On Saturday the 1th May 2011 I spent the morning at Wonderboom Nature Reserve in Pretoria (covered in Chapter 34 of Birding Gauteng). I arrived at 7:45 just as the day was warming up a little. I will start by showing some scenery shots from the various sections of the reserve:

The path leading to the massive Wonderboom tree:

The path up the mountain and the cave on the western slope - with a panoramic view looking north and a shot of the Pretoria CBM looking south:

The fort at the top of the mountain (be prepared for quite a climb):

The picnic area near the entrance gate:

On my way home I looked back and took this pic - the fort is near the radio masts right on the top of the mountain:

In total I saw 42 bird species in the 3 hours that I spent exploring the reserve. The highlights were Fairy Flycatcher (possibly the first for this winter season in 2011), Lesser Honeyguide (finally a half decent pic of this species!!!) and two African Grey Hornbills.

Here are a selection of shots of other birds that I managed to photograph:

Here is a full list of birds I saw (in the order in which I saw them): Thick-billed Weaver; Laughing Dove; Southern Boubou; Crested Barbet; Cape Turtle Dove; Dark-capped Bulbul; Cape Sparrow; Marico Flycatcher; Yellow-fronted Canary; Black-throated Canary; Chinspot Batis; Speckled Mousebird; Pied Crow; Hadeda Ibis; Red-eyed Dove; Black-backed Puffback; Black-chested Prinia; Tawny-flanked Prinia; White-bellied Sunbird; Streaky-headed Seedeater; Striped Pipit; Southern Masked Weaver; Black-chested Barbet; Cape Robin-Chat; White-throated Robin-Chat; Long-billed Crombec; White-browed Scrub-Robin; Amethyst Sunbird; Helmeted Guineafowl; Lazy Cisticola; Grey Go-away-bird; Brown-crowned Tchagra; Fairy Flycatcher; Cape White-eye; Bronze Mannikin; Karoo Thrush; Kurrichane Thrush; Common Myna; Southern Grey-headed Sparrow; Cape Glossy Starling; African Grey Hornbill and Lesser Honeyguide.