March sightings, wildlife monitoring and interesting research projects.`
Sightings of the month
Thank you to all who recorded their sightings in the book this month
There were 177 recorded sightings, which is much higher than the past few months. Here is the number of recorded sightings of a few highlight species during the month:
Highlights:
- Leopard sightings outnumbered other species by a large margin, with 23 recorded sightings. Lion sightings totalled 13, while Wild Dogs were recorded in the book 11 times.
- Highlight mammalian sightings: A Caracal was seen on the tar road, and an African Wildcat was seen on Argyle. There were also three Side-striped Jackal sightings and two Black-backed Jackal sightings. Wild Dogs killed an impala on the porch of bungalow #18, half of which was stolen by a clan of hyenas. A juvenile Sharpe’s Grysbok was spotted in camp!
- Birding highlights included seven Black Stork sightings on Argyle, eleven sightings of Kori Bustards, three Martial Eagle sightings and two Spotted Eagle-Owl sightings.
- Reptilian species recorded: Rock Monitor, Water Monitor, Nile Crocodile, Flap-necked Chameleon, Leopard Tortoise, Giant Plated Lizard, Mozambique Spitting Cobra, Black Mamba, Common Egg-eater, Marsh Terrapin and Serrated Hinged Terrapin. Five Common Egg-eaters were removed from a bungalow in camp!
- Mammalians recorded during March: Leopard, Lion, Wild Dog, Caracal, Spotted Hyena, Honey Badger, Black-backed Jackal, Side-striped Jackal, Elephant, Buffalo, White Rhino, Galago, Impala, Kudu, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Zebra, Warthog, Hippo, Nyala, Klipspringer, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Duiker, Steenbok, Chacma Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Scrub Hare, Tree Squirrel, Springhare, Dwarf Mongoose, Banded Mongoose and Slender Mongoose.
- Bird species recorded: Arrow-marked Babbler, Crested Barbet, Bateleur, Chinspot Batis, European Bee-eater, Little Bee-eater, Southern Carmine Bee-eater, Grey Go-Away Bird, Dark-capped Bulbul, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Golden-breasted Bunting, Grey-headed Bush-shrike, Kori Bustard, Bronze-winged Courser, Black Crake, Jacobin Cuckoo, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Levaillant’s Cuckoo, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Laughing Dove, Namaqua Dove, Ring-necked Dove, Fork-tailed Drongo, African Fish Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Martial Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Spotted Eagle-owl, Jameson’s Firefinch, Crested Francolin, Egyptian Goose, Helmeted Guineafowl, African Harrier-Hawk, African Hawk-eagle, Retz’s Helmet-shrike, White-crested Helmet-shrike, Green-backed Heron, Grey Heron, African Grey Hornbill, Southern Ground Hornbill, Southern Red-billed Hornbill, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Giant Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Woodland Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Kite, Red-crested Korhaan, Blacksmith Lapwing, Crowned Lapwing, Black-headed Oriole, African Scops Owl, Red-billed Oxpecker, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Brown-headed Parrot, Three-banded Plover, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Black-backed Puffback, European Roller, Lilac-breasted Roller, Double-banded Sandgrouse, White-browed Scrub-robin, Magpie Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Southern White-crowned Shrike, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, Natal Spurfowl, Swainson’s Spurfowl, Burchell’s Starling, Cape Starling, Black Stork, Saddle-billed Stork, White Stork, Woolly-necked Stork, White-bellied Sunbird, Barn Swallow, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Water Thick-knee, Groundscraper Thrush, Southern Black Tit, White-backed Vulture, Blue Waxbill, Cape Weaver, Lesser Masked Weaver, Red-headed Weaver, Spectacled Weaver, Red-billed Buffalo Weaver, Long-tailed Paradise Whydah, Green Wood-hoopoe, Golden-tailed Woodpecker and Stierling’s Wren-Warbler.
Invertebrates have remained very active through the month. Highlight invertebrate sightings included:
- Multiple relocations of various scorpion species, including both Thicktail and Lesser Thicktail species, were carried out through the month. They are particularly active this season with the high rainfall and will often be found underneath items left on the floor, or underneath furniture and doors.
- Golden Orb-web Spiders and Garden Orb-web spiders have become incredibly populous, with their gold silk visible between almost every tree and shrub across the reserve.
- Mopane worms were observed this month, which is unusually late in the season. There were not many seen, but they were large and found in patches across the Mopane woodland in camp and on the reserve.
Words by Tess Woollgar, images courtesy of Ingrid Passier, George Fleet & Gareth Owens