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

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:04 pm
by Mel
Brilliant! All of it \O

Great study of the raptor behaviour and I find the tsessebe posture funny lol

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

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:29 am
by Richprins
Great stuff, Pumbaa!

Yes, when the termites fly out there is mayhem, as everything tries to get some of the free protein! :-0

I've actually had the privilege of watching the emergence from start to finish once, up close. First "normal" termite workers came and made a little smooth "runway" outside the hole, then the fliers came and took off one by one! [O]

Naughty dirty tsessebe! :X:

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

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:56 am
by Flutterby
Great pics of the Wahlberg!! ^Q^ ^Q^

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:32 pm
by Pumbaa
Lisbeth wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 10:24 pm The Wahlberg eagles on the ground look really funny O/\ O/\

I also like the tsessebes, with which I think that we have not finished ;-)

White storks \O
It was indeed more than funny to watch especially on the ground \O

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:33 pm
by Pumbaa
Mel wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:04 pm Brilliant! All of it \O

Great study of the raptor behaviour and I find the tsessebe posture funny lol
It was great to have the tsessebes that close and on top all to ourselves O\/

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:35 pm
by Pumbaa
Richprins wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:29 am Great stuff, Pumbaa!

Yes, when the termites fly out there is mayhem, as everything tries to get some of the free protein! :-0

I've actually had the privilege of watching the emergence from start to finish once, up close. First "normal" termite workers came and made a little smooth "runway" outside the hole, then the fliers came and took off one by one! [O]

Naughty dirty tsessebe! :X:
It was in fact brilliant to watch the emerging termites but for sure all the birdies trying to catch them \O

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:36 pm
by Pumbaa
Flutterby wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:56 am Great pics of the Wahlberg!! ^Q^ ^Q^
We could have stayed there for the rest of the day as it was so interesting O/\

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:37 pm
by Pumbaa
He always ran around the group of females

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but somehow they were indeed not that interested in him as he wanted

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but that was an advantage for us as so they all offered some more than nice close ups

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and eventually the females trotted off and let him stood alone, muddy as he was on the road.

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Another wonderful encounter we just could have watched and also the Leviant's cuckoo who just took off when we came closer to the bush same sat on.

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When we took the turn off into the direction of Shingwedzi this road leaded more and more through mopane bushes and it got in fact extreme montonous but from time to time we stopped for kudus

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and even giraffes.

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:38 pm
by Pumbaa
A red crested korhaan showed up again

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and made a lot of noise

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and to our joy Grootvlei was still carrying water and now we detected where all the knobbilled duck males had hidden so far - Exactly here!

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Then it got quiet again and only at Nyawutsi which is always a nice break from driving we stopped again and after we entered the hide we soon discovered another blue waxbill,

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egyptian goose

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and some bats were hanging from the roof.

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After quite a while we carried on and whilst leaving the hide we noticed in a close bush a fish eagle

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and finally we reached Dipeni outpost and now that road is leading along the Shingwedzi until camp and same is always a wonderful drive also when not much animals might be around. The whole time we drove along the S50 we exactly met one car which is another advantage of the far North. We saw many hippos grazing,

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yellow billed storks

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and even more hippos who already left the water in order to start feeding.

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to be continued......

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

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:28 pm
by Lisbeth
Very varied sorts of sightings \O

I have never understood the purpose of the knob on the duck :-? Normally nature always has a reason for the most bizarre things, but this -O-

Nice pic of the hippos in three sizes \O

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