Number 53: Closing out the Owls on my Southern African Bird List

A magnificent African Grass Owl.

African Grass Owl, the one owl still missing on my local bird list, the last of the 12 owls found in Southern Africa that I needed to see.

Number 53:

Closing out the Owls on my Southern African Bird List.

Tyto capensis, and I have now seen all our owls!

What a joy and challenge it has been chasing our owls: from Nxabega in the Okavango for Pel's Fishing Owl, to Grahamstown (many times over) for the Cape Eagle Owl, to the Kalahari Gemsbok in 1997 for the Whitefaced Owl, the Barred Owl also in Botswana at Moremi 3rd Bridge, a Giant Eagle Owl near Satara in the Kruger National Park in 1998 and so on.

Here I am, 25 years since I started birding, in a field north of Johannesburg for an African Grass Owl, with Fred and Martie, being guided by Etienne Marais, our fabulous local bird man.

It is a very cold June winter morning and the huge moon seemed to be guiding us in the dark to our meeting point.

With the sun rising, we were ready to scan the patches of blade grass, Etienne explaining that the habitat was perfect for grass owls and in no time at all, there it was, a Grass Owl!

What a completely wonderful moment. It is a magnificent bird with its enormous pale facial disk, liquid dark brown eyes, its dangly long legs protruding behind the tail and even though it is a medium sized owl, it looked huge as it dropped down into the tall, thick, rank grass.

Blade grass in the early morning light. Perfect habitat.

Number 6, Part 4: Seeing my city through its Art Galleries: Maboneng District

Uncontainable: Good way to describe the Maboneng.

We tried galleries yesterday, Spaza Art in Troyeville which looked neglected, rundown and definitely closed and MOAD, a cavernous empty space...

But, as things happened we had a surprise, unplanned outing to Maboneng instead, a space of urban renewal to the east of the Johannesburg CBD.

Number 6:

Seeing my city through its Art Galleries.

Trendy, artistic, urban chic, cosmopolitan, collaborative, entrpreneurial, creative; a fine example of mixed land-use inner city renaissance, which buzzes on a weekend but is laidback and interesting to explore during the week.

The dilapidated 19th century buildings sit comfortably alongside container apartments and coffee shops. Martie and I ambled around the city blocks; stopping for coffee; nosing into buildings and hidden gardens; noticing old shoes decorating an inner courtyard; admiring a little bit of heritage on display Sir Herbert Baker's dining room suite; buying bread that Washington had just baked; seeing the street installation art by Kim Lieberman called 'Human Interaction'; buying some shweshwe slippers for little man; eating an Ethiopian vegetarian sharing platter served on injera, the slightly sour rice flatbread; doing a walkabout of the container apartments with a very enthusiastic building manager called Kelvin; enjoying lofty views from The Living Room; chatting to a young Maltese woman taking in precinct; appreciating the social work being done by #iwasshotinjoburg...

Another intriguing peep into my city.

Glimpses of Maboneng on a clear winter morning in Johannesburg.