SOUTH AFRICA PART Part 5: Swellendam to West Coast National Park

Southern Black Korhaan

Following our stay at Honeywood Lodge (see here) we headed north-west to Paternoster on the coast north of Cape Town for a 3-night stay, in another nice lodging booked through Air Bnb. We travelled via Karoopoort and Ceres to take in the bottom end of the Karoo ecosystem. 
We failed to find Cinnamon-breasted Warbler in a couple of likely looking spots and did not have time to head further north to the main sites for this species. In the karoo and rocky outcrops we saw Karoo Prinia, White-backed Mousebird, Pale-winged Starling and Fairy Flycatcher. 

Karoo Prinia

White-backed Mousebird

We also saw a couple of Klipspringer.

Klipspringer

Paternoster is a delightful town with boulder-strewn beaches and buildings structured around classic Cape Dutch-style architecture.

Coast near Paternoster

Paternoster town

On our first morning at Paternoster we drove east to St Helena Bay. In roadside fields were numerous larks including the western race of Cape Clapper Lark, a likely split, and plenty of Red-capped Larks and Large-billed Larks.

Large-billed Lark

Other birds included White-throated Swallow, Southern Red Bishop, Capped Wheatear, Familiar Chat and White-throated Swallow. 

White-throated Swallow

Southern Red Bishop

Capped Wheatear

We caught up with two targets missed on previous trips – Grey Tit and the diminutive Cape Pendulite-Tit in the strandveld vegetation.

Grey Tit

Southern Penduline-Tit

Other birds in the strandveld included Karoo Scrub-Robin and Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler.

Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler

Blue Crane was plentiful in the area and Spotted Thick-knees were about in areas with open ground.

Blue Crane & Sacred Ibis

Spotted Thick-knee

 European Bee-eaters had arrived in numbers for their annual summer visit.

European Bee-eater

In the afternoon we visited the Lighthouse Reserve south of Paternoster. Cape Spurfowl was numerous and White-fronted Plover was on the beaches in numbers.

Cape Spurfowl

White-fronted Plover

Offshore we saw several fairly distant Southern Right-backed Whales, while Cape Gannet was plentiful.

Cape Gannet

Southern Right Whale

Southern Double-collared Sunbird was common about our lodge. Kelp Gull and Speckled Pigeon were abundant around the town.

Kelp Gull & Speckled Pigeon

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Later in the afternoon I drove along another side road off the Vredenburg-Paternoster road and succeeded in finding another target – Cape Long-billed Lark.

Cape Long-billed Lark

The next day we visited the West Coast National Park, where wildflowers were in abundance amid a magnificent coastal vista of sweeping strandveld plains, lagoons and coastal dunes.

West Coast National Park

West Coast National Park

West Coast National Park

West Coast National Park

At Seebook Lookout, not far from the park's northern end, we flushed a male Southern Black Korhaan – another much-wanted South African endemic – and then a second korhaan. Grey-winged Francolin was also here.

Southern Black Korhaan

Yellow Bishop was an inquisitive visitor at a lunch stop.

Yellow Bishop

We saw two Black Harriers, surely one of the most impressive raptors, separately hawking the strandveld.

Black Harrier

Around the lagoons were Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, Cape Teal, Kittlitz's Plover and African Marsh-Harrier.

Cape Teal

Greater Flamingo

Kittlitz's Plover

During our return to Cape Town the following day via the Darling Wildflower Route, we found a pair of Southern Black Korhann roadside (first image of this post). We flew to Johannesburg for an overnight stay before flying home.