The Western Cape for Oriole Birding - Day 4: 14th November 2025

A final Woodbridge Lodge breakfast was preceded by some ‘tree watching’ once again.  Amazingly we managed the Mousebird Triple over our short stay and this morning’s duo was smart Red-faced!  This must be a tree that the local Mousebird gangs of all three species know about and regularly check out.  The Pied Barbets were once again feeding in the same tree.

Pied Barbet - Neil Colgate

Red-faced Mousebird - Neil Colgate

Soon we were on the road but only a short way for a slightly iffy roadside stop on a main road just beyond Milnerton GC to scan a lagoon for White Backed Ducks which we found very quickly.  Strange, squashed looking birds with the Masked Duck that I saw in Costa Rica being about the closest I could think off.  There were lots of Knob-heads and a few dabblers and a Black Crake dashed back into the reedy margins.

White Backed Ducks 

From here it was back up the coast before pulling off onto the wonderfully named Grotto Bay Road.  A stop towards the end was incredibly productive and within just a few minutes we saw bouncy Grey-backed Cisticolas, glowing Yellow Canaries, SDC and Malachite Sunbirds, flocks of Wattled and Pied Starlings, singing Bokmakerie and several Black Winged Kites and Rock Kestrels. 

Grey-backed Cisticola - Neil Colgate

There were Swifts all around us with House and White-rumped Swifts around the buildings and hurtling Alpine and dark African Black Swift above.  Down at the end there were Karoo Scrub-Robins and a Familiar Chat in the car park and a group of Cape Gannets moved offshore.

Alpine Swift - Neil Colgate

Time was a consideration and we soon retraced our route still searching for Grey-winged Francolins and almost immediately I found a party of seven right alongside the road and while trying to get the crew onto those Wilfred found two cryptically hidden Spotted Thick-knee.  And all without leaving the van.  A couple of Angulate Tortoises crossed the track.

Grey-winged Francolin

Grey-winged Francolin

Back on the main road we continued on towards the West Coast NP but there was huge excitement and cheering on the way as a couple of groups of Common Ostriches were parading alongside although somehow Neil contrived to keep missing them.  I do take great delight in seeing such familiar birds in the wild that I have grown up with at home.  For some reason they seemed even bigger!

A group of White-backed Mousebirds greeted us on arrival and after checking in we drove down to the bay for a walk out to the saltmarsh.  The Black-headed and Grey Heron colony in the Gums was in full swing and a Black-winged Kite kept the colour scheme going.  The tide was in further than expected but it actually worked in our favour as it was so hazy that if we had been scanning mud the waders would have been even more shimmery.

Black-headed Heron - Neil Colgate

Grey Heron

Black-winged Kite

Common Ostriches

We quickly clocked up a large flock of Greenshanks and several Whimbrel were floating around and making quite Curlew-esque calls at times.  There were three flocks of Little Stints with a few Curlew Sandpipers amongst them but I could not find any vagrant peeps. Stilts high stepped and two Avocets tried to sleep out the high tide.  A Ringed Plover called and there were a couple of pairs of breeding Kittlitz and Blacksmith Lapwings and a single Three-banded Plover.

Kittlitz's Plover

Kittlitz's Plover

Little Stint - Neil Colgate

African Marsh Harriers hunted the extensive reedbeds and Claire picked up the first Osprey of the trip as it went out over the choppy turquoise sea where Sandwich, Caspian and Swift Terns patrolled.  There were lots of hirundines around with Barn, White-throated, Greater Striped and Pearl-breasted Swallows along with Large Rock, Brown-throated and chunky Banded Martins.

An African Water Rail squealed in the reedy edge but the tide was too far in for it to venture out and out on the saltmarsh there were both Yellow and White-throated Canaries feeding on tiny seedheads which Wilfred thought was unusual for this location.

From here we visited a random small pool with a hide which we entered once it had been checked for Boomslangs…

The reeds were a little high but the freshwater still attracted a full breeding plumaged African Spoonbill, Western Cattle Egret and two Stilts while Knob-heads, Moorhens and Little Grebes were noted.  A pair of White-throated Swallows were nesting inside and I had not realised that they had a rufous forehead until then and three Namaqua Doves flew by on russet wings. Back outside a Southern Fiscal posed and better views were had of Pearl-breasted Swallows in the ever increasing wind.

African Spoonbill

African Spoonbill

Black-winged Stilts

Black-winged Stilt - Neil Colgate

Western Cattle Egret

White-throated Swallow

White-throated Swallow

Lunch back at Geelbek was spent with the frisky Cape Spurfowl who would have been on the table with lunch if you were not paying attention while the Cape Weavers looked for missed bits.  A pair of Southern Fiscals hunted from the gums and a Spotted Thick-knee was flushed by a couple of walkers.

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Spurfowl in attack mode!

Southern Fiscal

Southern Fiscal

Southern Fiscal

Toasties done and fingers intact we moved on to other areas of this national park and a track down to the Seeberg-uitsigpunt gave us point blank views of two immature type Black Korhaan that blended in so well to their surroundings.  There were no birds to be seen at the skull cap view point with the scouring wind making it very difficult to stand up but the views were superb.

Black Korhaan

Black Korhaan

Black Korhaan

Pied Crow

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl

An more inflated and I think I would have taken off!

On again and back to the bay edge in the search of more waders.  Ostriches could be seen on the bluff overlooking the sea and watching kite surfers in the same view was somewhat surreal and scanning around gave us a similarly posed male Black Korhaan and an African Fish Eagle.

Black Korhaan

Ostrich

Ostrich

Ostriches

Ostrich

A covey of Grey Winged Francolins were found and a Bar-throated Apalais sung but refused to do more than flit.  We parked up once again and walked down towards the silver sand beach noting plenty of Terns ahead of us and a family of Ostriches casually strolling along the sand.  The small tidal pools before the beach held five hunkering White-fronted Plovers (they always look big headed) and a pair of Kittlitz’s. 

Grey Winged Francolin - Neil Colgate

White-fronted Plovers

Kittlitz’s Plover

Ostriches

Ostriches

Ostriches

Greater Flamingos

Greater Flamingo - Neil Colgate

It was almost as windy in the hide as outside but we gave it a good go and soon added Sanderlings to the list as well as a single Bar-tailed Godwit and a vagrant European Oystercatcher that has been around for some time.  It looked to be of our own race and was dwarfed by the local Black Oiks.

European Oystercatcher, Sanderlings & Terns

Mixed Terns & Black Oystercatcher

Angulate Tortoise

I think that this is an Angulate Tortoise too but perhaps older and less well marked.  It certainly does not fit any of the other seven Western Cape species.

Another disappearing Mole Snake plus we also saw two very long, thin shiny 'grass' Snakes crossing the road too.

The light was tricky on the Terns, most of which were Common but there were quite a few Sandwich, two Swift and at least six Little Terns too.

We got blown back towards the van and a Neddicky (Piping Cisticola) was heard and seen briefly and Karoo Prinias were singing but it was just too windy.  The variety of Euphorbias (I think) was amazing.

I will add some names in due course

A loo stop on the R27 gave us a view of a distant Martial Eagle nest but no life could be detected and nothing was sat up on a pylon.  Yellow-billed Kites cruised and a Lanner made easy circuits of the landscape while the first Springbok were seen out in the fields.

Our final stop of the day was at a quarry in Langebaan where a pair of Verreaux’ Eagles were sat up on the low cliff face.  They looked great in the scope and were another of those birds I always wanted to see but I have to admit that I did want to see them in flight.  It would have to wait.

We stayed in a lovely residence that night before eating out in town.  It would be another early start the next morning.