A pair of Tree Squirrels (Smith's Bush Squirrel) have their territory in the riverine trees in front of our house so we often catch glimpses of them as they sun themselves or hear them chattering in the canopy A lovely image of a a Golden Orb Spider and its web complete with encapsulated prey items Woodland Kingfishers are common breeding intra-African migrants. They have become less vocal recently and I presume this is as their breeding may have been completed. Soon they will be departing as the season draws to a close Woodland Kingfisher I was lucky to come across this little beauty busy feeding on tadpoles in one of our dams the other day. It was very obliging and allowed me to approach so as to enable me to capture a few images. Malachite Kingfisher. Note the water droplets on its breast This Spotted Eagle-Owl is a regular visitor to our house at night. It uses our outside lights to assist in its hunting efforts. I captured this image by somehow holding my handheld spotlight and operating my camera at the same time. It is a bit grainy but given the circumstances I am pleased with the result
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Both the male coalition of the three lions as well as the two lionesses have been showing well of late The females were found lying on top of the high riverbank again. It is obviously a good good lookout point as well as a shady spot in the breeze. Here the older lioness looks down at me from her vantage point The younger, cheeky lioness lies close by Later in the afternoon they started to stir. I presume they were off to collect their cubs that had had been hidden away earlier. Note the still prominent udder of the the smaller lioness on the left who is still obviously suckling her cubs Mullet approaches along the top of the dam wall in soft side light one evening He lay down in the shade on the soft moist sand at the waters edge Here I was able to drive below him to get this low angle shot You can see why he has been named Mullet Notch seen drinking After drinking he strode off around the edge of the dam He then lay down again in the shade at the waters edge A low angled image of Notch Collar enjoying the breeze Lying in front of my vehicle A ground level perspective Here they are seen hunkering down out of the wind and snuggling up on a cool drizzly afternoon
An alert Hamerkop on the look out for tasty morsels in the shallows Strike 1 Strike 2 Strike 3 Strike 4 I observed it feeding for over half an hour and in that time it caught well over two dozen items, mostly tadpoles On high alert as another Hamerkop arrives They size each other up before the interloper backs off Hamerkop vocalisation Later they both departed and I managed to catch one B.I.F.image
There are only 6 Spoonbill species in the world, and in most cases just a single species occurs in each of the World's biographical regions. Sub Saharan Africa's representative is the African Spoonbill. A locally common resident that is nomadic in response to water levels Their unusually shaped bill is what sets them apart and is their unique tool for securing prey. They walk through shallow water sweeping their slightly opened bill from side to side. It is a tactile form of detecting prey and every now and then the bill snaps closed over an unseen prey item which is thrown up with a backward flip of the head, caught in the throat and then swallowed. Small fish and aquatic invertebrates making up most of their diet African Spoonbill
We have had a pack of 10 Wild Dogs being held and fed in our boma (see previous post dated 12/01/2020) waiting transfer to another Game Reserve. We were very pleased to hear that a decision has been made to release them onto our Reserve instead as our previous pack has splintered and mostly moved away. The adult female dog with the collar has been darted in the boma as her tracking collar had ceased to function and a new collar needed to be fitted prior to re-release. Note the face mask that has been fitted to protect the eyes She has been carried from the boma and placed on the makeshift operating table as the vet Joel Alves monitors her status and Grant from EWT replaces the tracking collar A closeup image of one of her paws showing how hairy they are Grant makes the final adjustments with the new collar as Joel monitors her pulse The new collar is in place and she is about to be returned to the boma (note the old collar lying in the back of the pickup to the right) The stimulant to revive her is being administered as the pack members look on Her mask has been removed and she looks up as she starts to come round After the collared female had fully recovered the boma doors were opened and an Impala carcass was used to lure the pack out into the open. She can be seen in the foreground of this clip as they are busy feeding. The pack is now free to roam once again
I connected with our male Cheetah the other evening as he came down to one of our waterholes for a drink. It has been a while since I last him so it was great to catch up with him again.
We have had a period of very high temperatures recently, with the mercury reaching into the mid forties. Obviously the hot weather means the animals need to drink regularly. Waiting patiently at the water often has its rewards The two females come to the pan late one afternoon The three males had been on a Wildebeest kill for most of the day. Later in the evening they came to a nearby dam for a drink. Here is Collar at the waters edge Mullet was next to arrive and found a spot to his liking As the sun was setting Notch also put in an appearance
Last season I observed and photographed a pair of Crested Barbets using this hole as a nest site. See blog post dated 07/03/2019. Recently I noticed a Striped Kingfisher presence in the area and after watching for a few days was able to confirm that the hole is being used by Kingfishers this season. One of the Striped Kingfishers on guard near the nest. They are defending their territory vigorously and I watched as a Red-billed Hornbill that ventured too close was chased away A parent pauses at the entrance Scrambles into the nesting chamber within the tree trunk Reappears a short while later A difficult B.I.F. image as the subject flies towards my lens. It is a a little O.O.F unfortunately.
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