Ringing - Fynbos birdlife

The 10 most ringed species are shown below, and these can be expected to be caught on most Fynbos bird ringing / bird banding expeditions. Cape White-eye (Zosterops virens), Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis), Southern Masked-Weaver (Ploceus velatus), Cape Robin-Chat (Cossypha caffra), Yellow Bishop (Euplectes capensis), Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis), Southern Red Bishop (Euplectes orix), Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus), Red-faced Mousebird (Urocolius indicus).

Additional interesting species that have been caught include:

Cape Batis (Batis capensis), Fiscal Flycatcher (Sigelus silens), Common Fiscal (Lanius collaris), Swee Waxbill (Coccopygia melanotis), Karoo Prinia (Prinia maculosa), White-backed Mousebird (Colius colius), Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens), Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus), Bar-throated Apalis (Apalis thoracica), Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus), Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa).

There is still potential for many other interesting species, especially Cape Sugarbird (Promerops cafer).

Find out more about the expeditions:

General:

Fynbos expedition:

Bushveld expedition:

Karoo ringing
Nov 13, 2019
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 […]
BDInsight – August 2019
Aug 29, 2019
August has flown by! And soon the migrant birds will arrive back in South Africa. We look forward to welcoming them back in the southern hemisphere. August has also been a busy month for the BDI, including adventures to the Karoo and Europe, preparing for the “return of the dragons”, and testing out PanGoPod Alpha in the field. […]
Seychelles bird longevities
Aug 29, 2019
During August 2019 bird ringing training courses were held on Aride and on Cousin Islands in the Seychelles. Some interesting longevity records were obtained. Madagascar Turtle Dove A Madagascar Turtle Dove was recaptured on Cousin Island on 19 August 2019. This individual had been ringed in the same area 7 years 11 months previously. This dove […]
Chicks of the Wetlands – White-Winged Flufftails
Aug 26, 2019
What you see here is something very few people have ever seen in the wild. I haven’t seen any myself, yet. All I’ve seen is a sad little stuffed specimen in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History. These are White-winged Flufftails Sarothrura ayresi. They are one of the rarest and most threatened birds in South Africa, and Africa. The […]
Peregrine takes plover
Jul 24, 2019
On 14 November 2016 Kyle Walker collected Peregrine pellets in Scarborough, Cape Town, in on-going monitoring of Peregrine nests on the Cape Peninsula. Kyle was surprised to find a bird ring in the pellet. Peregrines prey on birds, especially on doves and pigeons, but finding a ring in a pellet is nevertheless exciting. In this case, the ring […]

Find more of our ringing posts here.