To celebrate my 48th birthday, on the 21st of May 2010, we headed off to Barberspan (a trip that took us close to 5 hours from Joburg thanks to a total road closure on the N14 that led to a lengthy detour, road works later on the N14 and a wrong turn that I took around Carltonville). We managed to book into the Pelican guest house due to a cancellation that took place – at R80 per person per night it is an absolute steal for the basic but comfortable house. We arrived at 7:30 too late to even see any of the dam along the dirt road that led to the entrance gate on the birding side of the dam. We had hoped to see some specials before the sun went down, like an owl for instance, but after a braai we hit the sack planning to make an early start on Saturday morning.

We left the home at 6:30 and right outside the guest house saw a Swallow-tailed Bee-eater high up in a tree – but it was still too dark to get anything more than a badly pixilated shot. Was that to be the only time we saw this special? My wife then spotted an owl sitting on the tennis court fence and our hearts dropped as it flew off to a nearby tree. We walked up to the tree and unbelievably the Spotted Eagle Owl just sat there while I fired off shots. A second one flew right by my head probably warning me to back off – which we did.

We had decided to follow the route laid out in Birding Gauteng and as we approached the dam the sun rose over the huge dam – what a sight!!!

We drove up to the mobile bird hide but found it to be positioned too far from the shoreline and drove on the road that runs next to the water’s edge. Fortunately it was not rainy season – it must be totally impassible in the rainy reason. We saw a Cape Shoveler on the dam and a group of White Stork gave a great display as they waded along the shoreline before taking off and flying away. There were large number of Red-knobbed Coot on the dam as well as Grey Heron, White-breasted Cormorant, Reed Cormorant, African Darter and Common Moorhen.

We were expecting to see many waders but would only be fortunate enough to see Klittlitts’s Plover and Three-banded Plover on the day. Ant-eating Chat were just all over the place and a friendly Zitting Cisticola hovered around us at one point and an African Pipit foraged on the ground. We watched a Pied Kingfisher hunting for fish in the dam and a Grey-headed Gull digging in the shallow waters.

We rounded a corner and saw our first sighting of Greater Flamingo for the day – we would see around 10 birds that were still hanging around despite the onset of winter.

The site of large flocks of ducks taking off or landing on the water was a special treat to us:

On the road outside the Sanctuary that we could see through the perimeter fence we watched a Black-shouldered Kite take off to grab some prey next to the highway and nearly get hit by a passing car in the process. Many non-breeding Long-tailed Widowbirds paraded around in their transitional plumage.

We headed back to the guest house around 10am for brunch before heading out of the sanctuary to check out the Leeupan dam to the north of the main dam. On our way out we stopped at the Hide and saw House Sparrow and Cormorants – rather slim pickings.

Just outside the main gate we saw a Northern Black Korhaan – a bit too far away and in long grass but it’s unmistakable call pierced the air.

We saw nothing at Leeupan and then headed to the Fishing section of the dam. Along the way we got up close to another Black-shouldered Kite.

A Goliath Heron was a great sighting on the shoreline as was a group of four Greater Flamingoes.

The journey down to the end of the fishing section yielded White-winged Tern, a Harrier that we did not positively identify. We saw some interesting metal cylinders on the electricity power lines that were being used by Red-headed Finch and Cape Sparrows for nesting purposes. On the way back we saw a solitary Squacco Heron.

On the way out of the gate back to the birding section we spotted an unusual looking Common Fiscal that turned out to be a Desert or Western Race variety:

Back in the area around the guest house where we did some birding on foot we saw Crimson-breasted Shrike, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Crested Barbet, Red-headed Finch and Black-backed Puffback.

When we returned to the dam around 2:30, as the sun was starting to go down, we saw a large group of birds on the island in the middle of the dam, a Whiskered Tern was hunting over the waters, Goliath Heron, Grey-headed Gull and it seemed that everywhere we looked, there was an Common Ostrich or two. The Cape Teal we saw was actually a surprise Lifer for me. A large flock of Egyptian Geese gave us a flying display.

We heard African Fish-Eagle early that morning so we knew they were at the dam – and we had numerous sightings of them – and even were able to walk up to a tree and get within 30 metres of two adults. It was a special moment.

We got back to the guest house around 4pm and packed to leave for home. On the way out, at the hide next to the river that crosses the access road, we saw African Purple Swamphen, Little Grebe, Lesser Swamp-Warbler and of course, a Little Bittern. I seem to attract them wherever I go!

The last sighting – and probably the most special apart from the Owl that morning was seeing three Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters as we left the gate to the Bird Sanctuary – one even obliged by sitting still on a fence right next to our car – it seemed confused by the sound of my camera snapping away and a farm worker herding cattle behind him.

On the road just outside the Sanctuary we saw Cape Glossy Starling, in the town of Delareyville we saw dozens of Grey-headed Gull (strangely we only saw one on the dam and a flock of them in the little town), Cattle Egret, Spotted Thick-Knee, Amur Falson, Red-billed Quelea, Long-tailed Widowbird and Rock Pigeon.

Some of the other birds on my list for the day that I don’t think made it to the report include: Swainson’s Spurfowl, Cape Wagtail, Blacksmith Lapwing, lots of Dove and Pigeon, Pied Crow, Fiscal Flycatcher, Common Fiscal, Crowned Lapwing, Helmeted Guineafowl, Common Myna, Streaky-headed Seedeater, Southern Masked Weaver, Purple Heron, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Dark-capped Bulbul, Common Waxbill and Spur-winged Goose.

All in all we saw 75 bird species and I managed to get 3 Lifers on the day. The trip back, via the N12, took just over 3 hours – that was greatly appreciated by my family who were really doubting my integrity about how far the place was from Joburg and my ability to navigate properly. Hey, I did turn 48 – that entitles me to at least one wrong turn. It is just painful when your 15 year old, takes the headphones out of her ears, and announces in a loud voice – “Hey, Dad, haven’t we been here before? I recognize that cow!” What is it with small towns and the lack of signage? There are little towns all over Gauteng, Mpumulanga and Limpopo that have critical turns that are not signposted!