Showcasing the beauty of Mother Nature
Hi everyone! I recently put together this photo slideshow for my photo club Christmas party, and thought I would share it here as well.
The photos are taken over the past three years, and there are several from each of my trips to Africa.
I hope you enjoy, Merry Christmas, and all the best for the coming year.
As promised on Sunday, another selection of birds of Southern Africa.
Enjoy, and have a wonderful day!
I was going through my folder of edited photos and realized I have a large number of random bird photos ready to go. Which is good, because I’ve not managed to get out and capture any of the local wildlife lately!
Even splitting the group of photos I found into two, I’ve still got a fair number of bird photos to post in the future!
I hope you enjoy, and have a great day!
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.
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.
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.
My first trip to Africa, I was lucky enough to see a pack of wild dogs, and we spent a short amount of time with them while they lazed away a hot afternoon under the trees. This trip, I spent a great deal of time with the pack, as we tried to monitor them twice a day; first thing in the morning as they were settling in for their days rest, and then in the late afternoon as they set out on the move. This much time in close proximity of the dogs gave me ample opportunity to witness a variety of pack dynamics and behaviours. Watching them play was definitely one of my favourite moments with them.
