Flipit, damn pipit!

Late Saturday afternoon somewhere between Scotland's emphatic win and Wales' loss I received notice from Lisl, friend & local lister extraordinaire, that three (3) Mountain Pipits had been discovered on a newly-burnt patch in Gauteng / Mpumalanga's Ezemvelo Nature Reserve. For those of you who don't know, Ezemvelo is one of Gauteng's best-kept secrets. It's accessible, close-by and boasts an extraordinary diversity of birds including Southern Bald Ibis, Denham's Bustard, White-bellied Korhaan and other local rarities. 

www.ezemvelo.co.za

Mountain Pipit, a regional First, however, elevates 'rarity' to new levels of 'go, go, go..'  

Etienne, a founding stalwart of the local challenge, had noted three unusual pipits, in passing. He, along with other members of the group, described the birds as follows: -

'..heavily-built / stocky birds, well marked & with a yellowish / cinnamon wash. .. the base of the mandible was pinkish .. confirmed they did not have white outer-tail feathers .. Strongly-streaked crown ..breast-streaking bold & prominent. ..in flight appeared dark & heavy'. 

The detail in the description is the lesson in this more than anything else. Too many birders fail to take note of the more subtle diagnostic features. Tacky descriptions, most often based on colour only, lead to potential cripplers missed or worse still, trash birds misidentified as megas. 

I say the lower mandible's yellow - Alisha says pink....

Very little is known about Mountain Pipit other than they occur at altitudes above 2000 meters in Lesotho & surrounds & almost always only in summer. Speculation that the vast majority of the sp. overwinter in eastern Angola is supported by seasonal sightings of transitory birds in the Namibian escarpment. The assumption in the case of the Ezemvelo Three is also one of transitory, opportunistic feeding en route the summer grounds at higher altitudes, further south. That's the theory at least. A suspected sighting in nearby Bronkhorstspruit, some eight (8) years ago & in mid-to-late October may, in fact, suggest that Mountain Pipit transit this locale annually. If that's the case what is obviously a blocker for most of us at the moment may, in fact, become a seasonal vismig candidate. Time will tell. 

A 3 am start early Sunday morning precipitated an early arrival at the Ezemvelo front gate which happened to be closed at the time. We were an hour early.. When the tears came the gate-keeper relented & let us through. We were also not the only candidates for twitchers-of-the-day having passed Toni & Rob en route. From the entrance gate to the the NW-border of the reserve is about 2 km point to point or as the pipit goes but probably closer to 4 km by road;.. titillating when you're in a hurry. Even so, we arrived on-site a single dust cloud earlier than the others who must have taken a short-cut..  

Fame at last; sweet mercy - fame at last!      Some 100 meters inland Etienne's group stood huddled staring intently back at us. Adjusting my cap to something a little more jaunty; more suave, more pouty.. I waved back. The true objects of their desire, however, stood fore-square betwixt them and us on two legs looking decidedly nervous. As these things go I fired off a few rounds at the two closest candidates to 'secure the shot' and watched with some animation as the 3rd pipit, unseen by us, until its launch, took off like a rocket; in pursuit of the first two birds. Back-of-the-screen examination of the captured two confirmed the group's worst fears - Plain-backed Pipit: ie: trash. The third - on flight-pattern alone, the probable Mountain. The same bird surfaced an hour or so later but escaped with the same two Plain-backed Pipits; inured to all levels of pleading, hair-rending included.  

To say we were disappointed is quite possibly the understatement of the year and we're bloody bitter not new to this & we'll try again; blah blah flippity blah. In other news we recorded a leucistic Namaqua Dove; two korhaans, one a regional special; two species of crane; one sp. of courser and other goodies not least of which the hitherto unmet friends Trevor, Craig & Cleo & well-met friends of the field Etienne, Lisl, Henk, Toni, Rob, Grant & Bradwin.