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Birds in and around Hermanus, South Africa

By Jon Mountjoy

November 8^th, 2021

Hermanus

Hermanus is a lovely little coastal village. It has everything - a beautiful coast line and beaches, a bounding mountain range, lovely vineyards and glorious sun.

Here are a few photographs taken in town.

Cape spurfowl, grey-hooded gull, a lovely little cape canary, rock martin, speckled pigeon, cape robin-chat, fiscal shrike, white-throated swallow.

Cape spurfowl

Grey-hooded gull

Cape canary

Rock martin

Speckled pigeon

Cape robin-chat

Cape bulbul

Fiscal shrike

White-throated swallow

I just love the tongue on this southern double-collared sunbird.

Southern double-collared sunbird

The Fernkloof Nature Reserve in town has some lovely birds. Here's a selection, starting with the magnificent klaas's cuckoo.

Klaas's Cuckoo

Klaas's Cuckoo

There are many other birds to be found in Fernkloof, including the speckled mousebird, cape sugarbird, jackal buzzard, helmeted guineafowl, cape spurfowl, karoo prinia and olive thrush.

Speckled mousebird

Cape sugarbird

Jackal buzzard

Helmeted guineafowl

Cape spurfowl

Karoo prinia

Olive thrush

Karoo prinia

Being at the coast, there's a lot more to Hermanus than birds. If you're here in the right season, it's quite common to see whales breaching (while sitting comfortably on a bench near the promenade). Here's a few shots of the southern right whale and long-beaked common dolphin.

Southern right whale

Southern right whale and cape cormorants

Long-beaked common dolphin

Western Cape

The little pan near Vermont always has birds. I love the yellow on the yellow-billed duck. Here too are red-knobbed coot, cape shoveler, cape teal, little rush warbler, white-breasted cormorant and a levaillant’s cisticola. It took standing still for 30 minutes to get that shot.

Yellow-billed duck

Yellow-billed duck

Western Cape

Cape shoveler

Cape teal

Little rush warbler

Levaillant’s cisticola

White-breasted cormorant

Stanford

The town of Stanford is just down the road from Hermanus, and has a fabulous bakery, the Ou Meul, which keeps me coming back. That, and the Klein River, which is rich in bird life. I've often taken a cruise down the river, which has yielded some amazing scenes. This is one of my favourites - a dramatic black-headed heron with the mountains in the background.

Black-headed heron

I am always thrilled to find a kingfisher, and I've seen three species on the cruises: the pied kingfisher, the giant kingfisher, and the malachite kingfisher. Don't you just love how the crown can be pulled back, just like a naughty dog.

Pied kingfisher

Giant kingfisher

Giant kingfisher

Giant kingfisher

Malachite kingfisher

Here is mom, my trusty spotter, enjoying the views of the Klein Rivier.

One year, just after seeing the fabulous african fish eagle (left), we were walking along the bank of the river when I heard a flutter, and there was an african goshawk just a few feet away from us. This picture was quickly taken with my phone, before it flew away. Also present, a red bishop, which has a surprisingly mean-looking beak.

African fish eagle

Red Bishop

African Goshawk

Red Bishop

There's something very pleasing about the arrangement of these barn swallows.

Barn Swallows

This was my first sighting of an african dusky flycatcher (it's tiny!), and then later, an african swamphen which I spotted at the Willem Appel dam.

African dusky flycatcher

African dusky flycatcher

African Swamphen

This collection of birds was spotted in and around the river: a white-faced whistling-duck, white-backed duck, three-banded plover, cape batis, glossy ibis, common tern and common waxbill.

White-faced whistling-duck

White-backed duck

Three-banded plover

Glossy ibis

Common tern

Common waxbill

We took a short trip to these gardens, which has a lovely view of the sea and mountains. En route, we came across this lovely little ostrich:

Western Cape

While we didn't find a tremendous number of birds, we did find three species feeding their young, kn their nests. The first was an african dusky flycatcher, and the second, this whirling cape batis.

Western Cape

Western Cape

Western Cape

The final group was a lovely pair of paradise flycatchers.

Western Cape

Western Cape

Western Cape

Also spotted, a contemplative chacma baboon and a yellow bishop.

Western Cape

Western Cape

© 2026 Jon Mountjoy

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