Lots of bird photography and a very special Lifer!

The other day I made a return to the grasslands and cold mornings of Rietvlei Nature Reserve. This place has quickly become my favourite local wildlife photography spot. I could easily spend hours in the hides waiting for action, although on this day there was so much action, I could barely put my camera down!

The Friday afternoon, 31 July, a friend notified me that he had seen Flamingos at Coots Corner Hide. Considering that I still needed both Flamingos I was quite eager to head out there myself, although I decided not to go. The Saturday night I popped up on Ebird and just for the fun of it I checked out some recent sightings. I saw that a few Black-winged Stilts, Kittlitz’s Plover and Great Crested Grebe have been seen there recently. This gave me the final motivation, and I finally decided to head out the next morning.

The Sunday morning, we headed out early and arrived at the gate at 6am. The very first stop was at Coots Corner, unfortunately there was not a single Flamingo in sight, but I took some cool moody shots of a Grey Heron as the mist disappeared. The hide also had a couple of Black Crakes walking on the muddy shore and other common waterbirds such as blacksmith lapwing. I headed out to Island view hide before the sun rose properly. The morning was super cold, about minus 4 at the time which made changing settings and working with my hands in general very difficult especially with flight shots, despite having gloves on. Upon arriving at the hide, I noticed loads of busy Gulls, which I found quite interesting. I soon realized why the birds were acting like this because not even after a minute, a Fish Eagle swooped Infront of the hide with a trail of Gulls behind it. This was honestly one of the coolest wildlife sightings I’ve had in a long time! However, the Fish Eagle quickly disappeared but left all the birds on high alert for quite some time, this was great for photos because we had gulls constantly flying by the hide. This allowed me to get loads of great flight shot opportunities! Later that morning the sun crept across the dam’s edge which allowed me to get some cool images of Common Moorhen, Black Crake, and the pair of Three Banded Plover that hung around.

The Fish Eagle with a trail of gulls behind it as described.

Then it happened, I saw a bird on the far side of the dam and zoomed in to get a better look. My heart skipped a beat because I couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw a beautiful Great Crested Grebe on the water, it is truly a bucket list moment, and I took loads of pictures. It was honestly so amazing to see, and my hands were literally shaking from excitement!

 By the time it was 10am we headed back home to charge batteries, and I started editing some of the images. On the way back through the reserve, I also got some cool birds including a Chestnut vented Warbler which I photographed. We also bumped into a large group of buffalo that came much closer than I expected.

Later in the afternoon I returned for a sunset shoot. It’s always nice to have a sunrise and sunset shoot when possible because you get both best times to shoot. I’ve also found that the activity and species that show up can be vastly different at those two times. For example, the Gulls were still flying around but Cormorants dominated the show this time. This gave me the opportunity to get different shots and experiment with my photos. I focused on getting partial silhouettes, instead of perfectly exposed portraits which also allowed me shoot at much higher shutter speeds. As the sun set, I reflected on the day and all the incredible birds I saw, most memorably the Grebe. On the contrary, this day also reminded me that the most common species can tell the most powerful stories!