We walked out onto our deck the other morning to see we had a visitor. It took a short while to confirm the ID of this very relaxed snake as it basked in the early morning sun. Out came our Snake Field Guide, and as we paged through that I also sent off a couple of images to people in the know. It was soon confirmed as a female Boomslang much to my wife's horror A close to two metre long female Boomslang, this is about as as long as they get if one believes the literature The Boomslang has the largest eyes of any African snake. Most females are light brown to olive in colour with the males coming in a wide range of colours to make ID more interesting The pool provides a striking backdrop The story has a happy ending with Humphrey our near neighbour and ardent snake-lover arriving and gently lifting it off the railing, placing into his bucket and then releasing into a nearby Knobthorn tree
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Balloon Pumping before sunrise just prior to lift-off Sunrise just after we get airborne A view back to part of the mountain. Unfortunately we were not allowed to fly towards them for reasons of safety A view across the valley towards the mountain pass A cross-road in the orchards A centre pivot set-up tucked away in the middle of the citrus orchards Lines in the sand. Here the planting beds for the citrus trees have been shaped in preparation for new trees Here is a block of newly planted citrus trees to compare A block of established young trees Orderly rows in all directions Here two blocks of young trees are separated by a windbreak of young Casuarina trees From left to right - Planting beds, power lines, boundary fence, avenue of trees, tar road, the grass verge, casuarina trees, orchard beds Zoom out for an overview Two tone green field Circular versus Linear symmetry Sadly all good things have to come to an end and we return to earth
Mullet quenching his thirst early one evening Here Mullet relaxes at the waters edge. He is the most impressive looking lion of the brotherhood at the moment as his mane is darkening up impressively I am pleased with how this image of one of the female lions turned out with the uncluttered dark background. It was standing on the dam wall shortly after sunset the other evening It was waiting patiently for her cubs to catch up with her as they began to move away from the dam after having had a drink Notch in a pensive mood Collar showing a great set of canines as he stretches wide Not to be out done Mullet also has a good yawn Collar obliging in front of my vehicle the other evening. Note the old abscess on his flank and the still visible chaff mark on his neck where the tracking collar used to be
An obliging Dark Chanting Goshawk. Note the leg ring. I have previously seen and photographed this bird. See post dated 28/01/2018 An African Pied Wagtail. My first record of this species on the Reserve. Seen here singing away merrily at the waters edge A late season Red-backed Shrike male which I presume is about to depart for the Northern Hemisphere Another male showing a lovely pink breast in soft evening light A resident Striped Kingfisher A red-billed Hornbill as it leaves its perch atop the tree Ashy Flycatcher. There is a family of them that frequent a Weeping Boerbean Tree next to our house to hawk insects within the canopy A male Black-backed Puffback joins them on this occasion
Recently the female lions took down a Wildebeest. Once they and the cubs moved off the kill with full bellies the vultures arrived to clean up. I missed out on the main gathering of White-backed and a few Cape Vultures, but Idid manage to connect with these Hooded Vultures cleaning up the scraps at the end This one got lucky and found a nice section of intestines in the grass Searching for morsels remaining on the carcass A juvenile bird with the dark brown down on the back of the head By way of comparison an adult bird A last bit of post feeding grooming Departing the scene
Every now and then you see smaller birds harassing birds of prey, presumably when they encounter them within their home range. I have finally been fortunate enough to document one such reaction. I came across a Brown Snake-Eagle perched on a dead tree and whilst I was capturing images of it a Fork-tailed Drongo arrived on the scene and began to dive bomb the raptor. It managed to flush it from the tree and chased it off where it landed on another tree nearby. I re-positioned myself and was able to photograph a sequence where the Drongo continued to attack the Eagle and finally managed to chase it further out of its patch Brown Snake-Eagle The Fork-tailed Drongo dive bombs the eagle and forces it to fly off The Eagle lands on a nearby tree where the Drongo immediately begins to attack it again. At one point it actually landed on the Eagles crown and began to peck at the intruder The Eagle tries to take avoiding action and ducks away from the pecking Drongo. A lull in the action as the Drongo remains in attendance and the Eagle considers its options Finally it is flushed again and decides it is time to depart escorted off the premises by the tenacious and persistent Drongo
Southern White-crowned Shrikes. Parent on the right with a juvenile (note the fleshy gape) Water Thick-knee White-faced Duck Cape Vulture Juvenile Cape Vulture Comb Duck male European Bee-eater
Since being released from the boma the pack have been showing well as they explore their new home range. They have also been successful in several hunts and have taken down Nyala and Impala over the last few days One afternoon they were on patrol and came for a drink at one of our dams. They cooled off and caught their breathe after having missed out on a recent chase A quick dip A drink and a chance to rest at the waters edge Something has caught the attention of the collared female Lying on the cool sand in a shady spot next to the dam We were very lucky when the whole pack (10) popped in for a drink at the small waterhole in front of our house On a game drive one evening I caught up with them resting in the shade A bit of bonding Not a bad way to end the day.
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April 2024
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