Trip 1 - June 2010
On Monday the 21st of June 2010, my son (Little Birdman), myself and a member of the Global Bird Trekkers forum, RustyJusty headed out at 6am for the Tswaing Meteorite Crater (chapter 39 in Birding Gauteng) about an hour north of Pretoria. Justin has an amazing knowledge of birds and proved to be an incredible asset during the day! After taking one wrong turn which probably added another 15 kilometers on to our trip, we arrived at the entrance and were pleasantly surprised to find that the price of admission was only R15 for adults and R10 for kids.

We stopped at the little bridge over the river near the entrance gate and immediately realised that the area was alive with birds. Within 10 minutes we had seen Lourie, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Levaillant's Cisticola, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Southern Masked-Weaver, Laughing Dove and Blacksmith Lapwing. On the road up to the picnic and parking area we saw Black-headed Heron, Magpie Shrike, Black-shouldered Kite, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Yellow-fronted Canary, Crowned Lapwing and Pied Crow. The species were already starting to mount up!

We parked at the picnic spot, drank a cup of Blue Mountain coffee from Kenya and set out on foot on the trail to the creator (the reserve is well maintained and the pathways in great condition). On the way up to the rim of the crater we saw Long-billed Crombec, Chinspot Batis, White-browed Scrub-Robin, Fork-tailed Drongo, Ratting Cisticola, Blue Waxbill and Jameson's Firefinch. A Grey-backed Camaroptera flew away without me getting a pic and it seemed that a Lifer had escaped me (my LifeList is based on birds that I photograph). Hopefully I would get to see it again and get the shot!

We made it to the rim of the crater and were frustrated that there was not opportunity to get a clear shot of the crater from the first few view points, but when we arrived at Shoemaker viewpoint the view was spectacular.

I mentioned to Justin that I had tried since January to find a Pied Acacia Barbet and it had eluded me, so when we heard it's call the hunt was on. It must have taken us 20 minutes, but finally I got a shot - it was at the edge of my range, but at least I knew that it existed and this pic is my proof:

Some of the other bird species that we recorded on the rim included: Crested Francolin, African Palm Swift (which would have been a lifer for me but I did not get a shot), Bronze Mannikin, Burnt-knecked Eremomela and Rock Martin.

Just before we left Shoemaker Viewpoint to head down the road to the center of the Crater we heard Little Birdman, my 5-year old son, exclaim: "There's an eagle!" It was an African Hawk Eagle and before the end of the day we saw the breeding pair soaring above the crater. Another lifer successfully recorded!

On the way down from the rim to the dam in the crater we saw: Green-winged Pytilia (which would have been a lifer if I had gotten a shot!), Black-backed Puffback, Lesser Masked Weaver, Jameson's Firefinch, African Firefinch, Helmeted Guineafowl and White-throated Robin-Chat. Oh, and I got a pic of the Grey-backed Camaroptera that had gotten away from me earlier that morning! Another lifer - this day was looking good!

The view from the bottom of the crater was amazing and I was surprised to not find a stagnant pond of water and active bird life everywhere.

Here is a list of the birds that we saw on the dam or on the shoreline: Black-winged Stilt (at least eight of them), Cape Teal, Little Grebe, Common Moorhen, Red-knobbed Coot, Hadeda Ibis, Three-banded Plover and Blacksmith Lapwing.

We spent about an hour birding the bush on the inside of the crater and saw Cape Turtle Dove, Common Waxbill, Red-headed Weaver, Dark-capped Bulbul (surprisingly the first of the day), Arrow-marked Babbler, Southern Red-billed Hornbill, Green Wood-Hoopoe and Natal Spurfowl. A special experience was tracking a woodpecker that we heard tapping in one of the trees on the slope - it cost us a lot of pain with all the black-jacks that we picked up, but we finally got to see a female Bearded Woodpecker in a tree.

We made our way out of the crater to head back to the picnic spot (next time I would carry food with me as Little Birdman was rather famished by now as it was 2:30pm by the time we got back to the car. The walk back was not productive (although we did hear a Greater Honeyguide calling but did not get to see it, and Justin saw Cape-Penduline Tit that would have been a lifer for me if I had gotten a pic! :(). But about half way back to the picnic site Justin saw a Bronze-winged Courser on the road in front of us that disappeared into the grass. We quietly walked up to where it had disappeared into the bush but did not see it. Only when he walked back about 20metres and took a few steps into the bush did it suddenly leap into the sky and fly off away from us. It must have been sitting quietly not more than a meter or two from the road and none of us spotted it as we walked past! Here is the best pic that I was able to get in the mayhem that ensued with such a beautiful lifer for all of us taking off in front of us:

Back at the picnic site we spotted this Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill snacking on a mouse:

My list of species seen on the day stands at 59 and I know that Justin, a way more experienced birder will probably add another 10 or more to this list.

We then headed off to bird the Zaagkuildrift Road on the way back to the N1 and on the way, just north of Tswaing I spotted a bird at a small dam right next to the road that turned out to be Greater Flamingo. We spent the next 30 minutes at this spot (in the little town of Swartdamstad in the middle of nowhere) and saw at least 11 bird species (we also heard an African Rail that we could not entice out of the reed no matter what we did - including offering it free tickets to a semi-final World Cup Football match). The birds included: Common Moorhen, Red-billed Teal, Greater Flamingo, Pied Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Duck, Brown-throated Martin, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Kite Black-shouldered, Cattle Egret, Black-headed Heron, Grey Heron, Little Grebe and Reed Cormorant. The donkey cart was a great sighting too!

Trip 2 - April 2011
In April 2011 I headed out to visit the Tswaing site again and recorded some addition species that I had not seen on our first trip. The highlight was seeing two Double-banded Sandgrouse on the road in front of me but they took off and all I got was two over-exposed shots as they flew away! Here are some photo highlights: