Birding with Mark Whitehead during Festival 2010
Registered guide and local wildlife fundi Mark Whitehead has confirmed he will lead three birding trips during the 2010 Bedford Garden Festival.
The first is based at his farm (www.mwsafaris.co.za) and takes place on Thursday 28 October – the day set aside for special groups like this.
Members of the birding group will sleep over at the farm and make an early start on Thursday morning. After a midday break, there will be a second outing from mid afternoon.
On Festival Saturday (30 October), Whitehead will lead another group in a morning excursion from 7am (birds are early risers!). The third sortie starts at 3pm. The Bedford Club is the meeting place for both these excursions.
For more information and to book, email Mark and Tracey Whitehead 0826570181@vodamail.co.za
There is an abundance of birdlife in the Bedford district: our current bird list stands at 257. Please let us know if you can add to this! NOTE: Where a bird name has changed, the older name (or part of it) appears in brackets after the current name. To help in identification we have also quoted Roberts’ numbers.
The original list (compiled by Mrs W Howe) was updated and augmented by Helen Falck and Catherine Knox in July 2008.
Please email comments and additional sightings to info@bedford-gardens.co.za
Acacia Pied Barbet 465
African Black Duck 105
African Black Swift 412
African Crowned Eagle 141
African Cuckoo 375
African Darter 60
African Dusky Flycatcher 690
African Finfoot 229
African Firefinch (Blue-billed Firefinch 840
African Fish Eagle 148
African Goshawk 160
African Harrier-Hawk (Gymnogene) 169
African Hoopoe 451
African Jacana 240
African Olive-Pigeon (Rameron Pigeon) 350
African Paradise-Flycatcher 710
African Pipit (Grasssveld Pipit) 716
African Quailfinch 852
African Sacred Ibis 91
African Scops-Owl 396
African Snipe (Ethiopian Snipe) 286
African Spoonbill 95
African Stonechat 596
Alpine Swift 418
Amethyst Sunbird (Black Sunbird) 792
Ant-eating Chat 595
Barn Owl 392
Barn Swallow (European Swallow) 518
Barrow’s Korhaan (White-bellied Korhaan) 233
Bar-throated Apalis 645
Black Cuckoo 378
Black Cuckooshrike 538
Black Harrier 168
Black Kite 126a
Black Saw-wing 536
Black Sparrowhawk 158
Black-backed Puffback (Puff-backed Shrike) 740
Black-collared Barbet 464
Black-crowned Tchagra 744
Black-headed Heron 63
Black-headed Oriole 545
Black-necked Grebe 7
Black-shouldered Kite 127
Blacksmith Lapwing (Plover) 258
Black-throated Canary 870
Black-winged Lapwing (Plover) 257
Black-winged Stilt 295
Blue Crane 208
Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher 708
Bokmakierie 746
Booted Eagle 136
Brown-hooded Kingfisher 435
Brown-throated Martin 533
Buff-spotted Flufftail 218
Burchell’s Coucal 391a
Cape Batis 700
Cape Canary 872
Cape Crow (Black Crow) 547
Cape Glossy Starling 764
Cape Long-billed Lark 500
Cape Longclaw (Orange-throated Longclaw)727
Cape Robin-Chat (Robin) 601
Cape Rock-Thrush 581
Cape Shoveler 112
Cape Sparrow 803
Cape Teal 106
Cape Turtle-Dove 354
Cape Vulture 122
Cape Wagtail 713
Cape Weaver 813
Cape White-eye 796
Cardinal Woodpecker 486
Caspian Tern 322
Cattle Egret 71
Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler 621
Chinspot Batis 701
Chorister Robin-Chat (Robin) 598
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting (Rock Bunting) 886
Cloud Cisticola 666
Collared Sunbird 793
Common Fiscal Shrike 732
Common Greenshank 270
Common House-Martin 530
Common Moorhen 226
Common Ostrich 1
Common Quail 200
Common Ringed Plover 245
Common Sandpiper 264
Common Starling (European Starling) 757
Common Swift (European Swift) 411
Common Waxbill 846
Crowned Hornbill 460
Crowned Lapwing (Plover) 255
Curlew Sandpiper 272
Dark-backed Weaver (Forest Weaver) 808
Dark-capped Bulbul (Black-eyed Bulbul) 568
Denham’s Bustard (Stanley’s Bustard) 231
Diederik Cuckoo 386
Dusky Indigobird (Black Widow Finch) 864
Eastern Clapper Lark
Egyptian Goose 102
Emerald-spotted Dove (Green-spotted) 358
European Bee-eater 438
Familiar Chat 589
Fan-tailed Widowbird (Red-shouldered Widow)828
Fiery-necked Nightjar 405
Fiscal Flycatcher 698
Fork-tailed Drongo 541
Gabar Goshawk 161
Giant Eagle-Owl 402
Giant Kingfisher 429
Glossy Ibis 93
Golden-breasted Bunting 884
Great Crested Grebe 6
Great Egret (Great White Egret) 66
Great Spotted Cuckoo 380
Greater Double-collared Sunbird 785
Greater Honeyguide 474
Greater Striped Swallow 526
Green Wood-Hoopoe (Red-billed) 452
Green-backed Camaroptera (Bleating Warbler)657
Grey Crowned Crane 209
Grey Heron 62
Grey-backed Sparrowlark (Finchlark) 516
Grey-headed Bush-Shrike 751
Grey-headed Gull 315
Grey-winged Francolin 190
Hadeda Ibis 94
Half-collared Kingfisher 430
Hamerkop 81
Helmeted Guineafowl 203
Horus Swift 416
Hottentot Teal 107
House Sparrow 801
Jackal Buzzard 152
Jacobin Cuckoo 382
Karoo Korhaan 235
Karoo Prinia (Spotted prinia) 686a
Kittlitz’s Plover 248
Klaas’s Cuckoo 385
Knysna Turaco (Lourie) 370
Knysna Woodpecker 484
Kori Bustard 230
Lanner Falcon 172
Large-billed Lark (Thick-billed Lark) 512
Laughing Dove 355
Lesser Honeyguide 476
Lesser Moorhen 227
Lesser Striped Swallow 527
Lesser Swamp-Warbler (Cape Reed Warbler)635
Little Bittern 78
Little Egret 67
Little Grebe (Dabchick) 8
Little Sparrowhawk 157
Little Stint 274
Little Swift 417
Long-billed Pipit 717
Long-crested Eagle 139
Long-tailed Widowbird 832
Maccao Duck 117
Malachite Kingfisher 431
Malachite Sunbird 775
Marsh Sandpiper 269
Martial Eagle 140
Melodious Lark 492
Mocking Cliff-Chat 593
Mountain Wagtail (Long-tailed) 712
Namaqua Dove 356
Narina Trogon 427
Neddicky 681
Olive Thrush 577
Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike 748
Osprey 170
Pearl-breasted Swallow 523
Pied Avocet (Avocet) 294
Pied Crow 548
Pied Kingfisher 428
Pied Starling 759
Pin-tailed Whydah 860
Plain-backed Pipit 718
Red-billed Quelea 821
Red-billed Teal 108
Red-capped Lark 507
Red-chested Cuckoo 377
Red-chested Flufftail 217
Red-collared Widowbird 831
Red-eyed Dove 352
Red-faced Mousebird 426
Red-fronted Tinkerbird 469
Red-knobbed Coot 228
Red-necked Spur-fowl (Francolin) 198
Red-throated Wryneck 489
Red-winged Francolin 192
Red-winged Starling 769
Reed Cormorant 58
Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon) 348
Rock Kestrel 181
Rock Martin 529
Ruff 284
Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk (Red-breasted)155
Rufous-naped Lark 494
Sabota Lark 498
Secretarybird 118
Sombre Greenbul (Bulbul) 572
South African Shelduck 103
Southern Black Flycatcher 694
Southern Black Korhaan 239a
Southern Black Tit 554
Southern Boubou 736
Southern Double-collared Sunbird 783
Southern Grey-headed Sparrow 804
Southern Ground-Hornbill 463
Southern Masked-Weaver 814
Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk 162
Southern Pochard 113
Southern Tchagra 742
Speckled Mousebird 424
Speckled Pigeon (Rock Pigeon) 349
Spectacled Weaver 810
Spike-heeled Lark 506
Spotted Eagle-Owl 401
Spotted Thick-knee (Dikkop) 297
Spur-winged Goose 116
Steppe Buzzard 149
Streaky-headed Canary 881
Swee Waxbill 850
Tambourine Dove 359
Terrestrial Brownbul (Bulbul) 569
Thick-billed Weaver 807
Three-banded Plover 249
Verreaux’s Eagle (Black Eagle) 131
Village Weaver (Spotted-backed Weaver) 811
Wailing Cisticola 670
Whiskered Tern 338
White Stork 83
White-backed Duck 101
White-backed Mousebird 425
White-breasted Cormorant 55
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver 799
White-faced Duck 99
White-necked Raven 550
White-rumped Swift 415
White-throated Swallow 520
White-winged Tern 339
Willow Warbler 643
Wing-snapping Cisticola (Ayres’ Cisticola) 667
Wood Sandpiper 266
Yellow Bishop (Yellow-rumped Widow) 827
Yellow-billed Duck 104
Yellow-billed Egret 68
Yellow-billed Kite 126
Yellow-breasted Apalis 648
Yellow-crowned Bishop (Golden Bishop) 826
Yellow-fronted Canary (Yellow-eyed Canary) 869
Yellow-throated Petronia (Sparrow) 805
Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler 644
Zitting Cisticola (Fantailed Cisticola) 664
Narina Trogan photograph courtesy Andrew Stanger