White-crested Helmet-Shrike For comparison a Retz's Helmet-Shrike Adult White-backed Vulture Juvenile White-backed Vulture A Fork-tailed Drongo hawking insects from this perch. Note the diagnostic deeply forked tail and the red eye A Helmeted Guineafowl comes down to drink Accompanied by a juvenile bird. Our flocks have bred well this year. I think it is because we had better rains in the Summer and hence there was good grass cover to allow nests and chicks to remain out of sight of predators A Brown-hooded Kingfisher also making use of a perch to still hunt A B.I.F shot of a African Harrier-Hawk. Note the small head, yellow facial skin, long thin yellow legs and the tail bar. The facial skin flushes pink or reddish during social interactions in the breeding season The Dark Chanting Goshawks are showing well at the moment There are also plenty of Bateleur sightings given that they have bred in the area recently This Little Sparrowhawk is a regular visitor to our house. Here it bathing in some shallow water
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One of our dams is being allowed to dry up as we want to deepen it in preparation for the reintroduction of Hippo to the Reserve. A male Saddle-billed Stork has been in attendance for a while feeding on the Barbel as the water level recedes. Recently he has been joined by a female bird. The resident Fish Eagles have also been seen as they have been patiently waiting for the storks to spear the fish and then they fly in and attempt to rob them. They seem to have succeeded on a few occasions Here the female looks on as the male catches and ingests a Barbel What you can do I can do better The female enjoying the clean water of the nearby coffer dam which has been built to supply water for the animals until the deepening of the main dam has been completed The female bird showing the diagnostic yellow eye The male bird in comparison has dark eyes and small yellow wattles A vigilant pair of Fish Eagles. I think the larger bird is the female of the pair
The larger Lioness gave birth to two cubs a couple of months ago. For the first time she reunited with her sister and brought the cubs out into the open away from the thick cover in the riverbeds where she had been keeping them hidden since their birth The proud mum relaxing with her cubs on the cool sand in the shade of a overhanging bush The two cubs suckle off their mother whilst their aunt sleeps next to them A close up of the cubs busy suckling Two inquisitive faces The two side by side for comparison. The smaller female cub on the left and her larger brother on the right. The male has a broader face Male cub Male cub Male cub with the tip of Mum's tail Female cub Female cub also has a go with Mum's tail Female cub The sparring has already started (female on the left in this sequence) A love-in with mum as her brother catches his breath The younger adult female, whose image I posted a few days ago, has now also mated with the lions so hopefully another litter will be born in the first week of August
The male Saddle-billed Stork is still in the house. As this dam dries up he is helping himself to the Barbel left wallowing in the muddy pool A yellow-billed Hornbill seen in soft evening light This Striped Kingfisher has just caught a frog. I watched as he stunned it by beating it against the branch and then ingested it I managed to get images of two young Bateleurs as they were gliding in an overhead thermal. This one is a male as depicted by the broad black trailing edge to the wings This bird is slightly younger and is still showing more brown plumage A Dark Chanting Goshawk in typical upright posture on a branch A colourful Purple Roller Male Namaqua Dove A cryptic Fiery-necked Nightjar blending in the debris in the dry riverbed. Image taken with the use of a handheld spotlight to illuminate the subject
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April 2024
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