Spier Wine Estate

 

The outing to Spier Wine Estate on April Fool’s Day promised beautiful views, many birding opportunities during the gentle walk through the gardens, vineyards and along the river and, most importantly to me, as the parent of the birder in the family, delicious coffee at the end – and the outing delivered on all fronts!

Within the first few minutes of arriving, we walked on to the lawns and spotted two Malachite Kingfishers in clear sight, one perched on a broken branch on a large rock in the middle of the pond. Some other species of note were Purple Heron, Red-knobbed Coot with a chick, Black-headed Heron, Yellow-billed Duck and White-breasted Cormorant. A Hamerkop also flew overhead.

On our way to the vineyards, we heard a rather vocal Blacksmith Lapwing under a tree and as we got a bit closer, we understood why – there were two very cute chicks.

It was rather hot walking through the vineyards towards the lake, but the slight breeze was welcome. In the fynbos, we saw Karoo Prinia, Levaillant’s Cisticola and a lifer for Mitchell: Cape Longclaw.

At the lake, there were hundreds of Barn Swallows with the occasional White-throated Swallow. We saw White-faced Whistling Duck and an African Spoonbill flew overhead. As we walked off, a Black-winged Kite landed in the tree on the island.

Walking along the Eerste River, we managed to see African Black Duck and we also stopped to learn from Gigi about some flora – we did not know that there was a plant called April Fool!

Another junior birder on the outing, Christiaan, did very well with spotting and managing to photograph an African Paradise Flycatcher. He also captured the African Dusky Flycatcher.
On the open lawn, we had a good view of the African Stonechat.
We were rewarded at the end of the walk with delicious coffee and treats at the Spier Deli, and Penny also awarded Christiaan his amazing book prize (Roberts VII) for being the winner in the Under 15 category in the bird quiz that had been set by junior birder Zach Kaspersen in the previous few weeks. Mitchell was also offered a prize for tying third place in this category.

Thanks to Dennis Laidler for leading this very enjoyable walk and for sharing his bird list, and to those who contributed photographs.

List of birds seen on the outing:

House Sparrow
Swee Waxbill
Greater Striped Swallow
Little Egret
Bar-throated Apalis
African Stonechat
African Dusky Flycatcher
Southern Double-collared Sunbird
Cape Batis
Cape White-eye
Malachite Sunbird
African Black Duck
African Fish Eagle
Jackal Buzzard
Fork-tailed Drongo
Brown-throated Martin
White-throated Swallow
Black-winged Kite
White-faced Whistling Duck
Lesser Swamp Warbler
Egyptian Goose
African Spoonbill
Red-knobbed Coot
Cape Teal
Black-winged Stilt
Little Grebe
Cape Shoveler
Yellow-billed Duck
Cape Longclaw
Red-faced Mousebird
Black Saw-wing
Karoo Prinia
Barn Swallow
Levaillant’s Cisticola
Western Cattle Egret
African Harrier-Hawk
Pied Crow
Black-headed Heron
Hadada Ibis
Ring-necked Dove
Fiscal Flycatcher
Cape Robin-Chat
Southern Fiscal
Cape Bulbul
Blacksmith Lapwing
Hybrid Mallard
White-breasted Cormorant
Hamerkop
Reed Cormorant
Cape Weaver
Cape Wagtail
Purple Heron
African Darter
African Sacred Ibis
Common Moorhen
Malachite Kingfisher

Photographs by Mitchell Collins, Penny Dichmont and Christiaan Human.

Report by Michelle and Mitchell Collins (11 years).