Today, Monday the 19th July 2010, I spent the morning doing the De Tweedespruit Conservancy route (chapter 51 in Birding Gauteng) and even though I spotted 40 bird species it will go down as one of my least successful outings this year. However, the Striped Pipit I saw and photographed (of course, as always, the ID must be confirmed before I throw a party or record the lifer in my Zeiss "Checklist of Birds" booklist) might just have saved the day.

I arrived in Cullinan around 6:45 as the sun was rising and was tempted to explore the town and the Premier Mine Quarry (chapter 50) but decided to head directly to the Sybrandskraal Route to make the most of the early start - so many specials could be seen that I did not want to waste any time. One the tar road ended the gravel roads were simply atrocious - corrugated dirt roads are okay for 100 metres but not fun after a few kilometers! I got off the track following all the advice in the book (although I did not visit Little Eden or any other private lodges as I was not wanting to turn the outing into a budget-breaking day) and recorded the following birds from point 1 to point 7: Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, White-bellied Sunbird, Black-shouldered Kite, Helmeted Guineafowl, Groundscraper Thrush and Dark-capped Bulbul. Slim picking indeed.

I then set off on the De Tweedespruit Scenic Route (point 7 to 13) and up to point 10 recorded Common Ostrich, a female Fiscal Flycatcher, Lourie, Pied Crow, Familiar Chat and Fork-tailed Drongo. Again, not much to write home about - this photo is one of the few worth showing from this section.

I then arrived at the farm dam on the right hand side of the road (point 10) and was surprised to see it just about empty. I was taking pics of the Giant Kingfisher, Hadeda Ibis, Yellow-billed Duck, Reed Cormorant, Blacksmith Lapwing, Neddicky and a Pipit (more about it in a minute) when I was joined by the farmer and his three dogs who pointed out that a pipe had burst and caused a breach in the wall. He was clearly frustrated and was looking at how he could get equipment in to begin repairs. Here are a few pics that I took:

Just before the farmer arrived I spotted a bird in the bush and managed to get a couple of shots off before it flew off - it actually landed not more than a metre away from me at one point but flew off as I lifted my camera - never to be seen again. My id of the bird suggests that it is Striped Pipit (a bird I was hoping to see in this area). It has the yellow edges on it's folded wings and very prominent streaking on it's chest. I am holding thumbs that I am making my first confident and accurate id on a Pipit here! If this is an African Pipit - I will burst into tears! The lower mandible is pink and not yellow - so hopefully I won't be crying today!!! It was on a "boulder strewn hill slope on woodlands" (a phrase linked to the Striped Pipit in my Birds of Southern African field guide). Here are a few shots of the bird:

There is a great little wetland area with a small dam or two near to the Madidaba Game Lodge that could be a great spot in summer - I saw Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Natal Spurfowl, Speckled Mousebird, Pied Crow, Little Grebe, Common Moorhen, Lourie and Common Fiscal at this spot today:

I then made my way past the 2 rivers on the road (Elands and Malan from where the conservancy gets its name - ie. Two Rivers or Spruits) - here is a pic I took from the Malanspruit bridge (maybe someone can id the cow for me - it might be a Lifer! Sadly nothing else was moving in the river):

Near the Elands River bridge I observed a Green Wood-Hoopoe using some pretty higher grade intelligence to locate and eat insects in an unusual location:

Some of the other birds I saw on this route that I have not mentioned include: Lourie, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Fiscal Flycatcher, Rock Pigeon, Burchell's Starling, African Stonechat, Southern Masked Weaver and African Grey Hornbill.

My decision to drive the Brandbach Route was less than rewarding - I saw a few African Stonechats, Sacred Ibis, Black-collared Barbet, a Black-headed Heron, quite a few Crested Lapwing, one lonely White-throated Robin-Chat and nothing else. I did not drive the Boschbult Grassland Route as it seems that a 4x4 is necessary - so maybe I missed out on a few specials on that route. I then made my way back to Cullinan to check out the quarry and at the lookout took a few scenery pics (that to my horror when I got home looked a tad out of focus - but did not seem much flying around in the area apart from Cape Turtle Dove. Maybe I should have visited the spot early this morning after all!!!

It was midday by now and there did not seem to be much reason to hang around in the area - so sadly I headed home. Hey, at least it freed up my afternoon to process the pics and write this report! Maybe a return trip in Summer will do justice to the route that is given 6 whole pages in Birding Gauteng!!!