St Lucia February birding update.

Tern roost at Estuary beach, St Lucia.

Birding has been great this month again in St Lucia!

Starting with some unusual sightings/ rarities:

Firstly, a Sooty falcon has returned for the second consecutive year to the exact same tree, a dead eucalyptus on the road between St Lucia and Mtubatuba. They certainly seem to be creatures of habit!

I was very surprised to find a Pel's fishing owl on a nightdrive on the Eastern shores, Isimangaliso. It was sitting in a small tree overlooking a large wetland. These owls specialise in Fish (especially barbel) but also take frogs (of which there are thousands at the moment). Maybe the extensive wetlands at the moment have coaxed this individual further South.

Also at night, a White-backed night-heron was seen hunting in a puddle in the road on the beach road St Lucia towards the middle of the month.

Never an easy one to find, I observed a pair of African pygmy geese at the Mpathe river bridge on the Western shores towards the middle of the month. 

Lastly,  a Hartlaub's gull was seen amongst the terns and Grey-headed gulls at the Estuary mouth towards the latter part of the month

Other birds at the tern roost at the estuary mouth included Greater crested, Lesser crested, Sandwich, Little, Common and Caspian terns, Common whimbrel and Grey plover.

The extensive reedbeds at the mouth area this year are supporting African reed warbler, Greater reed warbler, Lesser swamp warbler, Thick-billed weaver, Southern brown-throated weaver, Rufous-winged cisticola, Purple heron, Goliath heron to name a few.

Also of interest, Sand martin are regularly seen soaring above estuary beach and the Palm-nut vulture are regular (yet erratic) there too.

Wetland edges are still supporting large flocks of Collared pratincole and Senegal lapwing, whilst the coastal grasslands are alive with Blue-cheeked and European bee-eater, European roller as well as the odd broad-billed and Lilac-breasted roller. Banded martin are also commonly seen in the grasslands at the moment.

Forest birding has been great with regular sightings of Narina trogon, Rudd's apalis, Woodward's batis, Green malkoha, Livingstone's turaco, Buff-spotted flufftail, Tambourine dove, Purple-banded sunbird, Blue-mantled crested flycatcher and at forest edge, the odd Marsh warbler.

Finally nocturnal birding has been fantastic with regular sightings of Swamp nightjar, European nightjar, Fiery-necked nightjar, African wood-owl, Barn owl, Spotted eagle-owl and Water thick-knee. 

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Swamp nightjar, St Lucia.