Some nature pictures from the weekend.
This fellow watched me shower and I watched him…………… the whole time
Still building nests so late in summer
Busy birds and a voyeur viper
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Tag Archives: birds
New guests at the lodge – flycatcher rerun and moth time.
I really must save up for a new insect book, having lost custody of the last one I bought. I have never replaced it and it’s getting rather frustrating when I can’t identify insects. It’s the first time I have spotted these moths and then happened to see two more. It must be their time.
Isn’t it beautiful? Look at the pretty pink wing tips. I only noticed the colour after viewing the photograph. Anyone know which moth this is?
Edit: I received this answer from Joan at http://saphotographs.blogspot.com/ and http://natureswow.com/
This is one of the Emperor moths (family Saturniidae). Most moths in SA have not been identified or given names unfortunately so I cannot give you more information than that. The Mopane and Lunar moths belong to the same family and all are identified by the eye-spots on the wings. Most are medium to large in size and include the largest moths in the world. They are a colourful family and most are short lived. Thanks Joan! I looked them up on google images and none are as pretty as mine 
I’m going to call her saturniidae slowvelder
And finally something I have been meaning to tell you – we have a second set of paradise flycatchers born this weekend. The parents broke down the old nest, disappeared for a day or two and then were back and rebuilt the nest in the exact same spot and started a new lot of eggs. You have seen so many pictures from the last lot so I promise – no more after this one. Three more babies…..
Leaving home….
This weekend I watched the paradise fly catchers nest like a hawk. I knew they would be taking that final step and would be leaving the nest. On Saturday morning one of the three had stepped out onto the branch holding the nest and another was balanced on the rim of the nest. Baby number three was still determined to sleep in.
I had to go out for the morning and by the time I got home one of the three had flown off. The last two chicks had climbed quite some way up the branch.
They stayed in this position overnight and by mid morning when I checked, the second baby had flown off. I was determined not to miss the last one leaving so I poured myself something to drink and settled in for a long wait. While the babies are attempting to make their break the parents are very vigilant and chase away any other birds that come near the tree. They even dive bombed me quite a few times if I got too near. They also make a racket – shouting their alarm calls constantly.
Every few minutes the baby would stretch out its wings and flutter them a bit but would then fold them back up again and preen. And then – after watching for just over an hour – it just hopped off the branch and flew to a nearby branch. It flew like it knew exactly what to do. It wasn’t even an effort. Awesome.
I had heard from Mr A that once they leave the nest you never see them again, but this bunch seems to be sticking around for a while. I heard some cheeping and saw that the other babies were spread out around the tree and a neighbouring tree and they were still cheeping there this morning. The parents are also still feeding them.
It’s been so great following them – right from the parents nest-building through to their first flight.
To follow the journey you can click on the following posts:
Now I wonder if the parents will lay more eggs?
He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Full house?
I think they are almost ready to fly. Well I hope so. The is no room left for growth. Learn more about these chicks on the following posts.
Mobile home?
The giant african land snail (Achatina sp.) I found sneaking around my parsley.
Replacing roof support.
A hair-raising experience which I really couldn’t watch. I was afraid the entire roof would collapse during the process.
1. Rotten roof support devoured by termites.
Really devoured!
2. Support roof and remove old tree trunk.
3. You call that support???
4. Lots of hard work
5. New roof support. Whew!
I live in my house as I live inside my skin: I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy and more picturesque skins: but it would seem to me unnatural to exchange them for mine.
Chicks in paradise
Do you remember our paradise fly catchers that I told you about a few weeks ago? If not, you can click here to read the post.
They have been sitting on the eggs for just over two weeks and this weekend our new babies were born. Because their nest is right next to our veranda I was able to sneak up and take a few pictures really close. (Best I could do with my point and click. One day when I’m big I am going to get a fancy-shmancy camera)
On Saturday night we had a horrific cloud burst and 120mm of rain fell in just under 45 minutes. I was certain these babies would not survive as the branch their nest is on is very exposed and not sheltered by other branches and leaves. On Sunday morning when I went to look at the nest no chicks were to be seen. I was so sad and reported this news to the Bean when I collected her at lunch time. She was also upset but went to check anyway when we got home. Lo and behold – our little babies were there – peeping over the rim of the nest again.
Welcome home
Image by Arno & Louise Wildlife via Flickr
Last week our African paradise flycatchers returned home. Little is known about their migratory habits although it is most likely an intra-african migrant. According to a farmer nearby, they normally return to our area to breed on the 15th of October. Our couple that live in the tree right next to our veranda returned on the 1st of November. What fascinates me is that they return to the exact same tree which is one-in-a-million here.
They were already in residence when we moved into the cottages and had the most perfect little nest with eggs when we spotted them. The nest in the image is a lot untidier than our nest. It is a perfect,tightly woven, little cup which the birds fill and cover with spiders webs so that the eggs lie on a silky bed. The nest looks way to small for the adult bird and when sitting on the nest one adult bird perches over the cup opening. This is not a family home.
Last year we watched the eggs hatch and we could see the little open beaks of the birds as they waited for food. I hope we get to see this again – I will try to get pictures this time.
Picture from the SASOL Bird e-Guide
Terpsiphone viridis (African paradise-flycatcher)
A stunning bird with a long chestnut red tail and blue-grey head. Size: 17-20 cm (35 cm in breeding males, of which 18 cm is the tail) – about the same size as a sparrow, but with a long or very long tail. Afrikaans: Paradysvlieëvanger
- Both sexes participate in the construction of the nest, usually sharing the workload equally. It consists of a small cup of twigs and bark held together with spider web, decorated with lichen and often a “trail” of spider web and leaves dangling from its base.
- Egg-laying season peaks from October-December.
- It lays 1-4 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 11-19 days. They change shifts every 20-60 minutes, although the female often does most of the incubating at night.
- The chicks are brooded almost constantly for the first day or so, while they are fed small portions of insect prey. As they get older, their parents brood and feed them less often until they leave the nest at about 10-16 days old. They stay in a family group with their parents until another clutch of eggs is laid, at which point they become fully independent.
Lazy weekend and Oom Pauls’s birthday.
This weekend was spent lazing in the bush with the odd attempt at getting some housework done. I have been waiting for the 10th of October for some time, firstly because it was the 10/10/10 ( I like numbers), and secondly because it was Oom Paul’s birthday. The folk in this area wait patiently for his birthday every year. Oom Paul is the pet name for President Paul Kruger – Oom meaning uncle. (Afrikaans speaking people generally call everybody older than themselves uncle or aunt as a sign of respect – even if they aren’t related. This used to really freak me out but I am getting used to it now.)
Paul Kruger (Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger) was born on October 10 1825. He wasn’t a well-educated man and only had three months formal education. He became Commandant-General of the then South African Republic , later known as Transvaal. He became Vice-President in 1874. The first Anglo Boer war was 1880 and the British forces were defeated in a battle at Majuba in 1881. At this time Paul Kruger was instrumental in negotiations with the British, which later led to the restoration of Transvaal as an independent state under British rule. In 1882, the 57-year-old Paul Kruger was elected president of Transvaal. He died on 14 July 1904. ( You can read more about him if you click on his picture.) The Kruger National Park is named after him.
I am not a political animal (or a history buff) so why, you may ask, was I patiently awaiting his birthday? Well as stories go around these parts, if it rains before Oom Paul’s birthday we are in for a very dry summer, and if it rains on or after his birthday we will have a wet summer. And I want a wet summer. So now it can rain. Please.
Today it will be 44 deg C and it’s only spring (111 deg F). Heaven help me!
At the suggestion of a friend I am trying to record all the bird species on my farm. I started yesterday and spent some time sitting in the shade of one of my Marula trees with my feet in the pool, ogling the bush with my binoculars. I also want to learn more bird calls because it is sometimes difficult to see the birds once the bush turns green.
These are the ones that I heard. There were many more calls but I have yet to identify them.
Green wood-hoopoe
African fish eagle
Bru bru
Orange-breasted bush-shrike
The following birds sat still long enough for me to identify them visually.
Southern black flycatcher
Bearded woodpecker
White-crested helmet shrike
Common scimitarbill
Blue waxbill
Emerald-spotted dove
Yellow-fronted canary
Kurrichane thrush
There were so many more birds. It will take a long time to record them all (and get them to sit still so that I can identify them.) I look forward to the challenge.
Picture credits: Wikipedia
Noises in the night
Have you ever sat in the african bush at night and just listened? At first you observe how quiet it is besides the crackle of your fire, and then, when you really begin to listen you hear the most amazing sounds. Depending where you are, these sounds differ widely. The most renowned sounds are those of the lion, hyena and jackal. Where we live we get the odd jackal sound – but not very often, very rarely, we can hear lions in the distance, and in the early hours of the morning we hear the hippos returning to the river. When we first moved to Hoedspruit and were living in a caravan on the other side of town, we heard many lion and even once - the rough sawing noise of a leopard passing our tent.
One sound that has become my favorite night-time sound here is the call of the Fiery-necked Nightjar. A very special time in the bushveld occurs during the full moon phase. Sitting outside in the evenings, bathed in glorious moonlight, absorbing the wonders of the nature around you. It is at this time that the common and humble Fiery-necked Nightjar sings out its distinctive and characteristic call described by birders as “good Lord deliver us” The call is particularly audible through the full moon phase, and less so on darker nights.
Just listen to it……
Isn’t it a beautiful sound?
This little bird sleeps on the ground in the grass during the day and wakes up at night to sing for us. When we first got to the reserve we found one sitting on two eggs – just a few meters from our tent.
Don’t you just love her whiskers? As you can see – they are very well camouflaged. The male and female share time sitting on the eggs but while we watched – we always only saw one bird so assumed that she was a single mum, although the male and female are very similar so we could have missed seeing them change shifts. We never saw two adult birds there at the same time. About half way through the 18 day incubation one of the eggs disappeared. It must have been eaten by something so we were very worried that we would never get to see a baby Fiery-necked Nightjar.
Then one day we were greeted with this sight.
Can you see the baby? If not, it’s sitting just under the mothers chin. They stayed like this for a week and then just disappeared. I think this poor mother was really tired of us coming to peep at her nest. I had to mark exactly where she was sitting because it was so easy to miss them due to their colouring.
A really strange-looking bird with a most beautiful voice.
