Pre-breakfast walks are never the same. We may walk roughly the same short routes, but birds move around, there’s always the hope of something different. Of course, there are favourite spots never to be missed out.
Number one is “Sunshine Corner”. No sign-board tells you where it is, but it’s at the top of the grassy slope behind the seventies block. A small clearing is surrounded by real forest at just the right distance to see everything, and in the early morning the sun focuses on it. Part of the attraction is the diversity of trees. I’ve never been anywhere, including tropical rain forest, where so many species can be identified without moving one’s feet.
And birds respond; there’s always something flowering or fruiting. This weekend was our record, 15 species in 10 minutes:
Black-collared Barbet
Cardinal Woodpecker
Willow Warbler
Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler
Dusky Flycatcher
Paradise Flycatcher
Black-backed Puffback
Olive Bush-Shrike
Bar-throated Apalis
Cape Batis
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Cape White-eye
Dark-capped Bulbul
Southern Boubou
Swee Waxbill