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1.0 REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
1.1 Western Cape Province
Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden, very common around flowering heaths, males, females and eclipse males, 170 m, photo, 25 March 2019. Male shown here in full plumage.

A good result for song meter sites sited within the NP (& beyond boundary of Pullen Pullen Reserve) under the auspices of Bush Heritage and Birds Qld as part of a broader Bird Surveying Expedition to the NP with Andrew Ley. 2- note call confirmed by N Leseberg, (Pullen Pullen Reserve) "one bird flew over that area on the night of 27 Sep, at about 10pm. You had a number of recorders there within a few hundred metres of each other, and the bird was detected on four of the recorders. Based on the times (see data below), it seems to have been moving west. Of the 8 calls detected, all are two-note whistle calls (I have attached a clip of the strongest call) and similar in structure, suggesting the same bird. There was one call of the 8 though that was higher and thinner. This may indicate a second bird, or it could just be the one bird doing something unusual.

So, while it’s not a roost site, it’s still valuable information. It is consistent with what we’ve found before, which seems to suggest birds roosting on the western edge of the escarpment country to the east of where this one was detected, then perhaps moving out onto the floodplains to the west to forage.

I’m sure your crew will be excited to hear the news. It’s not a roost site, and there is no risk of folks disturbing a sensitive area, so happy for you to share this data and the call clip around" 1/5/24

I went back to the same place where I saw 1 bird like this two days ago (my previous post shows that). Now I found 2 together. They were with many sparrows for 30 minutes. Is it a sparrow? Or a snow bunting? A sparrow with leucism? Albinism? I was trying to zoom in on the eyes.

I was listening for owls not too long after dusk. The temperature was in the 50s and the half moon shone brightly. Owls had been vocal. Standing in the dark, I heard a very loud, unfamiliar call that I thought must be either Great Horned or Spotted Owl. It called again, nearby and more intensely. I found myself getting in my car quickly without quite knowing why - it was an involuntary response faster than my brain consciously moved on to IDs like this one. But my brain did get there as I found myself rolling up the window in addition to closing the door, leaving just enough room to record. It was too loud and intense. The sounds moved very quickly from roughly behind my car to in front of my car. When I turned on the car and drove slowly forward, I quickly spotted these two individuals (presumably immature), which I somehow half expected I would see up the road. They were occasionally responding to other calls from the woods (presumably their mother). Photo taken by headlights at 12800 ISO.

Exciting stuff! Two adults and a subadult tightly rolled up in duff under a stone, all three of whom refused to uncoil for me. A nearby board yielded a third adult who was kind enough to move around a bit.

Egret far out in the salt marsh, unfortunately mostly obscured by heat haze. 2269 feet away from my position, measured in Google Maps. Based on the size, probably a Great Egret.

Shiny object in the foreground is a littered mylar balloon.

Didn't really get a good picture, so here's a "great" one instead

Edited: I cloned the observation, so this observation will be for the right grebe and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103672738 for the left grebe.

hunting from nearby tree, about 10:30am, looking intently down at snow, then landed and mantled for a couple of minutes, burying its head into the snow several times before flying off in the opposite direction

©williamwisephoto.com Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. October 25, 2022.

• Location: Suwannee River Sill
• Mostly sunny with high near 83.
• Sunrise 7:39 AM; Sunset 6:46 PM
• Daylight hours: 11 hours 7 minutes (-1m 44s)

See and learn more about the incredible Okefenokee at www.okefenokee.photography