Here are a few more images of the barred owl I spotted in my yard last week. The monochrome treatment shows in another way how camouflaged these birds are, even when perched on an open branch.
2020-01-27: Monochrome Monday
2020-01-26: Hyenas
Hyenas are an often misunderstood and much maligned creature, seen as a lowly scavenger, robbing the kills of leopards, wild dogs, cheetah and even lions (given the right circumstances). From all that guides over the years have told me, and my watching many nature documentaries, I know that while they do scavenge a lot, and provide a necessary ecosystem service in that regard, they are also skillful hunters, and have very interesting clan dynamics, led by an alpha female.
Hyenas can be pretty hit and miss on safari though. Unless there is an active den on the property, guides (that I have been with) don’t generally seek them out or follow their tracks. It’s more a situation of randomly running across them, and then stopping to watch for a few minutes before moving on. If there is a den on the property with little ones, it can be a very enjoyable sighting, as the cubs can be quite boisterous and inquisitive. I still recall my first time in the Okavango Delta, sitting just after sunset at a den and a cub came over and started chewing on the tires of the vehicle, getting into it the way my dog used to take to his squeaky toys as a pup.
No such luck with young cubs this past trip, but here are a few of the images I did capture of hyenas.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead.
2020-01-22: Wordless Wednesday
2020-01-20: Monochrome Monday
It was awesome to spend some time with the dogs on an afternoon game drive during my last trip. I’ve been fortunate to see wild dogs on almost all of my trips to Africa, but I still get really excited when a ranger tells me that dogs have been spotted on the property.
2020-01-19: Barred Owl
I spotted a barred owl hanging out in the backyard a couple of days ago while I was having lunch. It spent a bit of time trying to hunt, and the rest trying to nap. It was -28C, so I took the photos through my window, as it was just too cold for me to get out to take a couple of pictures. Besides, Murphy’s Law would have kicked in, and by the time I got bundled up enough to head outside and take a few images, the owl would have flown away.
Thankfully things have warmed up a little bit here; still cold, but at least not bitterly cold. I hope your week ahead is looking up too 🙂
2020-01-15: Wordless Wednesday
2020-01-13: Monochrome Monday
Much like yesterday, today also felt like a perfect day to share an elephant image.
This was shot while staying at Lion Sands Tinga Lodge. We couldn’t go on a game drive without seeing elephants, sometimes an immense number of them, which our guide kept commenting on. It made me incredibly happy, since they are my favourite animal to spend time with our on safari.
2020-01-12: Elephants
Today felt like the perfect day to share some elephant pictures 🙂 Basically, if the day ends in Y, I think elephant images are just right!
My editing software had a bit of a meltdown trying to open one of the raw files to edit; I have no idea what was going on, as the images before and after were fine. Thankfully, I have lots of back ups, and after deleting the file and reloading it, everything was okay. Public service message for the day – always make sure you have a backup of your data!
I hope you enjoy, wishing you a fantastic week ahead.
2020-01-08: Wordless Wednesday
2020-01-06: Monochrome Monday
Happy Monday!
I thought a few landscape images would be a good way to start the week. These are all from my last trip to South Africa.
