Garden Species Checklists (updated: 18 Feb 2010)

Birds
Cape Spurfowl
Egyptian Goose
Red-faced Mousebird
Klaas's Cuckoo
Alpine Swift
Little Swift
African Black Swift
Feral Pigeon
Speckled Pigeon
Laughing Dove
Red-eyed Dove
Cape Turtle-Dove
Spotted Thick-knee
Black-winged Stilt
Blacksmith Lapwing
Hartlaub's Gull
Swift Tern
African Goshawk
Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk
Black Sparrowhawk (colour-ringed and almost 10 months old)
Steppe Buzzard
Booted Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
African Darter
Great White Pelican
African Spoonbill
African Sacred Ibis
Hadeda
Cattle Egret
House Crow
Pied Crow
Common Fiscal
White-throated Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cape Bulbul
Cape White-eye
Olive Thrush
Cape Robin-Chat
Red-winged Starling
European Starling
Southern Double-collared Sunbird
Cape Weaver
Cape Sparrow
Cape Wagtail
Cape Canary
Spotted Eagle Owl
Barn Owl
White-necked Raven
Grey Heron
African Paradise Flycatcher
Southern Masked Weaver
Greater Striped Swallow
Diederik Cuckoo
Grey Heron
Kelp Gull
Yellow-billed Kite
Barn Swallow
Spur-winged Goose
Brown-throated Martin
Pin-tailed Whydah
White-rumped Swift
Malachite Sunbird
Dusky Flycatcher
Cape Batis (in a garden 1 km away)
White-breasted Cormorant
Speckled Mousebird
Purple Heron

Reptiles
Cape Dwarf Chameleon
Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko

Dragonflies
Blue Emperor
Red-veined Dropwing
Julia Skimmer
Broad Scarlet

Butterflies
African Monarch
Cabbage White
Citrus Swallowtail
Geranium Bronze
Common Blue
Garden Acraea
Gold-spotted Sylph
Painted Lady
White-barred Charaxes
Sooty Blue

Moths
Crimson Speckled Footman
Cream-striped Owl
Cape Lappet Moth
Silver-striped Hawk Moth
African Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Bees
Carpenter Bee

Grasshoppers
Common Stick Grasshopper, Acrida acuminata














Above: Black Sparrowhawk in the garden in Pinelands © Callan Cohen
Above: Red-faced Mousebird, February 2010 © Deirdre Vrancken
Above: Gold-spotted Sylph © Callan Cohen

Above: Marbled Leaf-Toed Gecko at night, February 2010 © Deirdre Vrancken

Wildlife in our Cape Town garden

We converted the Birding Africa office garden from a small sandy patch into an indigenous Fynbos garden that is slowly recruiting some local butterflies, dragonflies, moths, endemic birds and chameleons.

Our garden is most famous for its small colony of Cape Dwarf Chameleons, a localised endemic to the extreme south-western Cape. You are welcome to pop by to see if you can spot one; please contact us to arrange a visit.

We are located in Pinelands, a suburb south of Cape Town, only 10 minutes from the airport and the city centre and 15 minutes from Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Above: Booted Eagle in the garden in Pinelands, 2009 © Callan Cohen

Above: Booted Eagle over the garden in Pinelands, February 2010 © Callan Cohen
Above: Crimson Speckled Footman © Callan Cohen
Above: Red-veined Dropwing © Callan Cohen
Above: Cape Spurfowl © Callan Cohen
Above: Cape Dwarf Chameleon © Callan Cohen
Above: Citrus Swallowtail © Callan Cohen
Above: Common Stick Grasshopper, Acrida acuminata, February 2010 © Deirdre Vrancken
Above: Sooty Blue, Zizeeria knysna, mating in Pinelands, February 2010 © Callan Cohen

Above: Marbled Leaf-Toed Gecko at night, February 2010 © Deirdre Vrancken

About Birding Africa

Birding Africa is a specialist birding tour company customising tours for both world listers and more relaxed holiday birders.  We combine interests in mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, botany and other natural history aspects and will guide you to Africa's and Madagascar's most diverse birding destinations. Our guides' knowledge of African birds and birding areas is our greatest strength and together we have rediscovered species, shared exciting observations with the birding community and had a fun time exploring our home continent.  We've even written two acclaimed guide books on where to find Southern Africa's and Madagascar's best birds. Birding is more than our passion, it's our lifestyle, and we are dedicated to making professional, best value trips filled with endemic species and unique wildlife experiences. Since 1997, we've run bird watching tours in South Africa and further into Africa for individual birders, small birding groups and top international tour companies. We've run Conservation Tours in association with the African Bird Club and work with and consult for a number of other top international tour companies and the BBC Natural History Unit.

For feedback from our guests, please see our Client Comments. Please also browse our Latest News and Trip Reports.