Word came through the Rare Bird report that the brown booby had been seen at Bird Island in Lambert's Bay again, thus another visit was in order. Luck was with me this time and there were a couple of guys in the hide who had already located the bird. Took a while for me to find it as it was surrounded by young gannets and only emerged from their scrum occasionally. I can quite see why it was called a booby as it is extremely odd looking. The white breast indicates that this is a juvenile but later the same day an adult was also found, but I had my pics and had departed by then.
On a different route back, I came upon this weirdly hollowed rock - which looks about ready to roll down the hill and flatten the farmhouse below.
Coming back down the pass the view is of a very dry flat area in front of the Piketberg Mountains, which emphasises that this is a winter rainfall or Mediterranean climate.
Had to have another go at finding the American golden plover at Platboom on the Cape Peninsula but it seems to have disappeared entirely. Plenty of African black oystercatchers about though. Always wondered about that name oysters don't exactly require catching........oystersnatchers?
Heading back to the vehicle, I found a couple of young ostrich foraging on the beach.......
........and a short while later they were joined by mum in front of the rocks on the extreme right in this picture.
Came back from the Kommetjie side over a pass that drops down into Simonstown and there parked in the same place as I last saw them, our useless Navy which is now so crippled that their boats never leave harbour.
Thing with the Cape is that there are just so many things packed into a fairly small area, that it's hard to get to all of them even if you have three months. This was taken from the old road up Du Toitskloof Pass looking down on the highway as it approaches the tunnel.
Over the top and headed down the other side to Worcester, there are panoramic views in every direction.
In search of a Tibetan (lesser) sand plover, I headed for the West Coast NP where I found this magnificent candelabra flower Brunsvigia orientalis (thanks Richard), really standing out amongst the dry vegetation.
At the Seeberg Hide it was a case of birds to the left........
.........and more to the right.
.............and in front of them, what I initially thought was a curlew sandpiper but when looking at the pics, I realized that the beak and size are wrong so believe it's a red knot, which just happens to be a lifer! He's moulting into his spivvy courting plumage as he and his mates will soon be winging their way north to breed.
On the boardwalk back to the car I found something that initially had me thinking sand plover and I took dozens of photos that I could pour over at a later stage but it eventually came close enough for me to see what is called the nuchal collar, which is absent on the sand plover. The dictionary on the phone didn't have a definition for nuchal but Google did - a distinct coloured band (white in this case) across the nape! Juvenile Kittlitz's plover, bummer.
This one also got me aflutter but it's actually a white fronted plover, see the collar!
No mistaking this little beauty in his breeding finery, a common ringed plover also soon to depart our shores.
This old shepherds croft is at the Seeberg lookout point and as I've said before if only I could persuade the Parks authorities to rent it out,,,,,,,
Up at the top were a huge swathe of common sugarbush Protea repens whose flowers are either pink or cream and there were a number of Cape sugarbirds feeding on the nectar they provide.
The area is part of the Cederberg, with massive sandstone ridges that have been worn into fantastical shapes by wind and rain. This lot look like a scene from Easter Island...........
............while this balancing outcrop rivals anything I've seen in the Matopos, outside my hometown of Bulawayo. Trust Eskom to spoil the view!
Whilst feeding the dogs one evening I glanced out of the window and was greeted by what could only be described as a lowering sky, with emphasis on the second syllable.
Speaking of which reminds me that I've had to resort to all sorts of cunning evasions to get out of the gate without these two Houdini's doing an escape routine. Shadow in the background is in his second childhood and I've picked him up at least three times, near or in the cemetery which is kilometres away from the house. Still love him to bits though. His accomplice, Luna normally comes back and waits at the gate to be let in, which he also does on occasion.
