Wednesday 4th April 2012
Chasing lifers isn't for everyone. If you're a birder you will understand the compulsion to keep a record of all the bird species you have seen, when and where. Adding a new bird to your record is called a "lifer". When you first start birding you realise that it is really all about the bird but before long you are caught up in the frantic admin where you never seem to catch up. Cecile coined the phrase admin for the work that needs to be done once you start keeping lists. It works very well in an Afrikaans sentence "Ag nee men, ek gaan nooit by al my admin uitkom nie" or "Los my uit, ek het admin om te doen". These are words that Betsie and I heard many times over the years, usually from the back seat where Cecile was wrapped up in some cocoon due to the cold weather.
I found myself entering 2012 with a very respectable number of lifers. Not as many as Betsie but definitely more than John. I have worked hard to get to 720. A nice round number. No big trips planned for the year as leave was being stored up for an English holiday. Then I got the dreaded e-mail.
Another thing about birders is that we like to inform each other about where the good stuff is. We haven't sunk to the levels of the English fraternity who keep the specials (another bit of lingo for non-birders) hidden far away just in case someone else could see it and go above your total. Locally we have a few excellent e-mail groups where people can ask questions, get answers, brag about the really cool trip you just did and of course let everyone else know where the lesser spotted purple streaked you-know-what can be found. One such group is the rare bird alert. This is managed by Trevor Hardaker in Cape Town and everyone around the country will let him know of the super duper birds, where they were found and how others could possible get a glimpse. He puts together a regular alert and sends out the e-mail to everyone subscribed. This is how I heard about the crake. For those of you that have been around for a while, this isn't THE crake, this is the first crake.
Someone had regularly spotted (yes, another buzz word) a Baillon's Crake at Marievale Bird Sanctuary. Now this is an extremely secretive bird, doesn't like people and pretty much keeps to themselves. They live in the reeds on the edges of ponds, just sticking their noses out every now and again to smell the fresh air. Someone seeing them regularly usually means one thing which involves being shacked up with a piece of fluff and one of them is sitting on eggs. Exciting times are predicted as the great rush to spot the bird before it disappears is vital. Some guys will drop everything immediately, get in their cars and charge off into the distance hoping their tiny spare compact binoculars in the cubby hole will do the job. Others like myself, play the odds. We try to wait for the weekend when time isn't an issue and you could be lucky and have others lined up to easily show you the bird. Teamwork. This is the gamble Jacques and I took. It paid off. The first notification of the crake came through on 4th of January. We watched e-mails come through the entire week and by Friday night we had taken out the binocs (yep another one), charged the camera batteries and set the alarm for really early. Birds are never obliging and situate themselves nearby your house or office. They are in hard to reach places far from civilisation. It takes commitment and a full tank of petrol on your part to get there. I suppose the bird has taken the time to fly from some 3rd world country to me and the least we could do is be gracious about getting to see it.
We were up bright and early and after filling the flask with boiling water we set off for Marievale, about 1.5 hours drive from home. We got there with a few minor navigation incidents due to having the route take us through a few informal settlements and road closures. We followed the road into the reserve, saw a bunch of birders in the distance and parked the car. A hundred metre walk to the birders along the muddy road and we were joyfully greeted by some familiar faces. It is amazing how you get to know the regulars. After catching up with the latest news on kids, sightings (yes, yet another one) and birding trips, it was time to face the reeds and wait. We had brought chairs and left them in the car along with breakfast. Stupid move. The smell of someone's coffee wafted past in the morning breeze. We hoped it wasn't going to be a long wait. It wasn't. Within a few minutes a beautiful specimen of a crake came strolling out from the reeds searching for breakfast. The sound of camera shutters was almost deafening in the wide open space. Fifteen birders tried not to fall into the pond with excitement. He posed beautifully in the morning light and the thundering shutter sounds didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. Insect after insect was picked off the vegetation. His breakfast was good. We watched him for a while before moving back to the car. Our flask was opened and rusks produced from the rugsack. It was our turn to smell the coffee. Breakfast was indeed good...
For more info on the Baillon's Crake, check out Wikipedia here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baillon%27s_Crake
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