Page 10 - 21 November 2025

PAGE 10 · THE REPORTER 21 NOVEMBER 2025

years. Spotted Flycatchers
often return to the same site
each year, and are amongst
the first migrants to arrive
each summer.”
We have only seen the
following flycatchers in our
garden: Fairy Flycatcher and
So many of the summer Fiscal Flycatcher, and now
birds have arrived. The skies we can add the little Spotted
are abuzz with swifts and Flycatcher to the very short
swallows. list.
After the rain, the swallows We have also seen Dusky
have been hard at work and Paradise Flycatchers
gathering mud to build or elsewhere in town.
repair their nests. I often Kevin Meise
bump into the Greater By Saturday early afternoon
Striped Swallows (Groot- we felt the four walls closing Spotted Flycatcher (Europese Vlieëvanger). You can just see the faint stripes on the great and the small stripes on the
in and grabbed our cameras
streepswael) at the edge of crown. We hope our little visitor comes back again.
the puddles on the roads. and went for a short drive up
Rietkloof. It was drizzling and
The pairs return to the same the clouds were building up.
nest or nesting site. If the We were watching a male
previous season’s nest is still Cape Weaver on a Rosehip
intact it will be started. They
are quite confiding and often bush. It flew off, but was
use a veranda or roof to build attacked by a rival. They
both landed on the fence. I
their nests. They become was taking a photograph
quite trusting and confiding.
when they attacked each
A pair starts breeding soon other. I was not quite
after arrival. The adult birds prepared and my speed on
roost together in their nest. the camera was too low for
They often raise two and s u c h a c t i o n ( S e e
sometimes three broods in a photographs).
season.
The little Levaillant’s
On Thursday morning Kev Cisticolas (Vleitinktinkies)
heard a Diederik Cuckoo were very active and singing
(Diederikkie) calling from and having their own Kevin Meise Kevin Meise
our garden. Uncle Koos territorial squabbles next to
Jordaan reported hearing the road. Levaliant’s Cisticola (Vleitinktinkie) Immature Cape Canary (Kaapse Kanarie)
one on the same day from Along the road on the farm noisy and obvious. It bathes
his home at the top end of Mooiplaas, we saw a pair of regularly and roosts in its
town. I can’t wait to actually Black-headed Canaries. Our roosting nest. It participates
see one in town. in a morning chorus before
second sighting in two
On Saturday, Kev and I were weeks, one in Suurvlakte departing and an evening
sitting in our lounge when and now one near town, and chorus after sunset.”
Kev spotted a little bird this time it was a pair. C a p e W e a v e r s a r e
sitting on the razor wire Unfortunately they flew away polygynous and males
above the wall around our before we could take any establish small territories
garden. Kev thought that it photographs. clustered together and each
was a little flycatcher. We Cape Weavers often feed in one builds a series of nests.
rushed for our cameras. flocks with other seedeaters. Please let me know if you
Unfortunately the light was They are noisy birds, have any unusual sightings,
poor as the clouds were dark especially the males. The or see a summer visitor. Kevin Meise
Kevin Meise
and heavy and it drizzled apps have this to say: “It is Till next time. Southern Red Bishop (Rooivink). In the first photograph the bird was preening.
every now and then.
We managed a photograph
or two before it flew off.
When we looked at the
photographs we identified
the bird as a Spotted
Flycatcher. This was the first
time we had seen one in our
garden.
The Spotted Flycatcher is a
small flycatcher with a
slender build, a striped
crown and breast and pale
underparts. It is brownish-
grey above.
It is mostly seen alone and
hawks insects in flight. They
often perch on the same low
branch each day and search We were watching this male Cape Weaver (Kaapse Wewer) in this sweet briar bush (sorry I don’t know the proper name of this bush). It made a lovely
for prey. picture. The first photographs is Kevin’s stunning photograph. Your can clearly see the chestnut brown face which is part of their breeding plumage.
They feed mainly on flying
insects, fruit and seeds. They
do not breed in the southern
region of Africa and is
considered a migrant. Most
of the Spotted Flycatchers
that visit South Africa
commenced their long
migratory journeys in
Britian, Sweden and
Finland. As the BirdPro App
puts it: “ an incredible feet for
these 15g travellers — and
performed twice a year. Most
w i l l u n d e r t a k e s u c h
marathon round trips only a
few times in their short lives,
although some record-
breaking individuals have Cape Weaver (Kaapse Wewer) I was taking a photograph of a perched bird when the two males suddenly attacked each other.
reached ages of eleven The photographs are out of focus as my shutterspeed was too low for action.