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Target terrestrial bird species include:
Cape Rockjumper, Cape Sugarbird, African Penguin, Fynbos Buttonquail, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Protea Canary, Cape Eagle Owl, Knysna Woodpecker, Ground Woodpecker, Crowned Cormorant, Bank Cormorant, Cape Cormorant, Damara Tern, Karoo Long-billed Lark, Cape Long-billed Lark, Karoo Lark, Cape Clapper Lark, Barlow’s Lark, Red Lark, Stark’s Lark, Sclater’s Lark, Black-eared Sparrowlark, Southern Black Korhaan, Karoo Korhaan, Knysna Warbler, Victorin’s Warbler, Namaqua Warbler, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Rufous-eared Warbler, Layard’s Warbler, Namaqua Sandgrouse, Verreaux’s Eagle, Booted Eagle, Forest Buzzard, Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk, Pygmy Falcon, Secretarybird, Denham’s Bustard, Ludwig’s Bustard, Knysna Turaco, Tractrac Chat, Grey Tit, Blue Crane, Cape Siskin, Chestnut-banded Plover, Fairy Flycatcher, Southern Tchagra, Karoo Eremomela, Cape Penduline Tit.
Pelagic bird species include:
Cape Gannet, Wandering Albatross, Southern Royal Albatross, Northern Royal Albatross, Shy (White-capped) Albatross, Black-browed Albatross,
Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, Grey-headed Albatross, Southern Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Southern Giant Petrel, Northern Giant Petrel, Spectacled Petrel, Soft-plumaged Petrel, Pintado (Cape) Petrel, White-chinned Petrel, Great-winged Petrel, Pintado (Cape) Petrel, Southern Giant Petrel, Northern Giant Petrel, Sabine’s Gull, Subantarctic (Brown) Skua, Wilson’s Storm Petrel, European Strom Petrel, Black-bellied Storm Petrel, Leach’s Storm Petrel, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, Antarctic Tern, Antarctic Prion.
Cape Town and its surrounds offers remarkable geographically and botanical diversity with the chance of finding many endemic species while birding in areas of great scenic beauty.
This is due to its unique mix of habitats, dominated by fynbos and renosterveld, but also including patches of afromontane forest, suburban gardens, and karroid scrubland, while inland one can easily access the semi-desert plains of the Karoo. The region has mostly a Mediterranean climate, with wet winters and hot dry summers.
The variety of bird species is not large, some 400+ (including vagrants), compared to other parts of South Africa but it does offer a number of interesting endemic specials. Species only found here and nowhere else are Cape Sugarbird, Cape Rockjumper, Orange-breasted Sunbird and Protea Seedeater. Others more easily seen here than elsewhere are Cape Siskin, African Penguin, Bank Cormorant, African Black Oystercatcher and Victorin’s Warbler.
Any reference to birding in and around Cape Town would be incomplete without including its remarkable seabirds and pelagic tour opportunities.
The southwestern Cape’s western seaboard, stretching along Cape Town’s Atlantic shores northwards to the Olifants River, is renowned for its superb beaches, bountiful sea life, internationally recognized coastal wetlands, and spectacular spring wildflower displays.
Birding is excellent too: there is an abundance of migrant waders and other waterbirds, and rewarding ‘strandveld’ birding. Highlights range from the quiet elegance of a Black Harrier quartering low over the scrublands of the West Coast National Park, to the frenzied activity of the Cape Gannet colony at Lambert’s Bay.
The region’s best birds include Black Harrier, Southern Black Korhaan, Protea Canary, Cloud Cisticola, and Cape Gannet. However, there are a multitude of others that are best found here, including Chestnut-banded Plover, Cape Long-billed Lark, Cape Clapper Lark, Grey-winged Francolin, Grey Tit, Verreaux’s Eagle, Sickle-winged Chat, Cape Penduline Tit, and a host of waders.
It is also a region where many rarities also pitch up on an annual basis, as birds seek the furthest south extremities of the African continent.
As one travels eastwards from Cape Town, the coast becomes progressively more wooded and subtropical, the ocean warms, the rain falls year-round, and the forests host an ever increasing bird diversity.
The region from Mossel Bay to the Tsitsikamma area is a rather paradisiacal stretch of coastal belt that, with its pleasing climate, secluded beaches, and still extensive tracts of canopy Afromontane forest, has become a favoured recreational destination aptly known as the Garden Route. Further inland, a dramatic, fynbos-clad barrier of mountains gives way to the arid expanse of the Karoo, transecting a remarkable diversity of habitats that offer rewarding birding.
The scope of environmental variation offers visitors to the region the option of forest, wetland, fynbos, estuary, riverine, montane and coastal experiences without having to travel vast distances.
The target species along this coastline and inner valleys are: Knysna Turaco, Forest Buzzard, Crowned Eagle, African Grass Owl, White Starred Robin, Knysna Woodpecker, Knysna Warbler, Olive Bush Shrike, Narina Trogon, Black-winged Lapwing, Half-collared Kingfisher, Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher, Grey Cuckooshrike and Red-necked Spurfowl.
Across the sandy, low-lying flats that lie east of Cape Town, a barrier of mountains interrupts the landscape, and it meets the shoreline in parts with fertile coastal plain, rocky shores and beautiful ocean bays.
The mountainous barrier is the Hottentots Holland, so named by early Dutch settlers who considered them the ‘homeland’ of the indigenous Khoikhoi (‘men of men’) peoples, then known as Hottentots. On the far side of these mountains, between the Langeberg range and the ocean, is the fertile Overberg, a gently undulating coastal plain that today lies predominantly under wheat and canola. These plains lead to rocky and sandy shores broken intermittently by a host of abundant estuaries and wetlands.
This region provides a large diversity of much-coveted species, from Cape Rockjumper to Damara Tern, and Fynbos Buttonquail to Blue Crane. Other desirable species include Cape Eagle Owl, Verreaux’s Eagle, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Cape Sugarbird, Knysna Woodpecker, Victorin’s Warbler, Cape Vulture, Stanley’s Bustard, Cape Clapper Lark, Southern Tchagra, Cape Long-billed Lark, and Narina Trogon.
The arid-country bird specialties of the Karoo semidesert region are impressive. The majority are easily accessible within a day trip from Cape Town, and are set in some marvellous Karoo landscapes.
The Karoo region can be defined as being south of the Orange River, east of Kamies and Cederberg Mountains, north of Outeniqua Mountains and west of Jansenville and Somerset East.
The Tankwa segment offers one of the driest and least-welcoming landscapes in the country, yet it is home to a surprising number of bird species, several of which are endemic to the subregion. The parched brown expanses, aloe-lined escarpments and lonely isolated hills of the Tankwa Karoo provide an apt setting for such fine and sought-after dry western endemics as Karoo Eremomela, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Tractrac Chat, Karoo Lark, and Layard’s Warbler, among many others.
The Small Karoo offers a diversity of habitats where a wide variety of succulent plants and acacia trees bloom after good rains, attracting Dusky Sunbird, Karoo Long-billed Lark, Grey Tit, Karoo Korhaan, Namaqua Warbler, Pririt Batis, and more. While Verreaux’s Eagles, Booted Eagles, and Cape Eagle Owls breed on the cliffs.
In the scrub vegetation on the slopes Karoo Prinia, Pale-winged Starling, and Cape Bunting may be found, and on the upper fynbos, the elusive Fynbos Buttonquail can be flushed.
The Kalahari region comprises primarily arid thornveld and semi-desert, and is a vast and very sparsely unpopulated area, stretching from the north-western region of Northern Cape Province into central Botswana.
The southern Kalahari’s classic dune landscapes and broad riverbeds, lined with gnarled acacia trees, will appeal to anyone seeking romantic landscapes.
Forming part of this region is the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, whose inhabitants include big game such as Lion, Cheetah and Gemsbok, a substantial diversity of raptors, a multitude of open grassy plain species, and a colourful selection of dry woodland birds.
Species to seek in these parts include:
Red-necked Falcon, Pygmy Falcon, Kori Bustard, Double-banded Courser, Burchell’s Sandgrouse, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, Bradfield’s Swift, Monotonous Lark, Eastern Clapper Lark, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Southern Pied Babbler, Short-clawed Lark, Pink-billed Lark, Buffy Pipit.
Bushmanland’s stony plains are scattered with low bushes, punctuated by broken country and the occasional dunefield. It is a vast and sparsely populated semi-desert of stark beauty.
The freedom of these open spaces is exceptional, and the dedicated birder will equally appreciate its wealth of highly desirable southern African endemics.
It is most famous in birding circles for hosting one of the world’s highest diversity of larks, with an amazing 14 species occurring regularly. Furthermore, Red Lark is a true endemic to Bushmanland, and Sclater’s Lark and Black-eared Sparrowlark are most easily seen in this region.
Other desirable species are:
Ludwig’s Bustard, Karoo Korhaan, Burchell’s Courser, Stark’s Lark, Pygmy Falcon, Karoo Eremomela, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Black-headed Canary, and Rosy-faced Lovebird.
Namaqualand is best known for the spectacular spring floral displays that provide such a colourful yet ephemeral façade to a fascinating region. This winter rainfall desert is home to a unique arid-land flora that is unparalleled globally in terms of its diverse mixture of both species and growth forms.
The region forms the largest portion of the Succulent Karoo Biome, recognized as the only desert biodiversity hotspot on earth and hosting the world’s greatest variety of succulent plants. Yet, despite this floral uniqueness, Namaqualand shares most of its birds with the wider Karoo regions of Bushmanland and the Tankwa Karoo.
Nonetheless, an excellent selection of endemics is available, and the region provides plenty of rewarding birding against a backdrop of floral richness and striking scenery. It is also the most accessible place in the world to see the endemic Barlow’s Lark, and offers the best sites in the region for Ludwig’s Bustard and Cape Eagle Owl.
Other top bird species for the area include: Damara Tern, Cape Long-billed Lark, Karoo Lark, Southern Grey Tit, Layard’s Warbler, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Fairy Flycatcher, Dusky Sunbird, Black-headed Canary.