Page 20 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 8 2024

NATURE

Barlow's Lark

Karoo Scrub-Robin

After booking into the 80 roomed
Springbok Hotel, we drove out to the
Goegap Nature Reserve but as the
temperature was in the 30’s, the birding Anthony, Sue, Marleen and John at Alexander Bay
was not very successful. Goegap Nature
Reserve consists of a semi-desert
landscape and carries a rich diversity of
arid, succulent flora. Large numbers of
Quiver trees can also be seen. The next
morning we again visited Goegap and had
good sightings of Grey-backed Cisticola,
Dusky Sunbird, Large-billed Lark and
Namaqua Warbler. Our efforts to find
the elusive Cinnamon-breasted Warbler,
however, went unrewarded. On our way out
of the park we also had a good sighting of
the rare Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra.
From Springbok we headed north on the
N7 and then west on the R382 provincial
road towards Port Nolloth on the Atlantic
coast. Some thirty kilometres from the
coast, the high bank of misty cloud caused
by the cold Benguela current was seen
stretching along the coast as far as the
eye could see. The subsequent drop in
temperature to the low teens necessitated
jackets to be donned. Along the coast we
spotted Hartlaubs Gull, Ruddy Turnstone,
African Oystercatcher and White-fronted
Plover. A number of diamond dredgers
were in the harbour, a reminder that this
coast is still an active diamond mining
area.
After booking into the Scotia Hotel, Dantes
and Dennis drove us into the sand dunes
just north of the town where we started
looking on foot for some of the local lark
species. After about an hour Dantes
spotted two of our target birds chasing
each other i.e. Barlow’s Lark and Trac-
Trac Chat. Other lark sightings in the sand
dunes included the Cape Long-billed Lark
Magnificent Augrabies Falls

18 DPL issue 8 2024