And the tour begins

On Tuesday evening the final two members of our group arrived—Lon and Betty Baumgardt.  Then on Wednesday morning we headed out to Strandfontein once again.  Besides the usual waterfowl we were fortunate to find a beautiful Klaas’s Cuckoo, Spotted Thick-Knee, Common Ringed Plover, Forked-tail Drongo and Ruddy Turnstone add to our growing list which has now surpassed 140.  Then after lunch we headed out the Coastal Highway where we did find a few birds for those new to our group.  As usual, at Strandfontein, we were dazzled by the beauty of hundreds of Greater Flamingoes in flight and doing their chorus line feeding.  I took some videos and will post them when I have strong internet service.  Cindy Stone, who has been plagued by camera problems, lost her lens cover and we had to improvise.  At a local hardware she found a sewer fluid tight coupling that fit just exactly over her lens and is walking around with a very unusual lens hood.  I also had the occasion to take a very nice panorama of the Hottentot Mountains and the water of False Bay from the scenic overview.  That was about it for today.