Fly Fishing and Birding

[poppernel]

HI Shammers,

Great thread this, also study birdlife/wildlife while ff. Apart from witnessing a fisheagle take a trout off the water very near to me was pleasing. It then flew off into some forested area where I could hear it feeding its chicks.
(Gubu)

Then in the Sneeuberg area we have fish eagle, Egyptian geese, variety of water birds and a pair of majestic black eagles. This is also the breeding grounds for the blue crane, numbers are picking up over the last few years.

But in general, one sees a variety of birds from very small to huge. On sunday comming back from bass fishing Stewie and I also saw game in the Zuurberg area. Rhino and impala, with pics later taken of kudu, 2 big bulls and 2 kows.

FF IS GREAT.

DAVE

[Buf Aloe]

Nah, Shamwari means "Friend", in Shona...

Ah - very nice.

[Chris Shelton]

HI Shammers,

Great thread this, also study birdlife/wildlife while ff. Apart from witnessing a fisheagle take a trout off the water very near to me was pleasing. It then flew off into some forested area where I could hear it feeding its chicks.
(Gubu)

Then in the Sneeuberg area we have fish eagle, Egyptian geese, variety of water birds and a pair of majestic black eagles. This is also the breeding grounds for the blue crane, numbers are picking up over the last few years.

But in general, one sees a variety of birds from very small to huge. On sunday comming back from bass fishing Stewie and I also saw game in the Zuurberg area. Rhino and impala, with pics later taken of kudu, 2 big bulls and 2 kows.

FF IS GREAT.

DAVE

You sure are fortunate to have such a variety of game on your doorstep Dave, I'm envious!

[Shamwari]

I wish you guys could have seen the place I went to in Phalaborwa called Savong..as we go to the river, it was teaming with Kudu, Impala, Waterbuck, Elephant and the birdlife was AWESOME!!!

When I lived there, I took all that for granted, shame hey?

[rory]

Down at the spot we fish on the Wild Coast we're fortunate to have a breeding pair of Black Oystercatchers. They've been there for about five years now, I wish I could rock hop like those guys! At home my latest "tick" is the Thick Billed Weaver, they're about the only birds in the garden that don't put up with the Pin Tailed Wydah and his sh!t!

[Chris Shelton]

Being born and bred in a comparitively sterile Cape Town certainly made me 'niks gewoond' in that regard. I become like a kid when exposed to such an abundance of wildlife. I can only take it in small doses, because invariable there is just too much to take in and I become overwhelmed. For example, about 7 years ago I visited the Kruger for the first time, and I just fell in love with the trees, so much so that I rushed out to the restcamp bookstore and bought every single tree identification guide that I could find and trees became my main focus for the duration of my visit. I was stopping more to get leaf and seed pod samples (to aid my identification) than stopping to actually look at animals.

[Shamwari]

Being born and bred in a comparitively sterile Cape Town certainly made me 'niks gewoond' in that regard. I become like a kid when exposed to such an abundance of wildlife. I can only take it in small doses, because invariable there is just too much to take in and I become overwhelmed. For example, about 7 years ago I visited the Kruger for the first time, and I just fell in love with the trees, so much so that I rushed out to the restcamp bookstore and bought every single tree identification guide that I could find and trees became my main focus for the duration of my visit. I was stopping more to get leaf and seed pod samples (to aid my identification) than stopping to actually look at animals.

That is one of my loves to so to speak, in Phalaborwa which borders Kruger, my favourite trees are the Mopani, Morula and the Hardekool...now that bush man!!!

[Chris Shelton]

That is one of my loves to so to speak, in Phalaborwa which borders Kruger, my favourite trees are the Mopani, Morula and the Hardekool...now that bush man!!!

I particularly liked the trees with interesting bark, like ironwood trees and the corkwoods. But there were many other extremely fascinating trees, amongst others, the Sausage tree and the Sjambok tree, then there was one with seedpods that resembled squashes, forgotten the name of that one now but I think it was the Monkey-orange.

Any idea how the Huilboerboon got its name?

I must say I really do find trees extremely fascinating, and let's face it, many of them are responsible for attracting very specific varieties of birds.

[Yellowfever]

Great thread,

It does add another dimension to the gentle pursuit and makes for a more stimulating day out. Being able to correctly ID birds and species is important especially if you happen along or fish with a foreign visitor.

That's why I enjoy a day out with Dave Weaver he is a walking fishing Roberts.

One a recent visit to a stream X I walked up a single spotted eagle owl, on the return following a different path the whole family of 4 chicks and mom took silently to the air. Great sight!

[Shamwari]

Great thread,

It does add another dimension to the gentle pursuit and makes for a more stimulating day out. Being able to correctly ID birds and species is important especially if you happen along or fish with a foreign visitor.

That's why I enjoy a day out with Dave Weaver he is a walking fishing Roberts.

One a recent visit to a stream X I walked up a single spotted eagle owl, on the return following a different path the whole family of 4 chicks and mom took silently to the air. Great sight!

Geepers that is cool!!!

What I am enjoying as well is to learn more about the various species, such as calls, flight patterns ie; the way they fly from one to spot to another can help identify the species...

Reminds of Savong which I mentioned earlier, sitting around the fire and hearing the little Scops Owl call, one of the best sounds (imho) to hear in the sticks...