The African Bird Blog

We just completed our two week visit to Christie's Kamp at the Makalali Game Reserve.  Our accommodations were very good but electricity was a luxury and there was no internet. So I am just now getting a chance to put out another blog. I know there are a few birders out there so this is the Bird Blog. I will post a big five blog tomorrow.There are some average pictures in this group but I wanted you to see a good sampling of the bird variety here.

A male Ostrich can have up to eight females in his harem.

Black Winged Stilt 

Dipkop

Steppe Buzzard

Helmeted Guineafowl

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Levaillant's Cuckoo

Green Backed Woodhoopoe - Shot in poor light just before sunrise.

Tawny Eagle

Jackal Buzzards - One arriving as the nest as one leaves.

Hammerkop

Yellow Weaver - The male builds the next. The female has final approval. If she doesn't like the nest she tears it apart and the male builds a new one.

Giant Kingfisher

I used a flash to capture this Tawny Eagle on an overcast cloudy day. Then I used photoshop to put it into a nice blue sky with the moon. The background shot was taken earlier in the week.

Red Created Korhaan - These guys fly straight up into the air. Fold their wings against their body and plummet back to earth. Right before landed they place their legs down and open their wings.

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Woodlands Kingfisher - The one Kingfisher that doesn't eat fish.

A Yellow Billed Hornbill - Not a great picture, but this guy worked for 20 minutes trying to get this over-sized frog down his small throat.  He never suceeded but didn't want to give up his prize. 

White Backed Vulture

Lilac Breasted Roller and my favorite bird picture so far.

Little Bee Eater

Red Headed Weaver

Hooded Vulture

European Bee Eaters

European Nightjar - You usually only see these at night when it is too dark to get a good picture. This one was napping right next to the road. They use the long hairs on their chin to feel for their food.

Cape Glossy Starling. When the sun is shining these birds look amazing. Their feathers are about the equivalent of metalic paint. 

Black Bellied Korhaan. This bird is about three times as big at the othe Korhaan.

Bateluer Eagle. 

That's all for this blog.

Last Week at Kariega

John and I have officially finished our volunteer work in South Africa.  We had an enjoyable time but now will be focusing on Photographic Safaris. 






The highlight of the week was John lying down in the road to take a picture of white mushrooms growing in a rhino midden.  Male rhinos mark their territory by defecating in the same spot over and over.  Mushrooms like to grow in these locations. Why was this a highlight?  Imaging John lying down in the road to get the best angle for his picture.  The ranger and I hear a lion noise and look to the right.  We see two female lions and at least on male cub about 25 feet from where John is lying.  I never knew a 65 year-old man could move so fast.  Fortunately for John the lions were full or weren't interested in tough meat.

This lion is walking down the road John was lying down on. But this picture was taken a day earlier.

The next few pictures are of the three male lion cubs.

Why is that old man lying down on my road?

Zebra, Wildebeest,and Impalas

Unfortunately we never got close enough to the Black Rhino to get a good picture.

Just thinking about taking a chunk out of John makes this lioness gag.

Tried to get a Zebra shot with spacing between all of the animals.  Almost got it.

Nyala baby and mom.

Zebra colt

Elephants don't have great eye sight but they do have a great sense of smell. This young bull is giving us a sniff.

Just like the line up in this picture.

A baby elephant suckling

We spent about 1-1/2 hours watching the elephant herd on Friday.

Those youngsters do the darnedest things.

Panning shot of a helmeted guinea fowl.

One Jackal Buzzard arrive at the nest as the other one leaves.

Male Kudu with two females.

This lioness was only 5 feet from the cruiser.  A little close for comfort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 9th

John and I have been busy with volunteer work most of the week.  We only went on three game drives.  We have been busy setting rodent traps in the fields of the game reserve to help a researcher with a study.  Over four days the 300 traps are baiting and set twice a day.  Any captured rodents are identified and release.

Here a a few pictures from the last week.  There will be better pictures after John and I move to Makalali Game Reserve in 9 days.

Small male Waterbuck

These two male Zebras were in quite a fight. The Wildebeest is oblivious

Vervet Monkey

The Kariega Game Reserve sold most of their lions because they were killing to much of the game.  This is the only adult male. There are two females and three male cubs.

All but one of the lions at Kariega is captured in this one picture.  Quite a change from when we were here last year.

Most of the smaller mammals have not had their babies yet. This area of South Africa was in drought. It just started raining two weeks ago.  Hopefully more babies will arrive next week.

All of the adult Rhinos on the reserve have had their horns cut off so poachers won't kill them.  Over 750 Rhinos have been killed in South Africa this year for their horns.

Baby Ostriches

Only Two Days to Go

Headed back to Kariega Game Reserve on November 3rd with my good friend John Miller. We will be spending two weeks there working with the volunteer program.  We hope to capture some quality wildlife pictures on some of the game drives.  John has been practicing his baking skills so I expect his homemade bread will be better than mine on this trip. Hopefully we will have internet access on November 10th so we can post a blog.

Back to South Africa

John Miller and I will be heading back to South Africa November 2nd for about 5 weeks. We will be spending two weeks volunteering at Kariega Game Reserve. Then it is off to Makalali Game Reserve where we will be joined by Jimmy Day and George Gatz.  Claudia Schnell and Robin van den Berg will be our host for a two week photo safari. George Gatz will leave us after those two weeks but Jimmy, John, and I will end our trip with a five day Leopard Photo Safari in Kruger National Park. Hopefully I will bring back even better pictures than I did last year.