This past weekend, I had the chance to visit the
Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve. From my university e-mail I got a message
detailing an open invitation for people interested in watching a bat capture.
Yes I said a bat capture! Earlier in the year, I had the chance to help
recapture Wahlberg’s epauletted fruit bats to remove their GPS units. I was so
amazed by the little critters that another chance to see them in the hand was
awesome!
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| Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat |
Vernon Crookes is located in southern KwaZulu-Natal
and is roughly 2189 ha. This reserve is very important because it is one of the
last natural areas in a sea of sugarcane (as apparent in our drive there).
Vernon was a big sugarcane baron, and the reserve gets its name from him. It is
also quite famous for earthworms, with specimens reaching almost 9 feet! http://showme.co.za/tourism/vernon-crookes-nature-reserve-south-coast-kwazulu-natal/
They are believed to be the largest earthworm in the
world! Needless to say there is worm poop everywhere…
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| Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve |
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| Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve |
Birding wise, I was on the lookout for three species:
Broad-tailed Warbler, Short-tailed Pipit, and the Pale-crowned Cisticola. I was
not successful in finding these species, but I did get four lifers! Two lifers
heard: African Wood-Owl and White-starred Robin. I was scared at first when I
heard the owl, because I thought it was a person that might be up to no good in
the night! http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=woodfordii
The other two lifers I got very good views of: the
Croaking Cisticola and African Pygmy Kingfisher. The kingfisher is a good find
because of it is a summer migrant, its small size, and is normally a
terrestrial kingfisher (not exclusively found near water).
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| African Pygmy Kingfisher. Photo by Glen Mclean. |
The bat catchers were part of the Honorary Officer
program and were so nice! Although we only caught a common Banana Bat, they
were very good teachers. It was nice to spend the weekend with people as enthusiastic
about the outdoors as I am. Plus since
Halloween was just around the corner, they made bone cupcakes!
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| Collecting data from the Banana Bat |
Sunday morning was occupied with a hike on one of
the many trails. The habitats encountered included open grassland and thick old
growth forest. Can you guess where I saw the jackal pup? Yes in the forest! It
was the last mammal I thought to see there. While on the trail, we saw the
pointed ears and thought it was a caracal (cat), but this small pup ran towards
us. I was thinking “Oh great! Wish I had my rabies shot”. Its mother had booked
it when we first appeared. However, we were probably the first people this
young pup has ever seen and he wanted to play! After a few tense seconds, it
realized that it could not play with us and retreated to its mother.
All in all it was a good weekend and would highly
recommend it to anyone (just be careful not to step on any worms!)
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| Black-backed Jackal pup. Photo by Glen Mclean. |
