♪ ♪ ♪ ♫♫♫♫ Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Camera : Canon EOS 550D 

Taken in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) 

An African Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) proclaiming his territory, singing to everybody that he has cleared the leaves off these branches for HIS nest. This is HIS spot. Shortly after taking the pick, he flew off in the direction of my bathroom court-yard garden, quickly returning with a long sliver of the Windmill Palm’s leaf and he started construction of his nest.

It wasn’t long before he had the foundations of a brand new home and some ladies were sitting in the sidelines, keeping a keen eye on him. Once the nest is complete, a female will inspect it and if she doesn’t like it, she’ll start tearing it apart, letting him know no uncertain terms that it’s not up to standard! However, should she accept the nest, she will start carrying in feathers, lining it for her eggs.

.

Thankful for friends to sit with

::

Learning to see without a camera

A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera. 

~ Dorothea Lange 

Camera : Canon EOS 550D - Leaves of the Black Karee (Rhus lancea) in my garden 

One of the things about my camera that I am most thankful for is that it has taught me to stop and take in the beauty of the smallest things. Just a few years ago I know I would have been too preoccupied to spend more than a fleeting moment observing the first blossoms of a new season. Now I find myself not only noticing, but looking...

Now, a slow walk reveals so much of nature's treasures, just because I've learnt to LOOK ...

.

We all have one

Everybody that I know that keeps chickens has one. You know, one of those chickens that's a totally peculiar character and virtually NOTHING like all the other chickens.

And I certainly have one. Or two. We all know each hen (and rooster) has their own character and is unique in their own way, with their peculiar little habits and ways that endear them to us so.

But Chicky-Boo certainly tops the lot. She has bright, intelligent eyes and a lovely loving nature, but she is the 'glutton' of the family. When I'm dishing out snacks, she's always first in line, snatching. Snatching from my hand, snatching mid-air, snatching from the other hens' mouths and running around in a frenzy, picking up as many snacks as she can.

Chicky-Boo (on the left) risking even the wrath of the normally placid Doris, who never interferes with anybody. 

In the garden she will follow somebody closely and as they get ready to zoom in on an insect or some tasty morsel, she would fly in, getting there first and gobbling it up.

A stunned and amazed Artemis watches as Chicky-Boo rushes off with the bread he was busy eating. 

This behaviour has not endeared her to the other chickens. She's ended up at the bottom of the pecking order, often having to flee as one or other hen attacks her.

But maybe she was at the bottom of the pecking order all along, learning that she's got to be quick if she wants to get any food at all. As a baby, she was one of the hens with Fowl Pox that I was treating inside for a few weeks. She recovered really well, and once I returned her to the flock, maybe her absence for such a long time caused her to be the 'outsider'.

Even with her crop filled to bursting, she keeps a close eye on me for more. 

And sometimes I'd get worried as she would just keep on eating and eating. As long as there is food, she would eat, until her crop would be huge and extended. Can't be good...

.

One loop to the left...

“O yes, that’s how it goes – one loop to the left and two to the right…” 

Camera : Canon EOS 550D

Taken in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) 

This African Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) seemed to be having a hard time getting his knitting in order. Every time he pulled a thread through, one on the other side would jump out and he seemed to be getting extremely irritated by the whole procedure! Eventually, he abandoned this effort and moved to another branch, starting anew. I think this is a youngster and I don’t think he’s going to manage finding a female this late in the season!

.

Peeps

Camera : Canon EOS 550 

Taken in my studio (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

After being abandoned by his mother at far to early an age, Peeps often follows Snoodles into my studio, hops up on my desk and takes a break on the window sill or on top of my speaker on my desk.

 

Peeps was born 3 weeks after Snoodles (one of the original dustbin chicks), and was an only child. Mommy had 10 eggs, but due to weeks of heavy rain, Peeps was the only one to emerge after the designated 19 days of brooding. Mommy was absolutely wonderful with Peeps, protecting him when he was cold, finding him the tastiest morsels, showing him all the corners of the garden and teaching him the way of chickens.

Normally baby chicks stay with their Mommy for about 7-8 weeks, after which she regards them as grown-up enough to fend for themselves. Besides which, she starts longing for Mr. Rooster and getting the urge to lay eggs, so that's perfectly understandable. But Mommy started getting these urges when Peeps was a mere 4 weeks old and summarily abandoned him in search of Mr. Rooster.

Peeps wandered the garden for 3 days, desperately calling to his mother, but to no avail. She had moved on. But soon he sought the company of Snoodles who, herself, was a bit of a loner, growing up in my studio and not mixing with the other chickens much when she was out in the garden. He started following her around, coming into my studio to eat when she ate and soon became quite at home here.

But every night I tried to put him back outside to find his Mommy and besides, he had his usual little sleeping place out in the garden shed. After a few failed attempts I gave up, and he joined Snoodles in her basket at night, the two of them snuggling comfortably in one another's company.

The two of them became have now become inseparable and spend their days together, foraging in the garden and keeping out of the way of the grown-ups, who will not let a chance go by to let them know they are new-comers and better behave!

The next challenge is getting Snoodles and Peeps integrated into the flock. They're ready to leave the basket and it's time for them to move into the coop with Artemis and the rest of the girls...

 

Snoodles in the garden

 

 

Snoodles taking a turn on the speaker, looking to see who's outside

Snoodles roosting on Jacko's chair, much to his disgust - his chair is private property!

 

::

The Rights of Mother Earth

Become part of the urgent declaration for the rights of Mother Earth. I found this declaration on the internet and would like to publish it here to remind us all that, if everybody just did their bit on treating Mother Earth right, together we will all make a change.

At the recent World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, there were appeals for taking hands across the globe to further the work of alternatives such as the Rights of Nature and Restoration of the Commons to counter-balance the current trend to commodify and marketise ecosystems and nature as a way of combatting climate change. In addition, several recent case studies have shown that communities and lawyers had been able to fight back the vast powers of multi-national companies to exploit their natural resources by applying the concepts of the Rights of Nature.

Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan is part of a global alliance whose aim is to give legal rights to nature, thereby ensuring that humans have a future on this planet.

The People’s Charter for South Africa

The African Declaration is a DRAFT document, it is not a complete document and will need to be continually discussed. The idea is to work with citizens across South Africa to further develop, comment, translate, and critique the African Declaration, to open up a form of exchange around the Universal Declaration of Rights for Mother Earth. This declaration feeds into and contributes to the universal declaration, and should not be seen as a conflicting document but rather a complimentary process.

We, the peoples of South Africa, Grateful to Africa for feeding our bodies, sheltering us, inspiring our imaginations, and shaping our many cultures and spiritual beliefs; mindful that the ancestral wisdom of Africa teaches that we come into being through our relationships with the whole community of life and that to unfold our full humanity we must respect and live in peace with all beings; inspired by our love for this ancient land and for the animals, plants, mountains and rivers that are our kin and who safeguard the well-being our people; mourning the harm that has been caused to the community of life by the arrogant and disrespectful manner in which industrialised societies treat other members of that community; convinced of the need to take decisive action to turn the course of our societies away from selfishness, greed, exploitation, and separateness; Determined to create healthy human communities in which everyone lives well through respecting Earth in all her many forms; standing in solidarity with all who defend the rights of the natural communities to which we belong; pledge ourselves to strive whole-heartedly together to live in harmony within the community of life and to respect and defend the rights of all beings to fulfil their role within that community.

Earth is sacred

Earth is sacred to us and no person or legal entity has the right to pollute or degrade the soils, waters and atmosphere that sustain life.

All plants, animals and other creatures are our kin and we shall respect, uphold and defend their rights to play their unique role within the community of life. Sacred forests, pools, mountains and other places shall remain wild.

Each has the right to its place in the community

Every creature, large or small, every plant, rock, mountain, river, or sea that has come into being has the right to exist in its place, to be respected and to fulfl its role within the community of life.

All shall live well

We shall respect the rights of all the other members of the natural communities to which we belong so that all may live well in harmony with one another.

We shall safeguard the fertility of the soils, the purity of water and air, and the health of natural communities that make living well possible so that all beings can live well now and in the future.
Human communities shall provide their people with food, water, shelter and social opportunities in ways that do not prevent natural communities from doing the same for their other members. No person has the right to pursue their own wellbeing at the expense of the natural communities, systems and processes that sustain us all.

A giving for every taking

Every person and each generation shall maintain natural balances by giving to natural communities in return for what they receive. Until the composition of the atmosphere is restored to balance each person and each generation must ensure that their presence on Earth causes more carbon to be removed from the atmosphere than is release into it.

Healing shall replace exploitation

Human activities that disrupt vital ecological balances and functions shall be stopped and replaced with practices that improve the health of natural communities.

Practices that erode the land and deplete the natural fertility of the soil shall be replaced with growing and harvesting practices that work with natural processes to enhance the fertility of the land and the health and resilience of natural communities.

Communities shall decide for themselves

The rights of people to beneft from the land and other beings fows from our relationships with them and decisions that impact on the integrity or health of a natural community shall be made by people who have deep relationships with that community and will experience the consequences of the decisions most directly. Those who are not part of a natural community do not have the right to make decisions or take actions that harm or threaten the integrity, health or functioning of that community. Those who intentionally or recklessly damage natural communities or put them at risk shall forfeit the right to make decisions that may harm them.

Communities shall protect themselves

Each community has the right to defend itself from being harmed by outsiders. People who respect and live in harmony with the other members of a natural community shall care for and defend that community and stop human activities that they have good reason to believe may harm the community.

Life before property and profit

The rights of present and future generations to live in harmony within healthy natural communities shall prevail over the rights of any person or legal entity to property or profts. The interests of corporations, the state and other artifcial entities shall not be permitted to take precedence over the interests of natural communities.

Those that harm Earth shall be held accountable

Any person or legal entity that harms or profts at the expense of a natural community shall be held accountable for restoring its integrity, functioning and health.

No person shall be permitted to use corporations or other legal devices to avoid or limit their responsibilities to their fellow members of natural communities. Corporations and legal entities that harm or violate the rights of natural communities shall forfeit their privileges as legal persons.

All shall have legal rights

The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth shall be adopted and implemented. Laws that recognise, respect, and protect the rights of all members of natural communities shall replace those that give people or legal entities the right to pollute the waters, seas, soils, and atmosphere, to infict cruelty and to violate the rights of natural communities.

Public bodies shall safeguard the conditions for living well Public bodies shall promote human development through living well in respectful co- existence within natural communities and shall safeguard the conditions necessary to do so. In order to do so they shall:

• Make the effective protection of the integrity and health of natural communities and the maintenance of the conditions necessary to live well their highest priority;
• Develop and implement policies, laws and systems that prevent human activities from disrupting the natural processes and functions on which we all depend;
• Cease funding activities that disrupt or endanger vital natural processes and systems; and
• Promote values, technologies, production methods and behaviour patterns that enable people to live well and that beneft the whole community of life.

.

I can see the weekend from here!

Camera : Canon EOS 550D

Focal length : 300

F number : 7,1

Exposure time : 1/500

Artemis surveying my garden from his favourite vantage point. From here he can see the weekend coming, keep an eye on his girls and make sure nobody is doing anything untoward!

 

Artemis likes being on top of things! From here he can keep an eye on all the girls who are scattered all over the garden, much to his consternation.

Artemis surveying the world while Hettie contentedly scratches in the compost heap.

::

Praying Mantis in my garden

Camera : Fuji FinePix 2800Zoom 

Taken in my garden, Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa

Over the year the visitors to the garden vary according to the season, the weather, the heat, rain, food, shelter, breeding cycle and probably other conditions we can’t know or measure – we don’t know it all, that’s for sure.

This Praying Mantis (Mantidae Stagomantis) was so well camouflaged that I almost missed her. If it wasn’t for a slight movement of one of her front legs, I would never have seen her. This gardener’s friend is a voracious little predator and feeds on harmful insects like aphids and fruit flies, with the adults graduating to flies, butterflies and crickets. Some species even eat small hummingbirds, frogs, lizards, and mice.

The “leaf” on her back is actually her wing! I photographed her in one of our blue Gum trees (Eucalyptus) on our smallholding in Tarlton, South Africa.

By and large many people regard insects with horror as either pests or revolting creepy-crawly creatures to be avoided or worse still, squashed without mercy. Infamous as they may be, insects play such a vital role in the food chain and the global eco-system of the planet that without them, life as we know it, would cease to exist.

The Praying Mantis (Mantidae Stagomantis – Afrikaans “Hottentotsgod”, (literally meaning the god of the Khoi) is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer.

Generally, mantises are good for the garden. They’re part of a solution to a pest problem, but they eat beneficials, too. And if nothing else is available, they’ll eat each other! So if you plan having one as a pet, have separate housing for each praying mantis you intend to keep! ... The praying mantis is the only insect capable of rotating its head by 180 degrees, and this, combined with very keen eyesight, is used to observe both predators and prey. Incredibly the mantis’ powerful vision extends over 50 feet. And as if this wasn’t enough they also have hearing abilities that exceed the upper limit of human hearing.

Organic gardeners who avoid pesticides may encourage mantises as a form of biological pest control. Did you know that tens of thousands of mantis egg cases are sold each year in some garden stores for this purpose! During fall, praying mantis females deposit a sticky egg case on the underside of a leaf or on a twig. If the egg case survives winter, the offspring, called nymphs, emerge in late spring or early summer. The nymphs have voracious appetites and typically cannibalize each other if they don’t have an adequate supply of aphids and other small insects. Egg cases are commercially available for placement in landscaping.

She was following my every move as I moved around the tree to get the best shot. Her little head turned with every movement I made, seemingly staring me right in the eye all the while, yet not making the slightest move in case she might give away her position, perfectly camouflaged amongst the leaves. She chose a good spot, as her wings looked exactly like the leaves of the blue gum tree (Eucalyptus) she was resting in.

 I really am always thrilled when I find a Praying Mantis in my garden – these insects are real characters and are not intimidated easily! When I tried to move the leaves to get a better shot, my finger was summarily grabbed and I got a quick nip for my efforts. That didn’t hurt, but the front legs holding onto my finger certainly would have crushed and fatally injured any insect unlucky enough to venture close. I had quite a time convincing her to let go so I could carry on photographing!

Uittreksel uit Siel van Hottentotsgod
Haar koppie draai al in die rondte opsoek na iets sappigs om die honger pyne te stil. Def is ‘n hottentotsgod wat al ‘n paar winters oorleef het hier in die bos geweste. Sy verlang ook nou al baie na haar mannnetjie wat sy al lank terug opgeëet het. Hy sal mos ook nou al trots gewees het op die kleingoed van so by die hele ses. Met haar voorpoot veeg sy ‘n insek traan uit die oë wat altyd waaksaam moet bly. 

.

.

Now, where are all the ladies?

A male African masked-weaver (Ploceus velatus) looking around to see if there are any takers for a nest (one of many!) he’s just completed.

These lovely colourful little birds are so prolific in our gardens that we sometimes tend to over-look them. I’ve tried to count the Weavers nesting in my garden but, apart from counting the nests, of which there are sixteen, it’s impossible to keep track of these little busy-bodies! They provide me hours of pleasure, watching them building their nests and their constant squabbling and other antics makes me feel like I'm in primary school with dozens of uncontrolled children!

They are prolific breeders, normally two babies to a nest, two or three times in a season, and with a dozen or more nests in my garden, it's inevitable that there is some tragedy. This summer alone I have picked up six babies that have fallen out of the nest. Usually the injuries sustained just from the fall takes its toll and lying exposed to the elements and the heat for an extended period of time before I happen to find them also contributes to the fatalities. Add to that the impossibility of getting them back into the nest, even if I knew which one they fell out of, makes it impossible to really save any of them.

They have to be prolific breeders as they face many dangers. Heavy winds battering the nests, egg-eating snakes and nest-raiders like the Mynahs cuts heavily into the population.

Also known as the Southern Masked Weaver, it occurs across southern Africa, even in arid areas, extending into Angola, Zambia and Malawi. It generally favours semi-arid scrub, open savannah, woodland edges, riverine thicket, farmland with scattered trees, alien tree plantations and especially gardens. It mainly eats seeds, fruit, insects and nectar, doing most of its foraging in small flocks, gleaning prey from leaves and branches, taking seeds from the ground and grass stems.

.