Media Release.
22 June 09: Claire
Spottiswoode, one of the Cape Birding Route founders,
was part of the exploratory team at Mount Mabu. The mountain
is part of the newly discovered largest
rainforest in Southern Africa.
11 June 09: A colour-ringed
Black Sparrowhawk visits the Birding Africa office garden.
Read why it's a 10 months old male!
14 June 09:
Wildlife
at the office of The Cape Birding Route, Birding Africa
and Cape Town Pelagics.
31 May 09:
Michel Watelet wins the 7th African Bird Club & Birding Africa
ID Challenge. Test your African birding skills and WIN
a Birding
Africa Cape town day trip or a copy of the Birdfinder!
30 May 09:
A tragedy unfolds at Kommetjie south of Cape town as 44 beached
False
Killer Whales were shot. Click here for more details and
pictures.
14 March 09: Raptor
Watch in Cape Town on 14 March 09
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