A good week for raptor sightings. First up an African Hawk Eagle Following on from last weeks sighting of an adult African Fish Eagle this week I came across this juvenile Juvenile African Fish Eagle This Little Sparrowhawk which is an uncommon resident was seen cooling off in the water. Note the diagnostic yellow eye and cere. It is South Africa's second smallest bird of prey after the Pygmy Falcon With our newly introduced predators making regular kills now the vultures are becoming more regular visitors to the Reserve. Here a Hooded Vulture soars overhead A Hamerkop waiting patiently for something to swim into striking range A male Brown-hooded Kingfisher. Compare it to the female below. Note the black shoulder versus the brown of the female Female Brown-hooded Kingfisher A male Crested Francolin. Note the presence of the spurs A female Crested Francolin Portrait of a Water Thick-knee A pair of these birds is back at one of the dams. I hope they will breed again like a pair did last season
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A few great sightings this week I came across this Fish Eagle as it was busy finishing off a Barbel it must have caught in a nearby waterhole The head of the fish complete with whiskers are visible. Note also the very full crop as it is close to finishing off the meal Post meal beak cleaning taking place After finishing off the meal it relaxes in the late afternoon sunlight A resident pair of Striped Kingfishers continue to show well A female Brown-hooded Kingfisher by way of comparison A pair of resident Purple-crested Turacos have recently taken to coming down to drink at the waterhole we have in front of the house A lovely splash of colour About to hop back into the tree canopy A Dark Chanting Goshawk perched in the lee of a tree trunk
On a recent local bird club outing I managed to photograph a White-browed Scrub-Robin. When I was processing the image I noticed that it had been ringed. I contacted a local birder and ringing enthuisiast, Peter Hamming and asked if he could find out the detail. White-browed Scrub-Robin Bird ringer Malcolm Wilson would seem to have ringed the bird in January 2016 and then re-caught it at the same location in March 2018
Whilst sitting at a recent lion kill observing the action the vultures started to drop out of the sky. They perched on the nearby trees to watch and wait as the lions were still busy feeding on the carcase. I noticed that one of the White-backed Vultures (regarded as Vulnerable) was fitted with ID tags as well as a tracking device. With a bit of research I have managed to get the background on this bird. It was tagged by Kerri Wolter of Vulpro in the Oliphants River Private Game Reserve on the 19th March 2017. Tap on the button below to follow the link to their website An image I managed to capture of White-backed Vulture 392 near a Lion kill during the evening of 08-08-2018 The travels of Vulture 392 from 26/03/2017 - 30/01/2018. Map courtesy of the Vulpro Website A Hooded Vulture, also regarded as Vulnerable, seen in the company of 392 near the kill
The other evening our Lion pride were seen on a Giraffe kill. When I got there it looked like the two females had taken the giraffe down initially and had been feeding on it until the three males arrived later and took over. The females were lying off to one side, both of them well fed. The Lions were busy feeding and I sat and observed the action for over an hour until it started to get dark. The small lioness had been very shy and quite aggressive when she was first released from the boma. A few weeks later and she is much more habituated and is quite relaxed even with my vehicle parked next to her Portrait of a well fed Lioness I managed this image of the collared lioness as she got up from where she had been lying near the kill. Note the full belly The three lions busy feeding. I had not seen them for a while and it is quite noticeable how much they have grown in the interim. Of interest is how their manes are also developing. They are offspring of a lion which has a black mane so they are going to be a magnificent when fully mature After some time even one of the lions took a break from feeding One of the lions looks up as the collared female approaches towards the kill again The collared lioness lies down just out of range and waits for another chance to approach the carcase As the sun sets and it starts to get dark I leave the site with the lions still busy feeding
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April 2024
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