The Golden Pipit

On our last morning drive at Rhino River Lodge, we left camp rather bleery eyed at 5.30am. We hadn't got far out of camp when Neil spotted a bright yellow bird fly down into the grass. I checked it with my binoculars and blurted out "Golden Pipit! " One look at the Robert's app confirmed it. Then I noticed the tag " rare vagrant." Kyle, our ranger confirmed the sighting. Hanli began trying to get some photos of it as it hopped around in the thick green grass. We all kept our eye on it while Kyle called Manyoni's bird expert on the radio. He rushed down and sure enough we had spotted the very rare Golden Pipit. 

He reported it to various expert groups and cell phones started pinging as news rapidly spread. 

Hanlie's photos were instantly uploaded on various sites and social media groups. Her pictures have gone viral amongst bird nerds all over the country! This was the 26th sighting of a Golden Pipit in Southern Africa and the 9th in KZN.

The first sighting was in 1906 and the most recent in Northern Kruger Park about a month ago. (We had been up in the Punda Maria area and had seen carloads of birders hunting for it around there.) We were stunned and amazed and Kyle was really excited to be credited with the find. By the time we got back to camp and had breakfast, Rhino River Lodge was being inundated with calls from birders all over the country wanting to come and hopefully see the bird! A once in a lifetime experience but in an odd way it felt just like seeing any other beautiful species for the first time. These are Hanlie's photos.