Winter birding in Jozi abounds...
Johannesburg Birding
While winter sneaks in, carpeting the ground with lush, sun-kissed reds, yellows and browns, Johannesburg remains very much alive with as vivid a birdlife. The urban landscape has a lot to offer the adventurous birder, from sitting in your back garden ticking off your bird list over a cup of Chai and under a wooly blanket, to actively getting out there to increase your life-list.
- African Hoopoe
Where to go…
A Saturday or Sunday drive can take you to places like the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens – a large expanse of parkland with several dams including Emmarentia Dam where water birds like Egyptian geese, common moorhen, red-knobbed coot, reed cormorants and if you’re lucky a few rarities. Crowned and blacksmith lapwings, as well as hadeda and sacred ibis are plentiful on the open grounds, as well as the occasional African hoopoe. Naturalised exotics such as the mallard, rock dove and common myna are also common around Emmerentia Dam. The gardens can get fairly busy over the weekend and regular security patrols will ensure your bird outing is a pleasant one.
- Rock Dove
- Hadeda Ibis
Right next door to the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens is the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve where natural rocky grassland attracts a variety of interesting birds. Look out for crowned, blacksmith and wattled lapwings as well as cape turtle doves, laughing doves, speckled mousebirds, black-collared and crested barbets, dark-capped bulbuls and the delightful little African stonechat.
- Egyptian Geese
A short drive east from Emmerentia and Melville you will find the Johannesburg Zoo – also a great place to spot a variety of birds and nestled between Parkview, Parkwood and Saxonwold is Zoo Lake, another open parkland area with a large dam attracting a wide range of birds, including a large population of domestic geese.
Another open parkland is Delta Park situated a little further north from Zoo Lake near the suburbs of Craighall Park to the east and Blairgowrie to the north. Here you will also find the Florence Bloom Bird Sanctuary.
- Grey-headed Gull
In Bedfordview on the East Rand Gillooly’s Farm offers birders a large dam which you can walk around and spot the local birdlife. The large ridge is also worth a climb but should only be done in a large group, as personal security is a risk and the koppies and ridges in and around Johannesburg often attract vagrants who may take advantage of a lone hiker. Within close proximity to Gillooly’s Farm lie several golf courses offering sanctuary to various birds. These include Glendower, Huddle Park and Royal Johannesburg & Kensington.
A little further
- Korsman Bird Sanctuary
A fantastic birding venue is the Korsman Bird Sanctuary situated in Benoni on the East Rand. To get there simply take the N12 freeway eastbound towards Emalhleni (Witbank) and take the Atlas Road off-ramp. Turn towards Lakefield along Atlas Road until you get the Westwood Village Shopping Centre on your right. At this intersection, turn left into Sher Avenue and make your way down to the dam. You can either take a slow drive around the dam or a healthy walk. Waders, ducks and other waterfowl are plentiful and this is a good place to see wattled lapwings, spur-winged geese and African spoonbills, along with numerous other species.
Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve south of Johannesburg and Rietvlei Dam Nature Reserve north of Johannesburg offer excellent grassland birding and even in winter birdlife is prolific and you can get to see Cape longclaw, African stonechat, crowned lapwings, yellow-billed ducks and much more.
Article by Warren Schmidt
[Images by WRS Photographic]
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