Today Renee and I went birding on the Agulhas Plain. It was a fabulous day with perfect, warm, still weather. We were searching for a Black-winged Pratincole, a bird that does not normally occur in the area, but which had been reported earlier in the week. By some miracle we found no less than three of them along with a myriad of other birds, 108 species in total, including African Snipe, Whiskered and White-winged Terns, around 120 White Storks all gathered in one spot, a flock of around 100 Great White Pelicans, around 1000 Egyptian Geese around one dam, and huge numbers of waders on the farm Vogelsang. It was really wonderful to see such numbers, but the strange thing was that when we crossed the road to Struisbaai on our way back, the birds just fell away and we hardly saw much more.
The Hazell family decided to embark on a Birding Big Year and we started on 1 January, with even the non-birders taking part. Everyone is enthusiastic about the challenge and we hope that this lasts for the whole year. Here are a few of the birds seen so far.
roncorylus 
Congratulations, Ronnie and Renée, your dedication to birding certainly does you credit!