Here is my top ten list of lifers for 2010 - ranking them was the hardest part - they were each special!
1. Gurneys Sugarbird
In June 2010 I took my family to Oribi Gorge on the Kwazulu/Natal south coast and outside the reserve I stumbled across an amazing little property run by a plant lover and in the drive way spotted this stunning bird. I had often looked at pics of the Sugarbirds and dreamed of spotting one! It hung around just long enough for a dozen pics and then disappeared - until I saw it again on the top of the mountain at Marakele National Park some months later (I have included a pic from that trip too).
2. African Cuckoo Hawk
This lifer took me by surprise in a big way. I was birding on Breedtsnek Pass in October 2010 and a raptor flew staight at me. I had my settings all wrong and got two shots - a funny frontal and a perfect in focus half shot. And it was gone!
3. African Pygmy-Goose
On a second trip to Mkhombo Dam in December 2010 I was looking for the Spotted Crake and the Pectoral Sandpiper (knowing that African Pygmy-Goose had been seen as well) and got lucky as on three occasions I caught sight of a pair flying around. I finally managed to get close enough to get a decent pic with my 300mm lens. It is a truly beautiful little goose!
4. Scarlet-chested Sunbird
I had drooled over the pics of Sunbirds in my Roberts book for the whole of January and half of February and it took a flight to Windhoek for a weekend of consultation for me to catch sight of one of them. It was this Scarlet-chested beauty that caught my attention and I had opened the score sheet with Sunbirds!
5. Purple-crested Turaco
On a trip to the Lowveld Botanical Gardens in April 2010 I looked EVERYWHERE for this bird and was just about giving up hope. I had a fleeting glimpse of the bird and got one shot before it flew off. Two days later we were at the Nelspruit Nature Reserve, my family were tired and wanting to leave for the Mac Mac Pools and I took one more walk in the place and heard a really weird call in the tall trees. There, way above the ground was a group of Purple-crested Turaco and at the risk of driving my family nuts I spent the next 30 minutes enjoying watching them feeding in the branches. The colourful sight of these birds in flight is something else!
6. Narina Trogon
On our way to Muzi Pans to catch sight of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper we drove through Mkhuze Nature Reserve and decided to return the same route. Near one of the hides we heard the Narina Trogon (in fact Justin Nicolau made a call that it responded to) and we walked through the thick bush for about a hundred meters trying to get a decent shot in the low light conditions. I remember saying that I could retire from birding now that I had seen this spectacular sight!
7. Violet-backed Starling
Honestly I had looked in every single National Park or botanical gardens and had concluded that these birds either never existed or had gotten extinct. 11 months of birding later and finally I spotted them at Loskop Dam in November 2010. It actually comes close to being the highlight of my year - given how long I had looked for this metallic purple bird. The unique looking female was just as big a highlight for me in 2010.
8. Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
This bird really does come close to my highlight for 2010. I had staked out the spot near Sun City on a previous occassions and recorded a host of bird species including some special lifers for me like African Quailfunch and Green-winged Pytilia - but despite hearing them on one occasion flying overhead had thought that my luck had run out to spot this special. On my second trip in August 2010 I arrived before dawn and settled down with good coffee for a long wait. At 7:45 a group of birds arrived and proceeded to drink not more than 4 meters from my car. They seemed oblivious to my presence and I could not believe my luck! Before the morning was over I had watched 4 groups of birds arrive and leave.
9. Golden Pipit
Clearly this bird was special. It caused me to jump into my car at midnight, drive 7 hours and return a full 24 hours later. Nothing could have prepared me for the delight watching it display for us at Pongolo Nature Reserve in December 2010. He proceeded to mob any birds that moved into his space, taking off and landing like a supersonic jet capable of vertical take off - and the sight of it's wings in V-formation was something to behold! I have goosebumps even now thinking about it.
10. Rufous-bellied Heron
I am sure I will be criticised to allowing this bird to edge out the Golden Pipit into second place, but I spent a morning at a pan near Muzi Pans in December 2010 hoping to see this bird and had no luck. I returned a few days later (we were staying at St. Lucia) and staked out the pan - and suddenly I spotted movement in the reeds and the fun began. It gave me a few record shots and disappeared for about 45 minutes. I made my way to the edge of the pan near the reeds and more waiting was fruitless. I decided to approach the reeds from behind and as I did so it look off. I was thrilled to see it in flight but worried that I had chased it away. Fortunately it stayed at the pan flying away from me to a different corner before I stalked is again for the next 40 minutes or so before I got in my car and left it in peace. For the sheer amount of hard work it took to see the bird and the fun I had "chasing" it around the pan it deserves the spot of my #1 lifer for 2010! And despite being the worst pics of the bunch - it remains the best sighting!
Then again, what about the Buff-breasted and Pectoral Sandpipers, the Eurasian Honey-Buzzard, the Lanner and Peregrine Falcons, the Spotted Ground-Thrush, etc, etc, etc, etc - how can they not make this list!!! Maybe a top 20 would have been easier to create!
I can't wait to look back on 2011 and can only wonder at what birds will be on my top ten list by then!