At around 6-30 am we drove the few kilometres from the entrance gate of the nature reserve, through the sand forest towards the shoreline of False Bay, the weather closed in as blustery rain and wind hit us. Undeterred, our small group drove south along the shoreline towards ‘Rocky Point’ where we stopped and spotted one of the areas specials, a Southern Banded Snake Eagle (Circaetus fasciolatus) perched at the top of the tree.
We traversed both north and south along the shoreline as far as we were able. Good sightings of Whimbrel, Grey-headed Gull, Cape Teal, African Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Kite, Caspian Tern, Black-bellied Starlings, African Pipit, Little Egret, African Harrier-Hawk, or Gymnogene (Polyboroides typus) to name a few. On the sand forest side of the shoreline, Yellow-bellied Greenbul and Brown Scrub-Robin were evident. After our picnic breakfast, which we had in the car (due to the weather) we made our way back slowly to the reserves main gate, sightings of African Pygmy Kingfisher and Red Duiker were made, as well as the enviable call of the Gorgeous Bushshrike from deep in the bush. We headed back to Bonamazi as the weather looked like it had set in for the day.