On Saturday 21 December 2024, we invited all the bird ringers in Cape Town to celebrate a year of enjoying birds. It was an special opportunity for the bird ringers to meet and chat informally, and share experiences. The format was bird ringing followed by brunch!
We set up mist nets from 05h00 onwards, at Frogmore Estate, on the western side of Zandvlei. Sunrise is early in the middle of summer.
Unfortunately, we chose a windy day for the event, with a tough southeaster howling. In spite of that, we mist netted some interesting birds. Pride of place probably went to a Pied Kingfisher. Three warbler species in the hand on one windy morning followed close behind.
Among the warblers were both an adult and a young Lesser Swamp Warbler. The adult, on the left, has a more saturated brown eye colour than the young bird, on the right. A subtle difference!
Two of the four Lesser Swamp Warblers were retraps. Both had been ringed at this site, one on 30 April 2016 (8.5 years previously, and the other on 23 March 2019 (5.5 years previously). We also retrapped a Little Rush Warbler, ringed here on 9 October 2021, just over three years previously. These retraps make a contribution to survival rate estimates. Neither of the African Reed Warblers were retraps!
The Pied Kingfisher.
There was lots of time to try to get behind the shelter of the car, and do what was actually the most important activity of the day, talk to each other!
In spite of the adverse conditions, we mistnetted some interesting birds:
| Species | Count |
| Pied Kingfisher | 1 |
| Lesser Swamp Warbler | 4 |
| African Reed Warbler | 2 |
| Little Rush Warbler | 2 |
| Cape Sparrow | 3 |
| Cape Weaver | 7 |
| Southern Masked Weaver | 2 |
| Yellow Bishop | 1 |
| 8 species | Total 22 birds |
After the ringing, we headed to Richard and Sue Gie’s home on the eastern side of Zandvlei, at Marina da Gama. Richard scrambled an ostrich egg. The group of people was not small, but we all got a decent helping!
Besides the scrambled ostrich egg, it was a bring and share event. There were enough people to make a serious dent in the spread below:
The consensus was that we need to do this kind of gathering more frequently!
Colin Jackson, visiting from A Rocha Kenya, echoed everyone feelings when he wrote in the WhatsApp group set up to coordinate the event: “THANK you to those who organised yesterday’s event. It was great seeing old friends again and meeting new ones. The awesome brunch spread was one to remember.”
Thank you, Sue and Richard Gie, for your very special hospitality. Bird ringing and brunch at Zandvlei met all its objectives, and needs repetition!
