I have been eyeing out this hotspot covered in Birding Gauteng (chapter 82) for a while now. This world heritage site is the world’s largest meteor impact site and promised to be a great birding outing for the family. We left Joburg around 7am and got to the town of Parys just after 8am. I commented at one point that there were birds everywhere – despite it being a freezing cold winter's morning.

We set out on the R53 towards Potchefstroom (following the directions in Birding Gauteng) and drove across the long bridge over the Vaal River and decided to brave the freezing weather by walking back along the bridge.

We were not disappointed as the scenery from the bridge was great and we saw some great birds – including Egyptian Geese, Sacred Ibis, Black-winged Stilt, Blacksmith Lapwing, White-breasted Cormorant, huge Speckled Pigeons, White Geese and Yellow-billed Duck. Hot coffee in the car helped warm us up after the chilly morning air.

We then turned off the R53 onto the Kopjeskraal Road and about 200 metres down the road I skidded to a stop at the sight of a Long-Crested Eagle sitting on a telephone pole right next to the road. I even got to drive across the road and park right underneath it. It was spectacular – it even did a short flight for us and landed back on the pole. As we were about to drive off it flew off to a nearby tree! What an amazing experience – and according to Roberts this is on the edge of its range. Drew, my 5 year-old son, snapped a pic as it flew off.

We did not see much worth mentioning before we hit the T-Junction and turned left towards Venterskroon. But the scenery more than made up for a short period of little birding highlights. We stopped to enjoy a Brown-hooded Kingfisher close to the road. The little farm dam next to the road had Grey Heron, Egret and some Duck but did not seem to warrant getting permission from the farmer to visit up close.

We nearly missed a photo opportunity of a Bulbul, thinking it was the common Dark-capped – but fortunately we realised it was the Red-eyed Bulbul and we got a shot or two.

We found a place that allowed us to get off the dirt road and onto the banks of the Vaal River on this road (most of the access to the river is on private property) and spent some time at this spot where we saw Burchell’s Coucal, Bokmakierie, Southern Boubou, Red-throated Wryneck, Malachite Kingfisher, Black-chested Prinia and another Grey-headed Kingfisher that made it's appearance by dive bombing us.

One of the most common birds along the whole route was the noisy White-browed Sparrow-Weaver which had nests wherever we looked.

We arrived at the quaint little “town” of Venterskroon – a real piece of history preserved from the 1800s. Drew managed to get a pic of a Mocking Cliff-Chat while my camera lens was having a moment where it refused to focus automatically. A wipe of the connector pins did the trick, but a scary moment!!!

It was mid-day by now and despite being a cold winter's day, the birding was getting more and more difficult. But at point 9 in Birding Gauteng (at the Dome Lodge intersection) we had a productive time seeing Bokmakierie, Magpie Shrike, Crested Barbet, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Cattle Egret, Pigeons and Doves in their droves, Southern Red Bishop, female and male Fiscal Flycatcher, Red-eyed Bulbul, Green Wood-Hoopoe, African Stonechat, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Speckled Mousebird, Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler – oh, and a Pygmy Ostrich – or it may have been an Emu (in an enclosure).

We decided to continue on to the Schoemansdrift Bridge and enjoyed the scenery and the African Jacana that were active, as well as Cormorant, African Black Duck and African Darter.

Our last sighting in this area was of a Black-shouldered Kite - we counted at least 4 different sightings during the day.

We stopped on a hill and took this pic of the dome with the Vaal River flowing through the middle of the mountains:

We decided to head towards Potchefstroom (instead of completing the southern part of the Vaal River route) and to visit the OPM Prozesky Bird Sanctuary that we visited some months back and were rather disappointed with. It was in better condition this time round, with grass cut and much more visibility of all the dams. We even found a hidden road around the left side of the dams that gave access to the southern most hide – that was accessible by vehicle. We did not see a whole lot worth writing about, apart from six Black-winged Stilt and dozens of duck including Red-billed Teal, Hottentot Teal, Red-knobbed Coot and Yellow-billed Duck. Unlike our last visit, we did not see a single Heron in the whole Sanctuary – they must have flown off to cooler locations for the rest of winter. A little Levaillant’s Cisticola stood still long enough for me to get a decent pic.

We recorded a total of 45 bird species on the Vredefort route, but wished we had gotten there much earlier to make the most of early morning birding. Our excuse? Sleeping in on a cold winter’s morning. Our big disappointment on the day was not seeing the Orange River White-eye. That would have been a lifer for me. Maybe next time! So no lifers, on this trip – but still an awesome day out and some good pics!!!