Rare bird draws many fans

GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - A rare bird has been spotted near Boggomsbaai, Mossel Bay. It is a red-necked phalarope.

According to Wikipedia, it is also known as the northern phalarope and hyperborean phalarope. It is a small migratory wader which spends its winters on tropical oceans.

Its winter plumage has no red visible. There is only red around the neck during breeding time.

Keen Mossel Bay birder Rudi Minnie said: "A youngster from Cape Town found the bird on a small pan outside Boggomsbaai, late in the afternoon on Wednesday, 23 March.

"The pan is between the Springerbaai and Boggomsbaai turnoffs, about 100 to 200 metres from the road."

Minnie noted it was a temporary pan. "The Vleesbaai and Boggomsbaai areas have many temporary pans after rains."

He said he drove to the pan early the next morning. "I went to double check, so we could put the news out. I had to organise permission to enter the farmer's property and told the farmer more people would probably be coming in the next few weeks."

Minnie says there are a number of WhatsApp groups representing birders in the Mossel Bay, George, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Karoo areas. There is a larger, Garden Route group, on which news on sightings of rare birds, is placed.