Birding in Mkhuze
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:35 pm
Mkhuze Birding
Mkhuze Game Reserve was established and proclaimed in 1912. It is now part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. A mecca of Southern African birders, Mkhuze offers the heady mix of avian richness and is renowned for a variety of localised birds. With more than 400 species recorded it is one of Zululand’s top 3 birding spots. The main reason for this is the diversity of habitats: pans, swamps, acacia thornveld, sand forest, riverine forest and open woodland.
Best Places for Bird-watching
The camp site near Emshopi entrance gate: Jameson’s Firefinch, Green-winged Pytilia, Marico Sunbird and Black Stork
The road between the campsite and the main camp: Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Stierling’s Wren-Warbler, Striped Kingfisher, Brown-crowned Tchagra and Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike.
Picnic site near the Kwamalibala hide: Bateleur and Lappet-faced Vulture.
The sand forest around Kubube and Kumasinga hides is a very specialised vegetation type, unique to northern KZN and southern Moçambique. It is home to the endemic, nominate sub-species of the African Broadbill and holds significant populations of several restricted-range species, including Rudd's Apalis, Neergaard's Sunbird and Pink-throated Twinspot.
Kubube and Kumasinga hides are great to observe Crested Guineafowl, African Broadbill, Eastern Nicator, Rudd's Apalis, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, African Barred Owlet and Yellow-bellied Greenbul.
In late winter and early spring, flowers of the Weeping Boer Bean tree (Schotia brachypetla) attract Neergard’s, Purple-banded, Collared, Eastern Olive, Grey, Scarlet-chested and White-bellied Sunbirds.
The surrounding woodland can produce some range and biome-restricted species: Brown-headed Parrot, White-throated Robin-chat, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, Grey Sunbird, Black-bellied Starling.
In patches of Palm Savanna throughout the reserve Lemon-breasted Canary can be found.
Mantuma camp can provide Bearded Robin, Grey Tit-Flycatcher, Lesser Masked-Weaver, Collared Sunbird and Violet-backed Starling in summer.
The small hide at the waterhole in Mantuma camp is good for close-up views of birds, including Purple-crested Turaco.
On the Riverview Walk, (which leaves from opposite the camp office), look out for Southern Banded Snake-Eagle, Broad-billed Roller (summer), Half-collared Kingfisher.Pink-throated Twinspots and Grey Waxbills.
Yellow-spotted Nicator is around the tented camp.
The Loop Road area with open thornveld, is good for Burnt-necked Eremomela, Grey Penduline Tit, Bushveld Pipit, Flappet Lark, Grey Go-away Bird, Brown-headed Parrot and some large raptors including Tawny, Steppe and Lesser Spotted Eagles.
The Ediza–Hlonhlela–Nsumo pans system is an extensive mix of grasslands and wetland with open water, marsh, floodplain fed by the Mkhuze and Umsunduze Rivers. The pan system regularly supports more than 20,000 water birds.
Nsumo Pan It has a number of hides and a pleasant picnic site where you can watch hippos. This pan is home to South Africa’s only regular breeding locality for Pink-backed Pelican. Yellow-billed Stork breed there in most years, including up to 50 nests, African Spoonbill and various egret species breed in the fever trees on the southern side of the pan. Around the picnic spot at the pan the birder can find Red-capped and White-browed Robin-Chat, Green-capped Eremomela, Woodland Kingfisher, African Broadbill, Greater Painted-snipe, African Hawk-Eagle and Tambourine Dove. Several other species are recorded around the pan in good numbers: Goliath Heron, Squacco Heron, Dwarf Bittern, Green-backed Heron African Open-billed Stork Pygmy Goose and Lesser Jacana, White-faced Whistling Duck, African Jacana, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and Whiskered Tern. Sometimes small numbers of Lesser Jacana, Great White Pelican, Caspian Tern, Greater Flamingo and Lesser Flamingo are found at the pans. In years of heavy rain, Lesser Moorhen and Allen's Gallinule occur in good numbers.
Species to be found in the adjacent Fig forest include Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Narina Trogon, Broad-billed Roller (in summer), Green Malkoha, Southern-banded Snake Eagle, Blue-mantled Crested-Flycatcher, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Black-bellied Starling, White-eared Barbet, Scaly-throated Honeyguide and Green Twinspot.
The Mkuze River area supports small populations of Pel's Fishing Owl, Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Bat Hawk, African Finfoot and White-backed Night Heron.
The thornveld around the airfield is known as a hot spot for Olive-tree Warbler, and can produce Senegal Lapwing, African Pipit, Icterine Warbler, Lizard Buzzard and Desert Cisticola.
Mkhuze Game Reserve was established and proclaimed in 1912. It is now part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. A mecca of Southern African birders, Mkhuze offers the heady mix of avian richness and is renowned for a variety of localised birds. With more than 400 species recorded it is one of Zululand’s top 3 birding spots. The main reason for this is the diversity of habitats: pans, swamps, acacia thornveld, sand forest, riverine forest and open woodland.
Best Places for Bird-watching
The camp site near Emshopi entrance gate: Jameson’s Firefinch, Green-winged Pytilia, Marico Sunbird and Black Stork
The road between the campsite and the main camp: Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Stierling’s Wren-Warbler, Striped Kingfisher, Brown-crowned Tchagra and Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike.
Picnic site near the Kwamalibala hide: Bateleur and Lappet-faced Vulture.
The sand forest around Kubube and Kumasinga hides is a very specialised vegetation type, unique to northern KZN and southern Moçambique. It is home to the endemic, nominate sub-species of the African Broadbill and holds significant populations of several restricted-range species, including Rudd's Apalis, Neergaard's Sunbird and Pink-throated Twinspot.
Kubube and Kumasinga hides are great to observe Crested Guineafowl, African Broadbill, Eastern Nicator, Rudd's Apalis, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, African Barred Owlet and Yellow-bellied Greenbul.
In late winter and early spring, flowers of the Weeping Boer Bean tree (Schotia brachypetla) attract Neergard’s, Purple-banded, Collared, Eastern Olive, Grey, Scarlet-chested and White-bellied Sunbirds.
The surrounding woodland can produce some range and biome-restricted species: Brown-headed Parrot, White-throated Robin-chat, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, Grey Sunbird, Black-bellied Starling.
In patches of Palm Savanna throughout the reserve Lemon-breasted Canary can be found.
Mantuma camp can provide Bearded Robin, Grey Tit-Flycatcher, Lesser Masked-Weaver, Collared Sunbird and Violet-backed Starling in summer.
The small hide at the waterhole in Mantuma camp is good for close-up views of birds, including Purple-crested Turaco.
On the Riverview Walk, (which leaves from opposite the camp office), look out for Southern Banded Snake-Eagle, Broad-billed Roller (summer), Half-collared Kingfisher.Pink-throated Twinspots and Grey Waxbills.
Yellow-spotted Nicator is around the tented camp.
The Loop Road area with open thornveld, is good for Burnt-necked Eremomela, Grey Penduline Tit, Bushveld Pipit, Flappet Lark, Grey Go-away Bird, Brown-headed Parrot and some large raptors including Tawny, Steppe and Lesser Spotted Eagles.
The Ediza–Hlonhlela–Nsumo pans system is an extensive mix of grasslands and wetland with open water, marsh, floodplain fed by the Mkhuze and Umsunduze Rivers. The pan system regularly supports more than 20,000 water birds.
Nsumo Pan It has a number of hides and a pleasant picnic site where you can watch hippos. This pan is home to South Africa’s only regular breeding locality for Pink-backed Pelican. Yellow-billed Stork breed there in most years, including up to 50 nests, African Spoonbill and various egret species breed in the fever trees on the southern side of the pan. Around the picnic spot at the pan the birder can find Red-capped and White-browed Robin-Chat, Green-capped Eremomela, Woodland Kingfisher, African Broadbill, Greater Painted-snipe, African Hawk-Eagle and Tambourine Dove. Several other species are recorded around the pan in good numbers: Goliath Heron, Squacco Heron, Dwarf Bittern, Green-backed Heron African Open-billed Stork Pygmy Goose and Lesser Jacana, White-faced Whistling Duck, African Jacana, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and Whiskered Tern. Sometimes small numbers of Lesser Jacana, Great White Pelican, Caspian Tern, Greater Flamingo and Lesser Flamingo are found at the pans. In years of heavy rain, Lesser Moorhen and Allen's Gallinule occur in good numbers.
Species to be found in the adjacent Fig forest include Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Narina Trogon, Broad-billed Roller (in summer), Green Malkoha, Southern-banded Snake Eagle, Blue-mantled Crested-Flycatcher, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Black-bellied Starling, White-eared Barbet, Scaly-throated Honeyguide and Green Twinspot.
The Mkuze River area supports small populations of Pel's Fishing Owl, Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Bat Hawk, African Finfoot and White-backed Night Heron.
The thornveld around the airfield is known as a hot spot for Olive-tree Warbler, and can produce Senegal Lapwing, African Pipit, Icterine Warbler, Lizard Buzzard and Desert Cisticola.
