July 17, 2015: Wakkerstroom, South Africa&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;At sunrise this morning, on the open grasslands above Wakkerstroom, the thermometer read exactly zero degrees Celsius, and the wind was blasting at a steady, freezing 30 km/hour. Brrr! What happened to endless summer?
It really is winter in South Africa. All around Wakkerstroom, the restaurants and shops have 鈥淐hristmas in July鈥 signs out. Last evening I ordered dinner from a special Christmas menu and ate it under a giant hanging decorated sled, with Santa smiling on the wall behind me. I鈥檓 writing this now in front of the cozy fireplace in my room, with the electric blanket on my bed warming up and a glass of sherry nearby. It鈥檚 nice, after spending so long in hot and humid climates, to be a little cold. So, Merry Christmas!
Wakkerstroom is a small town in the highlands of northeast South Africa surrounded by open fields, grasslands, and wetlands. It鈥檚 a very popular birding destination, and for good reason鈥this place is rich in endemics. Today our Rockjumper group found some good stuff: A dozen Blue Bustards, a pair of Blue Cranes, a super-endemic Rudd鈥檚 Lark, some Ground Woodpeckers, a Southern Bald Ibis, and a wide variety of common species. I also saw my first meerkats鈥scurrying around and posting sentries just like on that reality TV show, Meerkat Manor.
The people here are used to birders. Each evening, our group goes through the daily checklist to tally our sightings (a venerated tradition on these types of tours), and we usually do it before dinner. When the waitress took our orders here, she asked, 鈥淎re you going to count now?鈥 It took a minute before we realized that she was asking when we were planning to do the bird checklist, so she could plan our meal accordingly! That was certainly a first for me this year.
New birds today: 14
Year list: 3611
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