Bird Ringing 8th April

What a great morning for ringing and the first bird out of the nets was a special bird, yes the winter migrants are arriving. The Spotted Ground Thrush migrates to KwaZulu Natal from the Cape for winter.



immature Spotted Ground Thrush

There was also a host of other great birds that were caught including Redcapped (Natal) RobinChat, Olive Sunbird, Yellowrumped Tinkerbird



young female Cape Batis

The Cape Batis can be differentiated from the similar Chinspot Batis by its rufous colouring on the flanks. The female aso has a rufous patch on the chin whereas the male has a black patch.



male African (Bluebilled) Firefinch

This male African Firefinch despite being common in our are still got great comments from everyone due to his brilliant colour. Another great bird was that was caught was the Grey Sunbird which only occurs in a thin strip down the east coast of South Africa.



Grey Sunbird

Crowned Eagle's having fun

What a morning when this pair of Crowned Eagles were flying overhead, the vervet Monkeys hid very low down just in case the Eagles were hungry. they fif not have to worry as the Crowned Eagles were only having fun. I was able to get a few pictures of the birds flying overhead but as most people will tell you it is far from easy to get decent pictures of a bird in flight.

Pair of Crowned Eagles flying overhead



Hit the Air Brakes

Immagine the power in that leg and Talon