Herschel Prep have had quite a ‘birdy’ week in this last week of term. On Monday our Chairman, Mike Buckham, chatted to the girls about birds and birding and some highlights of his own birding trips. The girls were absolutely enthralled, and afterwards many admitted that they did not know that watching birds could be so exciting! Thank you, Mike!
Nineteen Herschel girls (Grade 1 to Grade 6) belonging to the Environmental Club and two teachers, Margot Roebert and Linda Cowie, joined four CBC members, Michelle Vrettos, Zoe Lunau-Johns, Marilyn Metcalf and Priscilla Beeton, for a ‘break-up day’ birding outing to Intaka Island.
It was a cold and overcast day, but we were very lucky that the rain held off until after the outing. The larger group was divided into two smaller groups. They set off after a refresher session on how to focus their binoculars, and armed with Intaka Island bird ID checklists, to see what they could find.
The girls amazed the CBC members with their excellent knowledge of birds and also with their huge enthusiasm. We saw many of the usual suspects like Egyptian Geese, Red-knobbed Coots and Common Moorhens which the girls easily identified. What they really enjoyed though was looking at the colours and markings of the plumages through their binoculars! Other birds seen included Blacksmith Lapwings, both Cape and Southern Masked Weavers, White-breasted Cormorants, Yellow-billed Ducks, Red Bishops and more. Sadly, no kingfishers were seen.
A very special sighting though was of a Purple Heron and, for some, a Little Bittern. We were also treated to a sighting of a Great White Pelican which flew by over our heads.
Zoë, who kept our list, reported that we had seen 33 species in the space of one and a half hours. The girls also got to go on a boat ride around Intaka Island – much enjoyed by all.
While half the group went on the boat, the other half completed a very challenging ‘Scrambled Word and Word Search’ puzzle prepared by Michelle Vrettos, which even the youngest managed to do with a little assistance.
Many thanks to the leaders from both the CBC and Herschel.
Photographs by Linda Cowie, Zoë Lunau-Johns and Priscilla Beeton.
Report by Priscilla Beeton.