Cape Town Birds and Insects in Flight
For many years I only really photographed the majestic Sacred Ibis during visits to Cape Town. Recently, however, I have been exploring other birds at the many wildlife reserves in and around the city. One superb location is the False Bay nature reserve to the east of Muizenberg — a massive reserve encompassing the lakes of Rondevlei and Zeekoevlei as well as the waste water treatment works at Strandfontein.
The Strandfontein section is a particular paradise for birds and bird lovers — albeit with a slightly fruity atmosphere near the main treatment ponds. It has hundreds of Flamingos, Ibis, Egrets and Pelicans among other species in a peaceful, tourist-free environment. Critically, it is possible to drive all the way through it, which makes for a very productive session every visit.
Another productive area new to me this trip was the shoreline at the Kom — the natural lagoon at the heart of Kommetjie on the Atlantic coast. Cape Cormorants congregate here in extraordinary numbers and, by scrambling close enough, it is possible to capture them in flight. There are also photographs in this album from the wonderful Intaka reserve (more fully described in the Kingfishers album) and some dragonfly shots from Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
On this trip I used the OM-1 Mark II and the 50–200mm f/2.8 lens (100–400mm FFE) — the “Little White”. As in Sri Lanka, it proved equal to most situations even with a 2x converter taking it to 200–800mm FFE, and gave me enough confidence to take it to Costa Rica for three weeks and 70,000 images of bird photography.
Photographs in this album include: Greater Flamingo in flight, Cape Cormorant in flight at the Kom, Grey Heron at Intaka, Sacred Ibis at Intaka, Pied Crow at the Kom, dragonflies in flight at Kirstenbosch, and more.
View the full album at mcaughtry.photo/albums/cape-town-birds-strandfontein-and-the-kom. Touch or click any image to open a lightbox view; tap the full-screen icon for the best experience. Click the “i” icon beneath any thumbnail for full EXIF data and location information for that image.