 Livingstone's turaco sunning itself, St Lucia. The forest has been on fire this month with some extraordinary sightings. Some highlights included 2 separate sightings of Buff-spotted flufftail females with chicks, Green malkoha courtship and mating, Multiple floating leks of Narina trogon & Blue-mantled crested flycatchers bravely defending their nest from a troop of Vervet monkeys. Most of the forest specials have shown nicely during the month with nice mixed flocks of Grey waxbill, Red-backed mannikin and Green twinspot encountered regularly as well as rowdy groups of Livingstone's turaco, inquisitive Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, Rudd's apalis, Woodward's batis, Brown scrub-robin, Purple-banded sunbird, Olive sunbird, Grey sunbird and Black saw-wing.  Green twinspot sunning themselves in St Lucia Also some interesting nesting observations during the month- Grey waxbill using the discarded nest of a Spectacled weaver and Collared sunbird building their nest alongside a paper wasp nest (the wasps serving as a predator deterrent)  Grey waxbill alongside Spectacled weaver nest. At forest edge we have seen the return of summer-visiting Broad-billed roller and African pygmy kingfisher and the grasslands are once again full of summer-visiting Blue-cheeked bee-eater.  Broad-billed roller in St Lucia. The wetlands are still holding good numbers of African pygmy-goose, White-backed duck and the odd Lesser jacana and Lesser moorhen along with more common waterfowl. The Rufous-bellied herons are still regular on pan loop and at Amazibu hide on the Eastern shores. The Eastern shores has also produced regular sightings of Rosy-throated longclaw during the course of the month- always a treat  Rosy-throated longclaw The estuary mouth continues to produce some excellent birds, the highlights of the month being a Eurasian oystercatcher which has shown erratically and a single sighting of African skimmer. The Terek sandpipers and Bar-tailed godwit are also still lingering as well as the Saunders's tern which has proven difficult to see due to the terns often roosting further away to the South of the mouth. Other birds regular at the estuary mouth during the month have included Common ringed plover, Grey plover, White-fronted plover, Ruddy turnstone, Eurasian whimbrel, Common greenshank, Common sandpiper, Southern brown-throated weaver, Yellow-billed stork, Black heron, Little stint, Curlew sandpiper, Sanderling, Greater crested, Common, Sandwich, Little and Caspian tern, Kelp gull, Western osprey and African black oystercatcher.  Eurasian oystercatcher, Ingwe beach, St Lucia. Lastly- not a bird but very special and worth mentioning- was the discovery of a 'Strawberry' leopard on the Western shores of Isimangaliso. There have been only a handful of sightings of this rare colour form of leopard in South Africa, making it very special for Isimangaliso Wetlands Park.
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