And then the rain set in or at dusk the bush comes alive

[Mel]

The birds are fantastic (as usual ) and I really love your zebra shot series here.
Very good photos. The light is great, and the colours show a beautiful contrast.

[Pumbaa]

Love the pic of the waxbill.

We always struggled with this bird to get decent shots but this year it was finally our time

[Pumbaa]

So do I

More of these cuties to come

[Pumbaa]

Lucky Friday again!

There is meant to be a small zebra/wildebeest migration from the central district to the Sabie river every spring, but it has watered down some years...

Grand zebra and bird pics, Pumbaa!

Lucky Wednesday this week

[Pumbaa]

The birds are fantastic (as usual ) and I really love your zebra shot series here.
Very good photos. The light is great, and the colours show a beautiful contrast.

Finally the sun was with us during that trip

[Pumbaa]

Some of them seemed indeed very interested



and we had a more than great time in watching them – They are such cute birdies.



We definitely had an awesome break there and this was for sure not our last visit there during that trip and not far we stopped for a family of warthogs with some smaller piglets



and then a bird appeared which we do always have high on our wish list – a paradise whydah



first we could capture same on a branch but later on same flew down on the ground and consequently made it more difficult for us to capture same as this is a very active bird.



Another nice surprise and normally a rare sighting for us was a lovely posing slender mongoose and gladly for us same stayed in the middle of the road quite a while so we were able to take a couple of shots as normally you only do see a flash of brown fur.



We again stopped for another nicely posing European roller



and along the S130 we always make a break at a small pond which unfortunately was not carrying that much water as we expected especially compared to Duke’s or Ntandanyathi but at least it was still a pond recognisable and a sandpiper just made a break from foraging.



Soon we were already on the tar road leading to Lower Sabie and in the very dry bushes along that road we again discovered a couple of red billed queleas



it was no comparison to the masses of this bird we saw last year – they only appeared sporadically as it was far too dry at that stage we visited the park but for us they are always more than worth to stop for.

[Pumbaa]

On the other side we spotted a huge elephant bull with large tuskers



who gladly came closer after same crossed the river



whilst all the others were still cooling down in the river as it was meanwhile already getting extreme hot.



Also here we stayed a long time as it was amazing to see the come and go of all the different elephants and we also came across some white backed vultures



and for sure took a break at the Lower Sabie causeway but as it was there disappointingly quiet we instead stopped at Sunset dam and there we were entertained by a lot of weavers



busy in building or refurbishing their nests.



Unfortunately the spoonbills only could be seen in the distance but then together with a smaller crocodile.



As the white faced ducks also preferred to stay in the distance we instead observed again the close weavers



and after same had hidden very successfully we could also capture again one of our favourite birds, the malachite kingfisher



and there was even a second one around and same nearly sat the whole time on top of the overflow.





to be continued......

[Flutterby]

So many lovely birds...especially the whydah! Seen them in Kruger, but never managed to get a pic!

Nice tusker too!

[Richprins]

What a miracle photographing 3 of the impossible seven, Pumbaa! Mongoose, malachite and whydah! Very good pics, plus a tusker!

[Lisbeth]

A slender mongoose is a great find The birds are lovely, especially the malachite kingfisher; they have such beautiful colours