Well, I had hoped to post during February after our move, but here we are half-way through March! All is well, and I am pleased to report we are settling in.
But just to add that unpacking and sorting is just as exhausting as packing. And the process of sorting seems endless.

Eventually our carefully wrapped books got not only unpacked but also unwrapped. I wrapped the older books to prevent abrasion during their long and jiggly road trip
Importantly, our cats and dogs coped amazingly well with the moving process and they are getting more settled. The dogs are enjoying the nearby walks by the river and in the village.

This photo was taken while walking at the nearby river with the dogs one evening – autumn is becoming more evident
The cats are exploring only indoors so far, but this week we made a start building them a small catio.

Nougat’s first exploration down the stairs
The garden birds are very tame and it would be unfair to let the cats loose on them, so a catio seems like a fair compromise.

Our companionable dogs are watching us build the catio. Amy (on the left) is a bit camera shy but Rory is not at all self-conscious
Our new garden is walled so in time and bird permitting the cats may well go on supervised excursions outside the catio.

A laughing dove twirling a twig, photographed through the partially opened shutters on our veranda. In between eating fallen seeds, for some reason, the dove would pick up a twig and twirl it around a bit before dropping it
Some of the species of birds that visit the garden here are familiar and were frequent visitors to our previous garden in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). I am pleased to say that both laughing doves (Spilopelia senegalensis) and red-eyed doves (Streptopelia semitorquata) are at home here too. Cape bulbuls (Pycnonotus capensis), instead of the familiar dark-capped bulbuls (Pycnonotus tricolor), occur here. Cape bulbuls are easily distinguished by the white eye ring that is absent in the dark-capped bulbul.

A pair of red-eyed doves bathing at the grind-stone that we brought with us. In the background are also assorted empty flower pots that we also brought with us

The dove on the right withdraws slightly in response to the vigorous bathing and splashing of its mate. A Cape bulbul awaiting its turn in the water watches while perched on a nearby flower pot.

A Cape bulbul on the lawn in our new garden. The distinguishing white eye ring can clearly be seen. Like the dark-capped bulbul it also has a yellow patch under the base of the tail

A Cape bulbul balancing on a shrub in our new garden. Cape bulbuls are endemic to the Western Cape and parts of the Eastern Cape only, whereas dark-capped bulbuls occur in the eastern regions of South Africa. Beyond our borders their range extends northwards as far as Guinea and Ghana on the western side of Africa, to southern Chad in the central regions and further west northwards to southern Sudan and western Ethiopia
In addition to the Cape bulbul, I have seen one other species of bird that does not occur in KZN visiting our new garden – and that is the Cape sugarbird (Promerops cafer). Their long tail feathers enhance their striking looks. They are endemic to the fynbos regions of the south western and southern Cape and the southern regions of the Eastern Cape. They rely largely on protea flowers for nectar, although they do feed from flowers of other indigenous and exotic (alien) plants. They also feed on insects such as beetles and bees and occasionally also on spiders.

A Cape sugarbird seeking nectar from flowers on an exotic Syzygium tree (probably Syzygium paniculatum native to Australia). In our previous garden we had the indigenous Syzygium cordatum, known as umDoni or water berry, which occurs naturally in KZN, the Eastern Cape and Mozambique, but not in the Western Cape.
One afternoon an African hoopoe (Upupa africana) spent a long time foraging on our lawn and I was able to take photos through the shutters on our veranda. African hoopoes occur across most of southern Africa. When I have seen them before they have been shy and/or flighty so it was a real treat to able to watch this beautiful bird at close quarters, so I share several of the photos.

The long bill of the African hoopoe makes an excellent probe when looking for insects in soft ground. They also flick over leaves and animal dung in pursuit of mostly insect prey

The hoopoe partially raised its crest while foraging

The bird exhibited great concentration while wielding its long beak to probe for insects

Having a quick scratch in a patch of sunlight
Of course, being new here to the village of Stanford, I am constantly making comparisons between here and our previous home. Here Cape sparrows (Passer melanurus) our common although I have not seen any in our new garden yet, but I was very happy to see southern grey-headed sparrows (Passer diffusus) in our new garden. Apparently, they are expanding their range in the Western Cape. I have written about the breeding pair we had in our previous garden.

A southern grey-headed sparrow, perching on the washing line, appears to have noticed me peeking through the window
Another familiar bird that is present in our new garden is the fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis). Several have been visiting and spending time perched in a large tree preening, and one perched on a plant pot where it took a break from preening to dash off and successfully catch a long-legged insect on the wing.

The fork-tailed drongo returned to its perch, with its captured long-legged insect shortly before swallowing it

The handsome fork-tailed drongo perched on the head of duck (sculptured from scrap metal) that we brought with us from our previous home
We have an olive tree in our new garden. It is not an indigenous wild olive but a domestic olive tree – possibly a mission olive – and it is currently fruiting. I looked up the process of curing olives and unfortunately it looks like too onerous a project to take on while we are still so busy settling in. Anyway, at dusk the other day I was chuffed to see an olive thrush (also familiar from our former garden) picking up and pecking at an olive! The olive thrush (Turdus olivaceus) is named for its olive-grey back colouration and not for its occasional interest in olives. They do eat small fruits, but more commonly eat earthworms and many invertebrates, including snails, slugs, spiders, caterpillars and a variety of insects.

Photographed in the dim light at dusk, an olive thrush tackling a ripe fallen olive

In brighter light on an overcast day while I was watching through a window, I photographed this Cape wagtail (Motacilla capensis) perched in the olive tree. Cape wagtails occur over most of southern Africa

My attention was drawn to a pair of juvenile African harrier-hawks (Polyboroides typus) by their insistent whistling calling and I went outside with my camera to watch them. The one in the top photo, perched on a roof in the neighbourhood, has its bill open as it calls.
I read on a local chat group that the parents build their nest in mature eucalyptus trees on the edge of the village each year. These two juveniles are from the same nest. It has been recorded that in two-chick broods the older chick may kill the other chick, but evidently this did not happen in this case.
In the second photo the two juveniles are perched together but then flew off when an adult, probably a parent, flew by. The adults are predominantly grey in colour.
We often saw adults in the neighbourhood of our previous home, but we did not see any juveniles. The juveniles are variably brown in colour.

This sweet-looking bird is a fiscal flycatcher and not a southern fiscal (fiscal shrike) as I previously and incorrectly thought. Thanks very much to Lesley for pointing out my mistake in her comment. I should have realised that the lack of a heavy and hooked bill indicated that the bird is a flycatcher rather than a shrike.
Southern fiscals (Lanius collaris), are known to be aggressive towards other birds and they are formidable predators. Although southern fiscals (also known as common fiscals and formerly as fiscal shrikes) mostly eat insects they also kill and eat small birds, reptiles, frogs, rodents and even bats, occasionally eating also small fruits, seeds and scraps. Fiscal flycatchers (Sigelus silens) also mostly eat insects but they do not usually hunt the vertebrates that southern fiscals do. Fiscal flycatchers also eat pollen from some aloe species and various small fruits.
I add that I am not alone in confusing fiscal flycatchers and southern fiscals – Roberts (multimedia edition) reports that the anti-predator response of small birds, such as sunbirds, to southern fiscals is also provoked by fiscal flycatchers, suggesting that the small birds are unable to differentiate between the two species!
Although both fiscal flycatchers and fiscal shrikes occur in KZN, neither put in an appearance in our former garden.

A Cape weaver drinking rainwater from our grindstone
Cape weavers have been very vocal calling from trees around our new garden and coming down to ground level to drink. Cape weavers were occasional visitors at our KZN home but were outnumbered by village weavers that don’t occur in the Western Cape at all.

A whole lot of splashing going on
These bird sightings in the garden were kind of incidental to the ongoing process of unpacking, sorting and various maintenance-type tasks. However, we have managed one visit to the beach, twenty-minutes’ drive away. I hope to be posting more about that as time goes on.

Sources:
Chittenden, Hugh, Davies, Greg & Weiersbye, Ingrid. 2016. Roberts Bird Guide: Illustrating nearly 1,000 Species in Southern Africa (2nd edition). Cape Town: Jacana.
Roberts VII Multimedia Birds of Southern Africa: PC Edition. 1997-2016 Southern African Birding. For details go to http://www.sabirding.co.za/roberts7/portal.html
Posted by Carol

March 23, 2023 at 2:06 pm
I’m delighted to hear you are settling in, Carol. And already some stunning photographs. I especially love the shots of the hoopoe.
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March 23, 2023 at 8:26 pm
Thanks very much Sandra. Yes the hoopoe is an unusually beautiful bird.
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March 23, 2023 at 11:08 am
I so pleased you are all settling in. You do have a lovely variety of birds there. I especially like the white eye Bulbul. I thought that the photo of the river and landscape has a midlands feel to it. You are in a lovely part of the world ! It’s great to read your blogs again.
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March 23, 2023 at 11:35 am
I have just sent you an email too, Carol.
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March 23, 2023 at 8:25 pm
👍 Thanks.
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March 23, 2023 at 8:24 pm
Thanks so much. Despite the similarities in the photo the numerous mountain ranges and expansiveness of the terrain make it rather different from the Midlands. I also like the Cape Bulbul and it is great seeing so many birds here, and the landscapes are stunning.
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March 21, 2023 at 5:06 am
I’m glad to hear your move went well and you’re settling in to your new surrounds and new family of birds. The hoopoe is fabulous! I look forward to hearing about, and seeing, the wildlife and landscapes around your new home.
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March 21, 2023 at 7:56 pm
Thanks very much Graham. I agree about the hoopoe! We hope to be able to do a bit of exploring soon.
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March 20, 2023 at 10:03 am
Nice to hear from you! I’m glad you have many beautiful visitors and an attractive landscape!
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March 20, 2023 at 2:56 pm
Thanks Simone – it is nice to be ‘back’ and I hope to start catching up with visiting the blogs I follow. The visitors and landscapes are really lovely here.
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March 19, 2023 at 11:53 pm
Congratulations on a successful move and being just about settled into your new home. Wow, you wrapped books. It makes sense but that is still dedication. Lots of new neighbors to become familiar with and how lucky to live close to a beach. I think unpacking is more a challenge. Everything goes into boxes but when they come out they have to go somewhere specific and you don’t want to have to do it twice.
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March 20, 2023 at 2:55 pm
Hi Steve – thanks and I think you are so right about the challenges of unpacking. In this house/cottage we have lots of kitchen cupboards but no other built-in cupboards so we are improvising while we come up with a plan to provide more specific places to store things. Currently storing things like clothes and blankets is a bit of challenge but we are getting there …
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March 19, 2023 at 11:47 pm
Great to see you settling in and getting to know the new neighbors and neighborhood! A beach just 20 minutes away… how very delightful. That’s pretty much a requisite as far as I’m concerned! 😉🥰
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March 20, 2023 at 2:52 pm
Hi Gunta – I know your love of the ocean. There is a place further along the bay with views from cliffs at the edge of the ocean. It is not as dramatic as your seascapes but still lovely, and famous for whales calving in the bay near to the shore. But that will only be in our spring …
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March 21, 2023 at 10:55 pm
I would happily trade dramatic for whales calving. What sort of whale are you apt to see? We had glimpses of gray whales going by once in awhile, but haven’t seen them these last several years. Don’t know if the whales aren’t around as much, or we simply haven’t been to the beach as much these past Covid years and with our beloved pooch not here begging for a beach romp. We did see one stranded on the beach the first year we were here. The marine biologists were taking samples to determine what did it in, but we never did hear of any results. Pretty impressive to see the actual size of it, though sad that it died.
Wishing you loads of great new things and “neighbors” to discover in your new home! Good to see the cats and dogs settling in, too! I look forward to seeing the new adventures… once you’ve recovered from the moving process. That’s always the hard part in my experience!
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March 23, 2023 at 8:20 pm
Hi Gunta
The whales that come to give birth in this region are the Southern Right Whales.
It must have been interesting though sad to see the stranded whale. Despite the significant reduction in whaling activities, sadly whales are still subject to many threats it seems.
Thanks for your good wishes. Yes the moving and the settling in processes are challenging. However, we are glad to be here and look forward to doing a bit of exploring.
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March 29, 2023 at 2:39 am
I came across a recent article about the whale I mentioned above. Thought it might be of interest: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/03/27/blue-whale-bones-nearing-final-stages-of-cleaning-osu-plans-to-assemble-them-for-display/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=First%20Look%20March%2028%202023&utm_content=First%20Look%20March%2028%202023+CID_4b48172c9a0dc7b889562f45bc85e835&utm_source=firstlook&utm_term=Learn%20more
(the link is almost as long as the article! Hope it works.) 🙄
Looks like they’re managed to preserve nearly all of the skeleton and they’re having it put together for display. It also seems we were wrong about the sort of whale it was. Blue not gray! We may have to make a trip up to visit it someday.
Wishing you great adventures in your new location.
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April 26, 2023 at 7:31 pm
Hi Gunta
Sorry I have taken so long to reply!
Most interesting though quite a daunting project and sad too about the demise of the whale.
We are still settling in! That it takes time is becoming more apparent …
Best wishes to you both.
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March 18, 2023 at 6:11 am
Lovely to read about your new home and garden, and all the birds, Carol.
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March 20, 2023 at 2:48 pm
Thanks Christine – it will be nice when we have more time to watch and explore and smell the proverbial roses (and the real roses too!).
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March 18, 2023 at 5:08 am
Hi Aunty Carol.
I’m sure you are relieved to be settling in. Moving homes is a mammoth task. I loved this post. It will be very different in your garden now. It’s exciting to have an expectation on all the new things you will see. May your new home hold even more love anc joy.
XXX
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March 20, 2023 at 2:47 pm
Thanks Debbie for the good wishes – yes it is a relief to be here and settling in and seeing the animals relaxing and becoming more themselves again. Even though they coped really well, it was still stressful for them (and us).
xxx
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March 18, 2023 at 3:50 am
Welcome to your new home, Carol. I’m glad your entire family is settling in little by little. I can’t believe you wrapped your books individually–that’s dedication!
Thank you for introducing your avian garden visitors to us. It will be fun to get to know them and any other relatives who might show up.
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March 20, 2023 at 2:45 pm
Hi Tanja – for sure we are looking forward to meeting more avian visitors. We also hope to spend more time at the river to see the water birds there.
I only wrapped the old or fragile books – esp those with old leather or cloth bindings. I read so many dire warnings about the abrasiveness of long road trips that it motivated me to do it! I declined to individually wrap shoes though – not having those kind of shoes 🙂
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March 17, 2023 at 2:24 pm
Welcome back to the blog space. Lovely to hear your voice again and to read that the move went smoothly. Take your time with the unpacking.
I enjoyed looking at your beautiful photographs again and it almost felt like I was in your garden with you. The birds (many of which also visit our garden) look very at home. It was clever of you to take your birdbath with you.
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March 17, 2023 at 3:08 pm
Hi Mariss – it is nice to be back in the blog space and I hope to be able to start catching up with all the blogs and bloggers I have been missing. There certainly is a lot to enjoy and learn here in this very different part of the country.
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March 17, 2023 at 3:50 pm
It will take a while to get back into the swing of things. Meanwhile, have a swim in the sea for me!
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March 17, 2023 at 8:07 pm
Yes it will take a while. I would love to swim in the sea for you if the water were a bit warmer – a paddle will have to suffice for now!
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March 17, 2023 at 10:05 am
Hi Carol, you moved to my favoured retirement village! Lovely to read your posts again. Just a comment: I think your Southern Fiscal may be a Fiscal Flycatcher (Melaenornis silens); the beak looks a little delicate for a “butcherbird”.
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March 17, 2023 at 3:06 pm
Hi Lesley – it is very beautiful here.
Thanks so much for pointing out it is a Fiscal flycatcher! Last night when I wrote that this bird looks sweet but is a formidable predator, I had a twinge that something was not quite right but it was late and I didn’t double check as I should have. Of course southern fiscals don’t look sweet with that hooked bill!
Note to self – don’t jump to conclusions especially when identifying less familiar birds and creatures!
I will correct the info in the post!
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March 19, 2023 at 9:46 am
Hi Carol, Google The Bird House in Stanford. It’s an Airbnb run by a couple who are very interested in birds; he is a member of the local bird club. I stayed there a few years back and really enjoyed it. I also know another keen birder just along the river at the end of the village. I can give you names and contact details if you would like – just send me a private address to send them to.
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March 20, 2023 at 2:49 pm
Hi Lesley – thanks very much. I have Googled The Bird House and it looks lovely.
I will send you an email.
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March 17, 2023 at 8:30 am
My goodness, you have been busy settling in. I was only wondering this week about your long silence, and – hey presto! – a post! You seem to have got plenty of wildlife to engage your interests, and with a beach so close, a whole new world awaits. Looking forward to seeing more as and when you have the time.
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March 17, 2023 at 2:59 pm
Hi Margaret – it really is a whole new world here! There is a lot to take in! I hope to catch up more with blogging as we get more of the basics sorted out.
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March 17, 2023 at 3:02 pm
I think Real Life comes first. I won’t be the only one eager to hear more. But we can wait!
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March 17, 2023 at 3:11 pm
I have been missing the blogosphere and it will be nice to get settled enough to catch up on things I have been missing in addition to exploring things that are new. Adapting to new circumstances is not as easy as one might think even when the change has been chosen!
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March 17, 2023 at 4:10 pm
In some ways, it’s harder. You have only yourself to blame if things don’t work out as hoped.
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March 17, 2023 at 8:12 pm
Ha ha! True, though so far so good, but schooling myself not to refer to our old place as home!
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March 17, 2023 at 6:46 am
Lovely to hear you are settling in and to had some time to make this nice pictures new surrounding.
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March 17, 2023 at 2:58 pm
Thanks Edith – everything feels a bit rushed and people tell us Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it is nice to have some basics sorted! It is very lovely here.
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March 17, 2023 at 4:46 am
It is good news that you are settling in and that you already have a variety of birds to watch. You seem to have chosen a lovely place to put down new roots and I hope you will both be very happy there.
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March 17, 2023 at 2:57 pm
Thanks for your good wishes. It is extremely beautiful here.
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March 17, 2023 at 2:11 am
It is great to know that you’ve arrived safely at your new abode, Carol, and to read about the whole family settling in!
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March 17, 2023 at 2:56 pm
Thanks very much, Dries.
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March 17, 2023 at 12:09 am
Thanks for the tour of your new surroundings. That African hoopoe is so striking.
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March 17, 2023 at 2:56 pm
The hoopoe is a particularly splendid bird!
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March 16, 2023 at 10:23 pm
Nice to see your post, Carol. Glad you are settling in. I look forward to learning the area through your posts. And a beach only 20 minutes away…wonderful!
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March 17, 2023 at 2:55 pm
Hi Eliza – thank you and yes it is great to have such a lovely beach so close by.
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