Our last trip to Rietvlei Nature Reserve was on the 7th of July. This spontaneous decision added 3 more birds to my Rietvlei list (Rock Kestrel, African Snipe and a Green Wood-Hoopoe), pushing my list total to 137. I’m highly impressed with this total, regardless of the fact that it is only 48% of the birds recorded in Rietvlei’s pentad (2550_2815)!

The Red-knobbed Coots have four young ones ‘running’ about at Coot’s Corner Hide but other than that, all other breeding progress in the area seems to be on standby. A Little Bittern kept flying back and forth over the reeds and a Purple Heron was hunting amongst the reeds.

Some great news: my mom and I saw two pairs of Secretarybirds (it is always lovely to see them) and it looks as if a Black-chested Snake-Eagle has made itself at home on the Vlei Route. We are fairly certain that the Snake-Eagle was standing on top of a nest!

Other than that, the African Darters were causing more chaos than normal at the Bird Island View Hide and Grey-headed Gulls, along with the other water birds, showed some impressive fish catching skills…

Just for interest sake: it seems as if the Coffee Shop isn’t open during the week. 

 

 

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