From Cape Ahulhas I headed towards Cape Town, with a goal of finding and photographing Cape Siskin and Cape Rock-Jumper. I arrived at the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens in Betty's Bay and sadly the reserve only opened around 7:30 and I was then well before 7. I began by birding around the perimeter fence and before long I had managed these proof shots of Cape Siskin. I was sure that once the reserve opened I would get better shots:

I also managed to get some fairly decent shots of Cape Sugarbird in the early morning light:

I saw many Orange-breasted Sunbirds but struggled to get the setting right to capture the beauty of the male - strangely doing a little better with the female:

A Southern Double-collared Sunbird posed for a quick shot too:

It was time for the gate to open and I nearly decided against entering the gardens having at least gotten some proof shots of Cape Siskin. Boy, am I glad that I did! I met an elderly birder who said that he had just heard Victorin's Warbler (by then I needed something to cheer me up as I was having numerous fly-bys of Cape Siskin but was not getting a single shot). He told me stories of how he had been with a group of birder who had surrounded a bush that one of these skulkers was calling from and none of them had been able to get any photos. Well, today would be a different day - or at least these Warblers were less shy and inquisitive about who we were:

A final sighting before I left was of a juvenile Cape Grassbird that was frantically calling for it's mother - I was taking some shots and then noticed the adult behind me and to be honest got such a glare from Mrs Grassbird that I was scared for a while:

I headed off to Rooi-Els but the wind on the coast was unbelievable. I walked for a hundred meters along the road and was being blown off my feet so I made a hasty retreat and decided to try my luck at Sir Lowry's Pass (I got some intel that assured me there was a sheltered spot past the Canon spot from Rich at Rockjumpers Birding Tours (I had no idea what that meant as I have never been there), so I set off, parking and making the brave dash across the road. The weather was horrid - it certainly looked really doubtful whether my Pelagic trip would happen the next day - but I eventually found the Canon trail spot and approached the secret Rock-Jumper hideout sheltered from the wind. Here are some scenery shots from the place to keep you in suspense:

Anyway, no sooner had a descended about 50 meters on the Cape Town side of Sir Lowry's Pass I spotted the male beauty and soon a female too. What a stunning lifer!!!

A bonus before I left was spotting a Cape Siskin - but once again it was not easy to photograph it:

A few other sighting before I left:

Another lifer (probably the easiest of my life) happened when I pulled into the airport to look for the House Crow. Immediately I saw Pied Crow bring mobbed by a much smaller Crow. I parked in the first parking are and saw they were fighting over the rights to a bird that had probably been knocked over by a car. Be warned, the pics get a tad gory.

Well, I headed off to the home that I had been given to stay at over the next few nights. And sadly got a reply from Trevor that the Pelagic was off - but that the wind was scheduled to drop and it looked good for the standby day. I decided to spend the day at West Coast National Park.