Karoo ringing

New Holme farmstead, a green oasis in the vast Karoo

Farm houses in the Karoo can be oases for birds, allowing relatively many birds to be ringed.

Les, Karis and I visited New Holme guest farm (Karoo Gariep Nature Reserve) from 10-12 November 2019 to test out ringing there, and take Virtual Museum photos en route. The farm lies halfway between Cape Town and Johannesburg. The first BDI visit to New Holme was in May (read here), with Virtual Museum records collected en route (see here).

Pied Starling – note the striking eye and bill colours

We put a few nets around the farm house on Monday, and also before breakfast on Tuesday, and caught 87 birds (see the table at the bottom of this blog). Top of the list was Cape Sparrow with 42 birds ringed (30 males, 12 females). Second was Southern Masked Weaver, partly due to a large colony in some reeds – there were many green nests, and at least 8 males in the colony – 1 juvenile, 15 males in full breeding plumage, and 8 females (two with brood patches) – it seemed as if breeding only started recently. Six Pied Starlings were caught, but there is potential to catch hundreds!

Southern Masked Weaver - Karoo ringing — Southern Masked Weaver colony in dry reedpatch

Southern Red Bishop - Karoo ringing — A colourful Southern Red Bishop (male) – several were displaying in the reeds

Cape Sparrow weights vary by region, as shown in the figure below. These birds are lighter in arid regions as represented by Namibia (Nam) and the Northern Cape (NC) compared to other regions in South Africa. The dots show the average and the vertical lines show the extreme ranges. A better analysis would be to separate males from females, but this shows the value of ringing very common species.

Cape Sparrow mass — Cape Sparrow weight by province

Although the ringing was relatively limited, there is great potential. In addition to ringing around the farm house, other nearby habitats provide interesting species. The river is within walking distance from the farm houses, and hosted many Three-banded Plovers. The surrounding karoo veld hosts the usual larks, chats, flycatchers, starlings, buntings and other specials – night spot-lighting could be used effectively to catch and ring these.

Spike-heeled Lark - Karoo ringing — Spike-heeled Lark

Greater Striped and White-throated Swallows breed (nests and juveniles seen), and could be targeted for ringing. Flocks of Barn Swallows forage over the karoo veld.

White-throated Swallow - Karoo ringing — White-throated Swallow juveniles, waiting to be fed

Table – total number of birds ringed at New Holme, 10-12 November 2019

Species	*Scientific*	Ringed
African Reed Warbler	Acrocephalus baeticatus	4
Southern Fiscal	Lanius collaris	1
Pied Starling	Lamprotornis bicolor	6
Cape Sparrow	Passer melanurus	42
Southern Masked Weaver	Ploceus velatus	25
Red-billed Quelea	Quelea quelea	3
Southern Red Bishop	Euplectes orix	5
Karoo Prinia	Prinia maculosa	1

Thanks to PC and Mariska Ferreira and their staff for hosting us incredibly well! Thanks to Karis and Rozaan for help with the ringing!

Would you like to ring birds in the Karoo? Book a trip with African Ringing Expeditions!

Table – total number of birds ringed at New Holme, 10-12 November 2019

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