On the morning of Friday, 5 June, Steven Stead, a local bird enthusiast, spotted a rather unique bird on the Bluff Golf Course, an Abdim’s stork.
The bird was then photographed the same afternoon by Rowan Bartlett.
On Wednesday, 10 June, I decided to photograph the sunrise on Brighton Beach. As I was finishing up, a good friend informed me about this very rare sighting. I am not a birder by any means but just had to go have a look and try get some photos.
Fortunately, Rowan was still there observing the bird and he pointed it out. From a distance it was a similar size and shape as a Hadada ibis. This is the second time since the 1980s that the Abdim’s stork has been spotted in Durban.
There are two factors that make this sighting very unique for the Bluff, firstly this bird is not known to come into KwaZulu-Natal and secondly it is a migratory species that should have flown out of South Africa sometime in late March.
They usually breed in the Northern hemisphere of Africa at this time of year and visit the Southern hemisphere to enjoy our summers. This particular bird seems to be healthy and happy hanging out with our resident woolly necked storks. The Abdim’s stork feeds mostly on insects as well as on small reptiles and frogs.
If you would like to contact Warren to have some of your interesting insects, snakes or other wildlife identified, send him a WhatsApp message or call him on 072-211-0353.
Visit his Facebook page, Warren’s Small World.
