On Sunday the 2nd October 2011 we left Johannesburg at 3am heading for four nights around Beaufort West. It would be my first time birding in the Karoo and I had high expectations of seeing and photographing some new birds. The journey there was one we'd rather forget with dozens of stop and go's on the highway, accidents along the way, having my brake pads choose a Sunday afternoon in the middle of nowhere to wear out with no chance of repairs on the day, and the worst hail storm and rain that I have ever seen. By the time we arrived in Beaufort West the place looked like one big wetland. So much for the dry Karoo! We were supposed to camp for 2 nights at Steenbokkie Nature Reserve by ended up switching to a room that was available. We killed some time in the afternoon looking around town for Common Starling and for Black-necked Grebe on the dam but had no luck. It was not looking like a good trip!

But our fortunes changed in Monday morning as we left home around 6am to explore the farmlands to the east of Beaufort West. I was not sure whether we would be able to drive along the dirt roads after the heavy rains, but surprisingly the roads were dry enough and we were never really at risk of getting stuck as long as we stayed on the road. Here are some scenery pics we took on the day - thankfully the threatening clouds never opened up again for the rest of our stay in the area:

We had a raptor sighting that we had to figure out - it was a juvenile Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk:

One of our main goals in exploring the farmlands before the National Park was to try and see as many as the Lark species in the area as possible. It seems like we were able to see 5 on the day, including Spike-heeled Lark, Karoo Long-billed Lark, Karoo Lark, Large-billed Lark and Sabota "Bradfields" Lark (the Karoo, Long-billed and Large-billed were all lifers for me):

Another species I was hoping to see was the Grey-backed and Black-eared Sparrowlarks. We managed to see both on this outing (lifers number 4 and 5 for the day) - but boy, the Black-eared species were almost impossible to photograph - it took me at least 40 minutes to get these proof shots! They are so shy!

Another species I was hoping to finally get to see was Lark-like Bunting and it would soon turn out to almost be a trash bird in the area - but the first sightings were really special (lifer number 6):

Lifer number 7 came courtesy of Karoo Chat:

Followed closely by the gorgeous Rufous-eared Warbler (lifer number 8):

The Karoo Korhaan soon got in the act (they were everywhere!), followed by Ludwig's Bustard (we managed to see at least 8 on the outing) - this was lifer number 9 and 10 respectively:

The next three species were all sighting that I had only seen once before was Grey Tit, Yellow Canary and Chat Flycatcher:

We headed into town to have my brake pads replaced at the Toyota dealership and headed out on foot to bird the town and the dam. We spotted this rather interesting bird in a tree in a garden in the middle of the town and could not identify it - fortunately a member of the Global Bird Trekkers Forum (Punk) came to the rescue and pointed me towards Canaries - it is a juvenile Cape Canary:

On the way to the day we spotted an 11th lifer in Karoo Scrub-Robin:

We arrived at the dam and saw a pair of Black-necked Grebe on the dam - this was only my second sighting of this species:

We made our way along the river/wetland that wanders through the town and spotted another species that I had seen once before - Alpine Swift:

We headed into the suburbs in search of Common Starling and were rewarded with a pair in a park - a most colourful 12th lifer for the day:

The other birds we spotted in town were White-backed Mousebird, Malachite Kingfisher, Karoo Thrush, Common Fiscal, Cape Canary, Laughing Dove, Cape Wagtail, Helmeted Guineafowl, African Hoopoe, House Sparrow, Southern Red Bishop, Red-billed Quelea, Red-winged Starling. Here are a few pics I took:

We collected the car at Toyota (happy to be able to use brakes rather than gears and the handbrake once again to stop for bird sightings) and had a close encounter with a Black Harrier and Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk that were hunting along the road to the Reserve where we were staying:

We arrived back at Steenbokkie Reserve around late afternoon and stopped to take some scenery shots of the Molteno mountain range close by that we planned to bird the next day before heading off to the Karoo National Park where we would be spending our final 2 nights in the area. And of course I stopped to take a photo or two of Karoo Prinia which I had only seen once before, in Lesotho, and a Peacock displaying for a Helmeted Guineafowl! Confused?

At the risk of being accused of being in touch with my feminine side, I am going to post a selection of photos that my wife took of flowers in the Karoo. In fact, she was the one who was on at my to take her to the Karoo - and of course I had to do it to please her! And get a few lifers along the way!

The only mammals we saw on the day were cattle, sheep and these rather unique looking Karoo Donkeys:

So, any day in which you are able to get 12 lifers is a GREAT day out birding!!!

Day 2
We checked out of Steenbokkie Reserve at 6:30am and headed to the Molteno Pass (the R381 to Loxton). We spent some time birding on the bridge at the base of the pass (32°17'02.17"S 22°33'55.19"E) where the river heads into the National Park for a while but it was really early and the mountain was obscuring the rising sun so sightings were limited. I tried to call out Southern Tchagra and had no luck.

A little way up the pass we stopped at a spot where African Rock Pipit has been spotted (32°15'26.31"S 22°34'16.67"E) but it was a no show, and instead we saw a raptor soaring overhead (I suspect that it was a Booted Eagle - one of the 'landing lights' are visible on the fourth pic):

The 13th lifer for the trip appeared in Pale-winged Starling. They would prove incredibly difficult to approach to get any sort of decent photographs:

Here are a few scenery shots we took on the way up the Mountain Pass:

There is a section of dirt road on the way up where the river runs right next to the road (32°12'41.13"S 22°33'25.65"E) - in this area we saw Ground Woodpecker, Malachite Sunbird, Cape Bunting, Greater Striped Swallow, Cape White-eye, Rock Martin and Red-winged Starling. I looked in vain for Cinnamon-breasted Warbler that had been spotted here a week before by Niall Perins (who kindly supplied me with the GPS co-ordinates for his sightings in this area!):

Further along the R381 once you are through the mountain pass and the road becomes tarred again there is a turn off to the left (32°06'41.94"S 22°26'56.21"E). The next stop we made was on a place where the river runs over the road (32°06'21.23"S 22°25'13.08"E).

We played the call of the Namaqua Warbler and within seconds two birds showed themselves and we got decent pics of our 14th lifer:

One of the amazing features of birding in the Karoo was the abundance of Fairy Flycatcher - they cause such a stir in Gauteng when they are around and yet in the Karoo they seem to be around every corner - but they are still difficult to photograph as they never seem to stand still:

The day was warming up and we needed to get back to Karoo National Park to set up camp. Sadly we did not continue as far along this road where Karoo Eremomela had been spotted last week. I would end up regretting this decision as we never did get to see this species on this trip! We headed back down the pass - spotting a place where African Spoonbill were nesting high up in some trees and go some more less than ideal pics of Pale-winged Starling:

We stopped once again at the spot where African Rock Pipit had been spotted (32°15'26.31"S 22°34'16.67"E) and this time were in luck. Perched high up on the rocks calling to his hearts content was a bird that I have hunted for around Witsieshoek, in Lesotho and many other places with no luck. I watched it do a death defying vertical dive down the mountain and sadly it disappeared from site down below the road towards the valley and was not seen again. How does one get close to this species??? Lifer number 15 for the trip!

Here are some other pics I took on the way down:

Here is a list of the birds we saw on our trip up and down Molteno Pass: Common Fiscal, Karoo Prinia, Cape Robin-Chat, Cape Wagtail, Cape White-eye, Rock Martin, Egyptian Goose, Grey Heron, Bokmakierie, Jackal Buzzard, South African Shelduck, Yellow-billed Duck, Little Grebe, Red-knobbed Coot, Cape Bunting, Levaillant's Cisticola, Namaqua Warbler, Hadeda Ibis, Cape Turtle Dover, Ant-eating Chat, Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk, Cape Crow, Rock Kestrel, Grey Tit, Malachite Sunbird, White-backed Mousebird, Fairy Flycatcher, African Spoonbill, Pied Crow, African Rock Pipit, Acacia Pied Barbet, Pririt Batis, Karoo Chat, Black-throated Canary, Pale-winged Starling, Red-winged Starling, Ground Woodpecker, Greater Striped Swallow and possibly Steppe Buzzard.

We made our way back into town, did some shopping and headed out of town to the Karoo National Park. While we were setting up camp we noticed a nesting Rock Martin near the kitchen area:

We decided to make the most of the late afternoon and headed towards Klipspringer Pass. I was trying to get a shot of Short-toed Rock-Thrush that I had see before when a Dusky Sunbird (male and female) appeared - lifer number 16. They was also Southern Double-collared Sunbird in this area.

We drove a bit further up the road and a 17th lifer finally appeared - sadly it did not hang around too long - but Layard's Tit-Babbler it certainly was!

We saw a few more birds before needing to return to camp:

Here is a list of all the birds we saw in the park on our first afternoon there: Rock Martin, Short-toed Rock-Thrush, Dusky Sunbird, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Layard's Tit-Babbler, Karoo Chat, Lark-like Bunting, Cape Sparrow, Red-winged Starling, Common Ostrich, Cape Robin-Chat, Brown-throated Martin, Cape White-eye, African Red-eyed Bulbul, Southern Red Bishop, Southern Masked Weaver, Long-billed Crombec, Karoo Thrush, Common Fiscal, Pale-winged Starling, Familiar Chat, Fairy Flycatcher, Pririt Batis, Karoo Prinia and White-backed Mousebird.

Here are some scenery shots of the area in and around the majestic Karoo National Park:

My wife continued with her photography of Karoo flowers - here is another batch:

So another 5 lifers were added on day 2 - bringing the total to 17.

Day 3
This trip report was nearly never written - we nearly froze to death in the tent we were sleeping in at the campsite. Boy, the Karoo can get cold at night. We left as the sun rose (no one wanted to stay in the freezing tent anyway) and headed off to do the Lammertjiesleegte Loop - pausing to take in the incredible scenery of the mountains:

We were rewarded with some more Lark sightings that I had seen on the farm lands a few days before:

We got up close to a juvenile Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk but it flew off as I took a shot:

I had looked in vain for Grey-backed Cisticola at Mokala National Park some months back so it was a real delight to see them in this Park (lifer number 18):

Here are a few other sightings we had in this area:

While I was trying to call out a Lark I suddenly spotted a Double-banded Courser but it flew off before I could react. A few second later I noticed that there was a second one standing not more than 10 meters from my car. It allowed me to get the best shots I have ever had of this species:

Nearby an adult Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk (definitely the most common raptor in the Karoo) was being dive bombed by a pair of Rock Kestrel but it survived unscathed:

We had breakfast at the Bulkraal picnic site and I spent an hour or so birding the spot - specifically looking for Southern Tchagra. Here are some shots that I took:

I finally spotted Southern Tchagra and worked my butt off to get these average pics - they are rather shy compared to their cousins in Gauteng (lifer number 19):

The picnic spot sadly does not give much access to the river - although there is a fenced off road that leads over the river near the entrance to the picnic site:

On the way back to the campsite we spotted anothern Karoo Long-billed Lark:

A close up sighting of Karoo Scrub-Robin was a nice sighting:

We decided that we were not done birding for the morning and headed up the amazing Klipspringer Pass - here are some pics that hopefully do justice to the pass:

We stumbled across an African Rock Pipit singing his heart out on a tree on top of the mountain (one day I am going to climb one of these mountains to get decent pics of this species!):

Another life appeared in the form of White-throated Canary - I would have to wait for another sighting on the plateau as this one flew off before I could get more than this record shot (lifer number 20):

We soon arrived at the top of the pass and began to wind our way through the plateau - here are some scenery pics:

Two Chat's posed nicely for us: Familiar and Sickle-winged (sadly we did not get to see Tractrac Chat on this trip!):

We spotted a good sized group of Black-headed Canary but struggled to get close to them for decent pics (lifer number 21):

At a stream we finally had another sighting of White-throated Canary - again, not feeling like we had gotten the perfect shots:

We finally arrived at the Doornhoek picnic site - it is a stunning sight with great birding potential even though it is not that big - but the bush is excellent for woodland birding:

I had a second sighting for the trip of Namaqua Warbler but struggled to identify it at the time as I was not expecting to see it in thickets so far from water:

Here are some other pics I took in the picnic site:

As we left the picnic site I spotted a Black Stork soaring overhead and stopped to get some shots of Alpine Swift:

Namaqua Dove were obliging and amazingly allowed us to get rather close:

As me followed the road back towards the campsite (along Potlekkertjie Loop) we had decent sightings of both Grey-backed Sparrowlark, Long-billed-backed Pipit and Rufous-eared Warbler:

Bradfield's Lark and Lark-like Bunting were the last birds we spotted before arriving back at the campsite:

We returned to our campsite and I left the family behind as I wanted to try my luck with spotting the Sclater's Lark - they had been spotted on farmlands in the area a week before. I made my way to some drinking troughs where they have been seen but sadly the Larks did not show although I spotted dozens of Spoke-heeled Larks.

Here are some scenery shots of the area:

I did managed to sneak up to a Karoo Korhaan and get some decent pics:

Here are some other sightings I had on my walkabout:

Here are a few more flowers my wife managed to photograph:

The park seems well stocked with buck and other mammals - here are some pics I took of the biodiversity:

Day 4
On the final day our of time in the Karoo in woke up early and completed the Lammertjiesleegte Loop one last time. It was productive in terms of the species we saw but nothing new was added to my life list. We did get close to Karoo Chat, had a great Booted Eagle sighting and were stunned to see such a big Common Ostrich family. Seeing juvenile Bokmakierie was a first for me! I also tried my best to get some pics of Pale-winged Starling in flight but gave up knowing I could just not really get close enough!

The only lifer I was able to add to my list (number 22) was Common Swift that was soaring around near the main reception area as we headed back to our camping area to pack up:

Here are a few more mammals that we saw on the day before leaving the park - the Mountain Zebra I believe may have been a "lifer" for me as I don't think I have seen them in the wild before:

Even though we had a long way to drive to get back to Johannesburg I wanted to have one more go at seeing the Crimson-breasted Warbler along the river up the Molteno Mountain Pass. I promised that family a nice picnic lunch on a river before heading home - they saw right through it and knew that I just wanted to do some more birding. Here are some scenery pics we took on the way up the pass (the rock formations are particularly impressive):

I had a really sad experience on the pass. As I arrived at the spot that Niall Perrins had seen the Cinnamon-breasted Warbler a week before, I pulled over next to the river, got out the car and played it's call. Immediately it appeared from the rocks on the mountain side of the road not more than 10 meters from where I was standing - circled around me and took off for the river - disappearing among the rocks a little way up the opposite bank. I spent the next hour and a half hunting for it and finally had to give up to that we could start our journey home. Not even a record shot!!! I am so tempted to break my rule of only claiming lifers if I have photograph evidence - but don't think that I can bring myself to do it! So another one gets away! Oh well, I'll just have to stop there when we next head off to Cape Town! Hopefully within the next year!

We took the long road back to Joburg, negotiating the countless Stop and Go's that add about an hour to the trip - we were delighted to see 2 Blue Crane close to the highway and also a Northern Black Korhaan or two.

The Karoo rocks, in more ways than one!!! In total we saw 103 different bird species - not a huge total - but given that 22 were lifers - it was not a problem!!!