Ko-Ka Tsara Gallery.On the weekend we took a drive up to Beaufort West to the Ko-Ka Tsara Bush Camp .

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.

Categories: 36, 37, Ko-Ka Tsara, Mammals
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What with all this good birding weather Cape Town is having , I have had some time to finally sort through all my bird photographs from our trip to Florida in 2006.

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.

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