Oxpeckers

There have been an awful lot of things going on that have severely limited the free time I have had recently, which is why there hasn’t been a post from me in ages.  Thankfully a lot of the items on my must get done list are now finished, and I can get back to working on my photography.  With the lovely weather we have been having, it seems a shame that I’ve been stuck indoors, but there will be lots of time (and hopefully lots of good weather) for photos in the coming days and weeks.

I wanted something that would be fairly efficient to work on, so I decided to go through the photos I took of oxpeckers at the bird hide.  I had posted one photo previously https://wordpress.com/post/51960952/1129/ but had a few others that I thought were worth posting.

Wishing everyone an excellent day!

20150316_Oxpeckers

20150316_Oxpeckers-2

I was glad an oxpecker returned late in the morning once the light was better; it makes a difference for showing off the subtle colour changes in their feathers. 1/1000 sec, f6.3, ISO 1250
I was glad an oxpecker returned later in the morning once the light was better; it makes a difference for showing off the subtle colour changes in their feathers.
1/1000 sec, f6.3, ISO 1250

Crested barbet

This crested barbet stopped by the watering hole while I was at the Mkombe bird hide at Zimanga Game Reserve.  For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, it reminds me of the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn from the Looney Tunes cartoons I watched when I was a kid.

Have great evening everyone!

Striking the most intimidating poster possible! 1/1600 sec, f7.1 ISO 1250
Striking the most intimidating pose possible!
1/1600 sec, f7.1 ISO 1250
Calling to a friend, or calling out a foe?
Calling to a friend, or calling out a foe?
Getting ready for what was a very ungraceful leap over to the other side of the water.
Getting ready for what was a very ungraceful leap over to the other side of the water.
Checking out the seed on offer.
Checking out the seed on offer.

Kalahari the cheetah

Here are the last few cheetah photos that I had flagged for editing from my October / November 2014 project with Wildlife ACT.  It took a few days for our first sighting of Kalahari the cheetah, but I was very lucky to get to spend a fair bit of time in his presence, and learn a bit about his personality.

I’m not sure what will be up next, but I still have quite a few photos from that trip that I would like to share.  Have a great day everyone!

On the move - look at those huge feet!
On the move – look at those huge feet!
I included this photo only to show how difficult it can be to spot a cat, even with very little ground cover.  He looked up briefly, watching us watch him, but as soon as he put his head down, you could have walked past and missed him laying there.  I'm pretty sure we drove back and forth a few times before finally catching sight of him.
I included this photo only to show how difficult it can be to spot a cat, even with very little ground cover. He looked up briefly, watching us watch him, but as soon as he put his head down, you could have walked past and missed him laying there. I’m pretty sure we drove back and forth a few times before finally catching sight of him.
This was taken around the same time as the black and white conversion I posted earlier in the week, but from a different vantage point.  After watching him from below for some time, we drove up to the road at the top of the dam wall.  To get home we had no choice but to drive past him fairly close; we went slowly and quietly, and it gave us some lovely views :)
This was taken around the same time as the black and white conversion I posted earlier in the week, but from a different vantage point. After watching him from below for some time, we drove up to the road at the top of the dam wall. To get home we had no choice but to drive past him fairly close; we went slowly and quietly, and it gave us some lovely views 🙂

A wander through the acacia

One day we caught up to Kalahari early on our morning tracking drive, but he soon disappeared into the trees heading down towards the river.   1/320sec, f8.-, ISO 800
One day we caught up to Kalahari early on our morning tracking drive, but he soon disappeared into the trees heading down towards the river.
1/320sec, f8.-, ISO 800

Surveying his domain

Pausing at the top of the dam wall to survey his domain.  We were parked about 20 to 30 feet below him, giving us interesting angles to shoot with. 1/320 sec, f7.1, ISO 220
Pausing at the top of the dam wall to survey his domain. We were parked about 20 to 30 feet below him, giving us interesting angles to shoot with.
1/320 sec, f7.1, ISO 220

Occupational Hazards

There are sugar cane fields surrounding portions of Zimanga Private Game Reserve, and on some of our tracking outings, we would follow the cane field fence lines to get where we were going.  After tracking the cheetah for some time, we finally spotted him, but I am sure the worker cutting cane (probably less than 10 metres away) didn’t have a clue he was there.

20150224_Occupational Hazard

20150214 – Great Blue Heron

We left so early for our walk today I didn’t bother grabbing my camera, and as we were leaving the dike I was kicking myself for it.  This would have been so much better shot with something other than my phone.  I’ve never before seen a heron perched on the top of the power lines.

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Great Blue Heron shot with my Samsung phone through the front window of my car.
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A quick snap out through the open window

Warthogs

Given the sheer quantity of warthogs I saw while at Zimanga Game Reserve, I’m surprised it has taken me this long to post any photos of them.  They were everywhere I looked, from dawn till dusk.  In our yard, wandering down the road (and seeming to take great joy in holding up the vehicle progress) and I am pretty certain there was at least one (probably more) hanging around every time we stopped the vehicle to do our tracking.

They could be described as having a face only a mother could love, but honestly I found something kind of endearing about them.  And if nothing else, I really, really needed to work on a blog post of a land dweller, or I’d have to change the tagline of my site to “Images of birds and more birds”.

Have a great evening!

A young warthog I caught snooping around the garden while I was outside photographing the birds. 1/500 sec, f7.1, ISO 100
A young warthog I caught snooping around the garden while I was outside photographing the birds.
1/500 sec, f7.1, ISO 100
The second before "Oh no, they see me!" 1/640 sec, f9.0, ISO 400
The second before “Oh no, they see me!”
1/640 sec, f9.0, ISO 400
Catching a nap in the mid afternoon heat, in the garden of the Wildlife ACT volunteer house. 1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 250
Catching a nap in the mid afternoon heat, in the garden of the Wildlife ACT volunteer house.
1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 250
Big tusks on this one! 1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 1100
Big tusks on this one!
1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 1100
A large female warthog popped by the Mkombe bird hide for a drink. 1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1600
A large female warthog popped by the Mkombe bird hide for a drink.
1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1600

Sunbirds

I’m both happy and irritated with myself at the moment.  Happy that I discovered a few additional sunbird photos that had not been properly tagged, and annoyed with myself for not going through the proper workflow to begin with.

That off my chest, here are a few additional sunbirds I saw during my last trip to South Africa.  Enjoy!

My best attempt at an identification - I believe this is a female amethyst sunbird. 1/800 Sec, f5.6, ISO 800
My best attempt at an identification – I believe this is a female amethyst sunbird.
1/800 Sec, f5.6, ISO 800
A purple-banded sunbird.
A purple-banded sunbird.
A male purple-banded sunbird perched in a distance tree. 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A male purple-banded sunbird perched in a distance tree.
1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A female scarlet-chested sunbird feeding on aloe. 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A female scarlet-chested sunbird feeding on aloe.
1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A huge stretch to reach the perfect aloe blossom. 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A huge stretch to reach the perfect aloe blossom.
1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A female scarlet-chested sunbird in flight. 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
A female scarlet-chested sunbird in flight.
1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400
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