I had a wonderful time watching the lesser striped swallows while staying at the Zimanga volunteer house. There really wasn’t a time at home when they weren’t keeping us company, as they had established two nests inside the house, and one on the front porch where we typically had our meals.
I got used to them calling and chattering from the window when I checked my email (I wish I could find a link to post of their calls; they make such wonderful sounds) or swooping above my head while I had lunch or dinner outside. My vantage point was usually not great to take photos of the swallows (lots of shadows), but spending the time watching them build their nests and interacting with each other was such a treat.
Since I don’t have a lot of variety in my swallow photos, I decided to take my favourites, and edit each of them in different ways. Adding things like a vintage film effect isn’t part of my normal editing process; this has been a fun post to get ready.
It was lovely to capture one of the swallows on a bright, sunny day. 1/640 sec, f8.0, ISO 720Eyeing each other up. 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 400Mid call or asking for some food? I’m really not sure. 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 400Coming in to land on the window frame. Edited with my normal, minimal adjustments. 1/1600sec, f6.3, ISO 400
I decided to work through the last of the sunbird photos I had flagged off, so that I could start on something new in the coming week. Hopefully 4 posts in a row dedicated to just one bird type isn’t too boring. I had hoped that I could include the white fronted sunbird I captured as well, but those photos were taken from the hide and the bird was in a tree quite far away. Sadly, they are completely lacking.
1/320sec, f5.6, ISO 140It looks like this sunbird has a streak of pollen on his chest. 1/320sec, f5.6, ISO 180I include this photo only because I absolutely love the shape her wings have created. It looks like she is drawing a cloak around herself. 1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO 500After all that editing of sunbirds in aloe plants, I wanted to try something a bit different. This photo was taken with the house in the background, giving a stark white backdrop. I quite like the black and white treatment. Thoughts? 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 400A male scarlet chested sunbird caught with an open mouth, and covered in pollen. 1/100sec, f5.6, ISO 800A male scarlet chested sunbird stretches for an aloe flower. 1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO 8001/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 800
A scarlet chested sunbird appears to be giving a bee a dirty look. I guess the bee was on the aloe flower she wanted to eat from! 1/640sec, f8.0, ISO400
While at the Zimanga volunteer house, I had a great time in the garden on a few afternoons, taking pictures of whatever birds happened to be hanging around. A pair of scarlet chested sunbirds allowed me to hover around them for close to an hour while they had a meal at an aloe plant. Unfortunately, getting a photo of both of them together was not in the cards, but I do have lots more photos of them to go through and post in the near future.
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.
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.
All photos 1/320sec, f5.6, ISO1800. Black and white conversion with Nik Silver Efex Pro2.
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.
I’ll get this out of the way, right away. The following are no where near the best photographs I captured of kingfishers on my recent trip to South Africa. But, as anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows, I am always happy to share what I found to be an interesting capture, regardless of whether the photos end up great or not. It’s about the experience.
While at Zimanga Private Game Reserve, I had the opportunity to photograph the Pied, Giant, Pygmy and Brown Headed kingfishers. Some I even captured from the comfort of a hide, resulting in some fantastic images which I look forward to going through and sharing. The one I only saw in glimpses, and never managed to photograph, was the Malachite kingfisher.
After Zimanga, I spent two fabulous days at Thonga Beach Lodge (which I can honestly say I wish had been two weeks). I went on a sundowner drive along Lake Sibaya, and while most of the guests were hoping to see hippos and crocs, I looked forward to what shore birds I might see. On my last night, I was having a glass of wine along the shore enjoying the herons, egrets and a pied kingfisher hovering above the water. The skies were dull and grey, night was fast approaching, and it was raining. Another guest asked if the kingfisher I was watching had landed in the reeds next to the lake, which I replied no as I was still watching the pied kingfisher hovering. Our guide Thulani then answered that yes indeed that was a kingfisher, the Malachite. Once they directed me to its location, I captured the best photos I was able given the quality of light and my distance away from the bird (I didn’t want to go too close to the edge of the water, given the possibility of crocs and the fact I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking as much as what I was shooting).
I watched as the kingfisher went on several fishing expeditions, and managed to capture her success, with what appears to be a tadpole in her mouth. I gave in to the growing dark after that and watched until she took off further down the lake. It was great to watch, but of course I do hope the next time I see one, the sun will be out to really show off the beauty of the feathers.
