A week before the school holidays were due to start at Easter I had to make a trip to KZN to help my parents out in a crisis they were going through. While everyone else was heading towards the specials in Port Elizabeth, Plett and Cape Town, I headed in the opposite direction. The trip was exhausting for me but productive for my parents as the situation was resolved. I was able to squeeze in a few birding highlights along the way.

I stopped off at Marutswa Forest near Bulwer on my way to Durban and got the lifer of Cape Parrot which I had missed on a previous visit to the place. I tried to make smiley faces at the 2 birds but nothing could entice them to come down from their perch high up in a dead tree half way along the contour walk through the reserve. Here are the best shots I managed:

I was anxious to get to Durban and could not budget more than 2 hours at the spot and hoped that I might be able to return on this trip. The other highlights in the forest (strangely quiet and birdless on the day - or I was in a rush and too focussed on what I had to do in Durban to notice) were Grey Cuckooshrike (only my second sighting of this species), Olive Woodpecker (also a second sighting), Forest Canary (hey also a second...weird), Cape Grassbird, Cape Crow, Yellow-breasted Apalis and Bar-throated Apalis. Here are a few less that stunning pics:

I made my way to Durban to check in with my dad and then spent the next few days communiting between Southport and Pinetown visiting family members. On one of my days in Pinetown I invited my day to join me on a twitch to find African Black Oystercatchers that had been spotted on the beach at Tinley Manor just north of Durban. We arrived at the beach and the lifeguards said they had not spotted any black birds with red bills that day. Rats, had we travelled all that way for nothing. We made our way towards the road around the corner from the swimming beach and spotted some juvenile Kelp Gulls flying past and then in the distance through my binocs....Bingo! At least a couple black birds with flashes of red! Lifer! Wooho! Dad, who played too much football in his youth and lost a kneecap, was never going to stay with me so I charged off on my own to get close. The chase was worth the effort with at least 9 birds on display:

The only other chance I got to go birding was two hours spent one morning at Pigeon Park. I was hoping to get another sighting of the Olive Thrush or Spotted Ground-Thrush but hunted in vain. All in all not a very significant outing - please don't judge this stunning spot in the middle of the suburbs of Durban by this). I saw: Purple-crested Turaco, Cape Weaver, Knysna Turaco, Grey Sunbird, Kurrichane Thrush, Black-headed Oriole, White-eared Barbet, African Paradise-flycatcher (were is that blooming Blue-crested Mantled Chap - it is my bogey bird for sure!!!), Red-capped Robin-chat and Terrestrial Brownbul. Still as always a lot of fun - plus I got to hang out with a birder from St. Francis whose boyfriend was over birding after 10 minutes and went off for a surf. Here are a few pics I got - sad really that one can come home with so little for so much work on some outings!

On my way back to Joburg (having sucessfully helped to heal the family crisis) I headed back to Marutswa Forest was rewarded with amazing sightings and even a few decent pictures for my efforts. I knew it would be a good morning when close to Bulwer I was greeted by 2 Grey Crowned Crane posing nicely on a hillside.

I covered the whole reserve this time and not just the lower contour path and that made all the difference! And I believe, was even able to capture some images of my bogey bird - a Blue-mantled Crested-Flycatcher:

Some of the other highlights in the forest included my first ever pics of African Goshawk (okay, hardly worth mentioning or showing, but I will anyway), Olive Woodpecker, White-starred Robin (one of my trash birds :)), Olive Thrush, Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler, Dark-capped Weaver, Bush Blackcap, Forest Canary, Somber Greenbul, Terrestrial Brownbul,

On the way back to the N3 I spotted a Jackal Buzzard coming in to land:

Not bad for a trip that had nothing to do with birding!!! Three nice lifers - a super bonus!