October 30, What a Show!!

We arrived at Karoo NP around 6:30 this morning and immediately began the roughly 45 km drive up and around Klipspringer Pass, taking us close to 7 hours.  We FINALLY had a Bustard sighting this morning - a brief glimpse of it on the ground, and then watched it fly up and away, showing us it's characteristic wing markings.  Nice to finally see a Bustard; would hate to guess how many hours we've put in searching for one!  As we approached the top of the pass, I noticed one of the Verreaux's Eagles sitting on top of the rock ledge, so we got out at the overlook to take a peek.  That's when the show began!!  It left its perch, flew over just above us giving us views close enough that we could see its eyes and every detail of its feathers, then flew below us in the canyon so that we could see its distinct white back markings.  Then we realized that it's mate was sitting on the rock ledge across the canyon.  We had a 15 minute show, with both birds soaring above and below us or sitting on the rock ledge across the canyon.  And to impress upon us how large this eagle really is, a Rock Kestrel began swooping down on one of them, looking like a little song bird in size - which it isn't!  We found a number of new birds today, including a Lark, Canary, and Cuckoo.  This was our last full day of birding in South Africa, as we head off to Stellenbosch in the wine country tomorrow to spend our last two days before heading home.

First 2 photos are the Karoo in early morning, the next 3 are of the Verreaux's Eagles on top of Klipspringer Pass, Yellow Mongoose, another Mountain Zebra (they're SO pretty), Brown-hooded Kingfisher that landed in the tree right above us.