SOUTH AFRICA | KWAZULU-NATAL | SOUTH COAST

BIRDING

The KwaZulu-Natal South Coast is an exciting and exceptionally rewarding birding venue. Sandy beaches, interspersed with rocky shorelines, numerous river estuaries, swamp-forests, reed-beds and lush subtropical forest punctuated with patches of open grassland provide habitats for over four hundred fascinating avian species.

The warm summer climate ensures that there is an abundance of bird-life to satisfy the appetites of the most discerning members of the birding fraternity. Paleartic and intra-African migrants depart in autumn leaving a void that is soon filled by altitudinal migrants from the west. Species such as Cape Robin-chat, Gurney’s Sugarbird and Malachite Sunbird move from the cold inhospitable environs of the interior, to the mild climate of the South Coast where they live a life of ease, reveling in an abundance of sustenance in the form of insects, wild fruits and nectar.

Red-billed Firefinch (photo by Keith Roach)
A beautiful little bird inhabits grass patches close to forest edges.
The closely related Blue-billed Firefinch is also common on the South Coast, but the Red-billed Firefinch seems to be replacing it in many places along the South Coast.



Egyptian Geese (Photo by Doug Butcher)
Common on dams and open stretches of water on larger rivers.



Malachite Kingfisher (photo by Keith Roach)
A beautiful bird that feeds on small freshwater fish. Frequents dams and streams, occasionally hunts in rock pools in marine environments.


Magpie Mannikin (photo by Keith Roach)
The "flagship" bird of the lower South Coast, in South Africa these birds are rare, but a healthy population is established between Umtentweni and Umzumbe on the South Coast. This is the best locality to see the species in the country.




African Fish Eagle (photo by Jeanette Osborne)
A magnificent raptor commonly found near rivers, dams and estuaries on the South Coast.