After the pea soup fog the last few days, where I could barely see across the road, it was lovely to see the sky clear today. Even lovelier was the sunset, with the sky like a painting.
Photo taken with my Samsung Note 3.
Zebra on the move
Black Bellied Bustard
I saw both male and female black bellied bustards while at Zimanga Reserve, but only managed to capture a few photos of the male, on a couple of different days. Each time, it was on the ground looking for food, and took off after being startled by the approaching vehicle.
Like most bird species, the female is far drabber in appearance, and lacks the black belly. Unfortunately the only photo I have of a female is completely out of focus as it was shot from the moving vehicle.
Thank you
As 2014 draws to a close, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone that takes the time to stop by and view my photos. This blog has introduced me to some amazing photographers and writers, and I am inspired and awed by so much of the work that I see.
I am so grateful for the connections I have been able to make through this site 🙂
I have started working on a second site, for photo sales, Jennifer Sawicky’s Smugmug Site and will be adding to both this blog and the sales site on a regular basis in the coming year. If there are any past photos that you think I should be adding, please let me know.
All the best in the coming year to each and every one of you. We are closing the year out here with beautiful, sunny skies and while my camera has remained at home, I captured a few nice shots on my phone the last couple of days.
Vervet Monkeys
While at Zimanga Game Reserve with Wildlife Act, our group was fortunate enough to have two sessions in their fantastic bird hides. The first was an afternoon session in the Bhejane birdbath hide, and the second, where these photos were taken, were from a morning session at the Mkhombe birdbath hide. The morning session provided over 900 photos, and not just of birds; warthogs and the vervet monkeys came from a drink as well.
While the vervet monkeys can be incredibly cheeky around a lodge or camp, snatching food and wrecking havoc should they decide to go inside, I find them fascinating to watch and love seeing their antics. Around the birdbath, they were more concerned with each member getting a drink than getting into any mischief (although there was one snacking on the scattered birdseed). I especially loved to see the moms with the tiny babies clinging to their stomachs, and I believe there were either two or three babies in the troop.
1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f9.0, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f9.0, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f9.0, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO1250
1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO1250
Mama and baby rhino
On one of my South African trips, I was lucky enough to see this white rhino cow and calf having an afternoon rest. Mama was providing a shady spot away from the afternoon heat for her baby, but they were very quickly startled by our presence and moved off just a moment after I pressed the shutter down.
1/800sec, f5.6, ISO800
Lilac Breasted Roller
The lilac breasted roller is one of my favourite South African birds – it has such a wide variety of colours in its feathers. While I saw quite a few on my trip, usually it was while we were driving and they were flying away – not the best opportunity for capturing a photo. Here though, I lucked out. A bright sunny day really brings out the feather colours, but the flat white sky also serves as a good backdrop.
Grey Herons
While on a drive along Lake Sibaya, I saw a pair of grey herons – I don’t know it was a pair of males battling for dominance, or a male and female completing an intricate mating ritual. Regardless, they were beautiful to watch and I love the shapes created by their wings.
Reclining Giraffes
A different view of an oxpecker
I was quite good about going through my photos while I was away, adding keywords and even doing some ratings, to make it easier to sort through when I got home. Until I had my session in a bird hide that is. The volume of photos was so immense (over 1200 from two mornings of shooting) that I wasn’t able to work on them while away, and so any time over the last week that I have had to work on my photos, it has been spent working on bird identification and adding keywords. Not that I mind that type of work at all, it just seems like forever since I have posted anything. Hopefully, now that I am able to actually sort through my photos effectively, I’ll be able to get back into posting more routinely.
Now for today’s photo. I chose this because before my hide session, I had never seen an oxpecker anywhere but on the back of an animal (giraffe, buffalo, rhino etc.). We had quite a few visit during the time in the hide, and several even came right up to the glass to investigate. While my main camera was on a tripod, I had my macro lens on my second body and was able to snap this shot of the bird less than a foot away.
