The pair of African Crowned Eagles that hunted in the riverbed recently, killing a young Impala, have decided to establish a territory here and nest building has begun.This is very exciting indeed!! (See post dated 17022024) The female below and smaller male above perched in the vicinity of their chosen nest site The male The female My first visual of the nest site 04032024 Nest on 15030224, showing some progress The female flies into dry branches and the impact tends to snap them off With a broken branch grasped firmly in her talons she heads back to the nest Nest building progresses The process is repeated Addition and arrangement of material continues The female about to set off on another gathering foray B.I.F. The nest will take about five or six weeks to build, mainly by the female. Branches up to 1,5 m will be used with the addition of leaf material for lining. It will end up 1,5 - 1,8 m in diameter and 0,5 - 0,7 m deep. I will be watching with keen interest
The resident Striped Kingfishers are seen on a regular basis The Green Wood-Hoopoe family are frequent visitors to the dead trees in front of our house now A female Red-crested Korhaan poses cooperatively in the middle of the track This Black-crowned Tchagra obligingly popped out onto the open which allowed me to get a couple of images before it disappeared back into cover I came across a family of Little Bee-eaters hawking bees and wasps early one morning. Here one of the birds is busy rubbing this bee against the branch to remove the sting Another successful aerial foray and back to the branch A male Collared Sunbird and friend It has been ages since I last observed and managed to photograph this spp.
Gabar Goshawk melanistic form Another sighting of a Crowned Eagle Brown Snake-Eagle Dark Chanting Goshawk adult Dark Chanting Goshawk juvenile African Fish Eagle Black-winged Kite (Black-shouldered Kite )
Striped Kingfisher with catch Barn Swallow Blue Waxbill A family of Green Wood-Hoopoes Grey Heron with catch Long-tailed Paradise Whydah male Red-billed Oxpecker juvenile A pair of adults and a juvenile Red-billed Oxpecker
At one of the dams there was this adult and three ducklings And at another dam there were six ducklings Unfortunately these Water Monitors are present at all dams and pose a real and present danger
A Fish Eagle perched in a Marula tree on the dam wall watching and waiting Its patience paid off when it suddenly swooped down and plucked this Barbel out of the water
The resident pair of African Wood Owls were in fine voice last night in the trees in front of our house. It is one of my favourite night sounds African wood Owl
Red-billed Firefinch male Spotted Flycatcher Willow Warbler Green-winged Pytilia male And then there is always one bully trying to muscle in on the action. Here a Red-billed Oxpecker gatecrashes the party
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April 2024
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