Once we had seen the bird we spent the rest of the day in Yzerfontein.

The rest of the pictures can be found in the Out and About Gallery.

On route via the Huguenot  tunnel we had great views of the snow on the mountain and as time pressed on the snow continued all the way up to the Hex River Valley area.

The weather was clear but the average day temperature was 5 deg an at night around 0deg, so a bit chilly but no wind so very pleasant in the daytime. Our target birds for the weekend were Cinnamon Breasted Warbler and then to add to the girls totals to get them both above the 300 mark which we achieved.

Of cause the hit of the weekend for all was the resident Meercat (Minki) and Jonty the dog that followed us everwhere throughout the weekend.

Birds seen on the farm were: Acacia Pied Barbet , Pririt Batis , African Red Eyed Bulbul , White Throated Canary , Familiar Chat , Grey Backed Cisticola , Long Billed Crombec , African Fish Eagle , Verreaux Eagle , Yellow Bellied Eremomela , Fairy Flycatcher , Fiscal Flycatcher , Brown Hooded Kingfisher , Large Billed Lark , Red Faced Mousebird , White Backed Mousebird , White Necked Raven , Cape Robin Chat , Karoo Scrub Robin , Southern Double Collared Sunbird , Karoo Thrush , Short Toed Rock Thrush , Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler , Layard’s Tit-babbler , Cape Wagtail , Cinnamon Breasted Warbler , Rufous Eared Warbler , Common Waxbill , Mountain Wheatear , Cape White Eye.

The couple of Mammals we saw were : Blue Wildebeest , Gemsbok , Bontebok , Imapala and Rock Hyrax.

We did a day trail on top of the hills around the farm which proved to be rather entertaining and good fun was had by all.

The on the way home just past Lainsberg Tiana SPOTTED an AARDVARK very coooool. THis was by far the Highlight of the trip.

I have put some Bird and Mammal pictures in the Birding Spots Gallery and the rest of the scenic pictures in the Ko-Ka Tsara Gallery.

While Tiana and the kids were at the various Disney Parks , i was tearing around Florida in a rental doing  some enjoyable birding.

The highlight of the birding was going to Cypress Lake and going out on an Airboat to do the birding.
I figured that Osprey Tours sounded like the right people to do the morning trip with.

Before we even got onto the airboat I saw my first osprey and the trip went uphill from there.
Least Bittern , Red winged Blackbird , American Coot , American Crow , Mottled Duck , Bald Eagle , Great Egret , Purple Gallinule , Red Shouldered Hawk , Great Blue Heron , Tri Colored Heron , White Ibis , Glossy Ibis , Killdeer , Belted Kingfisher , Common Moorhen , Osprey , Common Snipe , Black Necked Stilt , Wild Turkey , Downey Woodpecker and Lesser Yellow Legs. At one point we had 7 Bald eagle circling around us. If you are ever in the area it a very big must do.

On the road between the Disney resorts and Cypress Lake i saw Crested Caracara , Sandhill Crane , Whooping Crane , American Crow , Cattle Egret , Blue Jay , American Kestrel , Eastern Medowlark , Loggerhead Shrike , Wood Stork , Eastern Towhee , Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture.

Another good spot was  Gatorland , and not for the alligators , but for the birds scavenging food.
Here i found Black Vulture , Tricolored Heron , Little Blue Heron , Great Blue Heron , Great Egret ,Northern Rough-wing swallow , White Ibis , Black Crowned Night Heron , Northern Mockingbird , Northern Cardinal and  Snowy Egret .

See the difference between Snowy and Great Egret.

Birding in the Disney Resorts produced Anhinga , American Coot , American Crow , Common Ground Dove , Mourning Dove , Great Egret , Cattle Egret , Vermillion Flycatcher , Blue-gray Gnatcatcher , Common Grackle , Boat Tailed Grackle , Red Shouldered Kite , Great Blue Heron , Little Blue Heron , Tricolored Heron , White Ibis , Blue Jay , Northern Cardinal , Mallard , Northern Mockingbird , Common Moorhen , House Sparrow , European Starling , Wild Turkey , Black Vulture , Turkey Vulture , Pine Warbler and  Red Bellied Woodpecker.

All in all great birding on a Disney Holiday.

All the photos from the Orlando florida trip can be found in the photo gallery under birds lifelists USA and birds amongst all the other photos.

Anyway I played with the Canon G9 @ ISO 1600 and 800 . Here are a few pics.

On route we saw the Side Striped Jackal ,Buffalo,Elephant,Girraffe

Upon or Arrival at Shingwedzi (07h05) we parked the car and went straight to the spot where the Palm Collared Thrush was usually seen.We were joined by Phanny Risimati (072 942 9868) who helped us call the bird for the next hour and just after 08H00 we finally sited the Palm Collared Thrush in the far distance.

Although it was only a 2 minute window it was a GREAT tick.

We then went on to have yet another wonderful breakfast in the restaurant.
After breakfast i went and had another look , but no bird .For a brief moment i thought i had another lifer in a Little Sparrow Hawk , however it turned out to be a Shikra.

Our route back to Mopani via the S50  started of very slowly with all the loops that lead to the Kanniedood Dam. About 2 km outside (S23 07.023 E31 27.360) Shingwedzi we came across a Verreaux Eagle Owl in a day time roost.

We eventually dragged ourselves away and headed towards the Kanniedood Dam Hide.Which only produced Vervet Monkey and 1 Heron on the waterside.

From here on the road got a bit ruff and all we saw were more Elephant,Giraffe,Crocodiles and Hippos. Still driving south on the  S50 heading towards Nyawutsi.

At Nyawutsi we saw Crocodile , Black Crake , Hamerkop ,Natal Spurfowl .We then carried on South along the never ending gravel road towards Shipirirhi where we once again on our trip saw Dusky Larks.

Our next stop was on top of Shibyatsangela and all I can say is WOW WOW WOW , what a view , nothing but open peaceful land.

By now it was getting late so we headed off back to Mopani via the Shawu  3 , 2 and 1 water holes.

Our las site along the road was a  monitor .

Back to camp and a good evening braai visited by a Dormouse and a Bushveld Gerbil.

Only the usual suspects were there. Woodland Kingfisher , Grey Headed Kingfisher , Malachite Kingfisher , Swainsons Spurfowl , Black Crake , Greenbacked Heron , Three Banded Plover , Great Egret , Wattle Starling and a Golden Tailed Woodpecker.

Moving on towards the Pioneer dam hide Tiana spotted a Pearl Spotted Owl doing its last minute rounds.The hide was extremely boring aside from the African Fish Eagle that flew by and the Squacco heron in the distance.

We then started the treck to the Stapelkop Dam 17km of dirt road.

On route we spotted a Dwarf mongoose family , Shikra , Marshal Eagles , Bateleur , Wattled Starling and Fork Tailed Drongo.

Once at the Dam we spotted NOTHING AT ALL.

We set back for Mopani as we had a sunset drive that evening.The drive was the Capricorn loop again except we did it clockwise this time.

We started off going past the Bowerskop water hole where the dead elephant was.

On route to the Capricorn road we saw a Side striped Jackal and as we started down the road our first bird was a Kurrichane Buttonquail , sadly not photographed , however shortly after we saw our first Marsh owl and then some Elephants,Wildebeest,Zebra,Tawney Eagles,Pearl Spotted Owl,Tsessebe,Black Backed Jackal and African Wild Cat.

Moving on we came across a Flapped Necked Chameleon and a Verreaux Eagle Owl.

All in all it proved to be an excellent Sunset drive

On route via the H1-6 We came Across a herd of about 900 buffalo with Red and Yellow Billed Oxpecker’s.

After waiting for them to cross the road we carried on our Journey towards Malapenyana water hole where we came upon more Buffalo ,accompanied by some impala and warthog.

We carried on never the less and stopped at the Letaba River Bridge and only found a couple of crocs ,a Horus Swift , a pied wagtail and a Pied Kingfisher

Just before we got to Letaba on the river side were Hippo’s , Elephants,Impala .

Upon arriving at Letaba breakfast was the order of the day followed by our search for the Barred Owl (as referred to by the "Best Birding in Kruger Book") However we we informed by the guides there that the book had ancient information and the owl had long last been see.

So we headed off to the Engelhard Dam off the S62.As far as birds go it was fairly quiet aside from the fight between a Honeyguide and a starling.

Shortly after all this excitement the elaphants started to arrive on the other side of the water and played as they we along.

Other birds seen at the dam were African Fish Eagle , Black Backed Puffback , African Jacana .

Our trip back was eventful in that we had a friendly Giraffe alongside the road and a Flap Necked Chameleon .

As we approached Mopani again we saw more and more of the Natal Franklin’s and Swainsons’ Spurfowl.

The kids went and had a swim while we lit the fire and had a relaxing evening .

More Pics can be viewed here…