Showcasing the beauty of Mother Nature
I had forgotten I’d had this sighting of the barred owl; I’d taken a few quick images as it napped in the tree branches, and then forgot to download the images to my computer. If it weren’t for the raven sighting yesterday, they may have sat on there for quite some time.
Thankfully all the snow seen in this image is now gone, but sadly, it seems like sightings of the owl may be as well. But who knows, I could also get lucky with some springtime owl sightings.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week!
I was planning to edit some hornbill photos today, and was at my computer searching for images when movement outside my window caught my eye. I looked up from my computer as a raven landed in a tree outside my office window. Earlier in the day, I had spotted a dead squirrel on the lawn, and hadn’t had an opportunity to get out to clean it up; and I was hopeful that the raven would keep me from having to do so.
Getting photos through a small window isn’t ideal, but I knew the bird wasn’t going to wait for me to get my shoes on and head outside. It took a few tries before it was able to get the squirrel up and away, but in less than a minute, it was all over.
I always enjoy the opportunity to get to observe nature, whether it is our local deer, songbirds, ravens or more exotic animals while abroad.
I almost missed my Monday post, but remembered in the knick of time that I hadn’t put anything up yet today. I edited this one yesterday, and it was an interesting sighting that ended up involving three different leopards, while staying at Lion Sands.
This sighting was at dusk and lit with a spotlight with a red filter. Converting it to black and white was a great option to remove the strange colour casts, but I’ll be honest, I still find it a little flat looking. But, it was pretty flat with only a bit of light left in the sky, and the sighting in a fairly heavily treed area.
Regardless if the photo turned out great, it brings back memories and I find myself right back there in the vehicle, sitting behind our ranger Albert, who was getting rather frustrated by the confusing tracks all of the place, which made far more sense when we came to realize they were made by three different cats.
Leopards caught my eye today, so that is what I worked on. I sure wish I was out watching leopards today, rather than watching the snow falling.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week!
I saw a video clip on the Africa Geographic Facebook page a couple of days ago of a sighting of a wild dog pack, including loads of puppies, crossing a road. I’ve never seen wild dog puppies (yet!) but I have been fortunate to have frequent sightings of them. Watching that clip made me want to return to Southern Africa immediately, but since that isn’t feasible, going through my catalogue for the few remaining unedited wild dog photos will have to do.
I had a couple brief sightings of wild dogs last trip, here are a few of the images. More to come later in the week 
A bit of a different view of a lioness.
She was part of the pride lounging the the roadway that I shared yesterday. They were fairly easy to find on day one, and even more so on day two, as they hadn’t moved at all, much to the surprise of our ranger.
Lions are incredible to spend time with, as long as you are aware ahead of time that more often than not, you’ll see them doing not much more than sleeping and yawning (though when you do catch them active and on the go, it is incredibly thrilling!)
With 5 weeks left in term, there are a lot of different tasks to do – papers to research and write, projects to complete, exams to revise for. Yet, today especially, I have found myself daydreaming of what I’m most looking forward to during the two weeks I’ll have off between winter term and the start of spring semester, and right now, it’s having a nap! I’m looking forward to having a weekend where I spend some time like these lions
Have a great week everyone!