The Crowned Plovers have hatched!

Crowned plovers - Vanellus coronatus

After the big to-do of the Crowned Plover stopping my husband's 5-ton truck from destroying her nest, I kept on checking on their nest, from a distance, and Saturday morning at 8.30am I was rewarded by seeing two of the three eggs hatch, hopefully the third will follow soon. Luckily it was warm and sunny and the parents were keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

 

Trying to take these pics of them was an ordeal in itself, as I once again was dive-bombed mercilessly and one of them even almost got tangled up in my hair! 

They are so well camouflaged, I almost missed them 

Breeding occurs in the spring months from July to October. The nest is in a shallow depression in the soil with a lining of vegetation and other debris. There are normally 3 eggs, sometimes 2 or 4. Incubation requires 28 to 32 days and is done by both sexes. Immediately after hatching, the young leave the nest while both parents look after them. Egg-laying is timed to precede the rainy season and most incubating is done by the female. The male assists only on hot days, when he either incubates or shades the nest. 

The one on the right is still wet, with some egg shell sticking to its feathers 

Pretending no-one can see it!

 Eyes tightly shut...

Bare-part colours of males brighten in the breeding season. Different types of display flights lure the female to the defended territory. A female accepting the male and territory will follow the male during his display flight. Mates may be retained for life. 

 Still wet from hatching out the egg

Although generally outnumbered by Blacksmith Lapwings, they are the most widespread and locally the most numerous lapwing species in their area of distribution. Their numbers have increased in the latter part of the 20th-century after benefiting from a range of human activities. They live up to 20 years. 

After the photographic session, I left them in peace and 3 o'clock that afternoon I returned to find that the two hatchlings had moved about 3 meters away from the nest, hiding close to a clump of grass.

Their colours are absolutely gorgeous and perfectly suited to their surrounds. They both kept their eyes tightly shut, barely breathing as they tried to blend into the surrounds.

Those typical long legs are already apparent!

The third egg seems to have been abandoned. I returned early evening but couldn't find the babies anywhere. The parents were about 100meters further down the plot and I presumed the babies were there with them. I am totally thrilled to have witnessed this happening and now just hope and pray the next door neighbour's dogs keep away from my property!

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The wrath of a Crowned Plover

... or, the love of a mother....
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Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

Yesterday my husband had to pull the truck out of the workshop to deliver a tractor to a customer and as he got a couple of meters from the workshop gate, he was confronted by a very angry Crowned Plover, standing in front of the approaching truck, wings spread and loudly proclaiming her intent on not moving.

Perplexed, my husband got out of the truck to look what was going on, upon which both parents flew at him in attack mode, swooping and screaming loudly, trying to get him to move. Suspecting that there might be some babies, he called me to see if I could see what all the pa-lava was about.

As soon as I arrived, I was dive-bombed in the same manner and as I carefully walked around slowly, looking out for any babies, the one parent would flap around in the grass, feigning injury and, as I approached, move on a bit, trying to lure me away from the spot. This is a strategy they use, pretending to be injured and easy prey, so getting a predator to follow them away from the nest. So I knew there definitely was something around there.

 

Both parents kept up this behaviour, alternating between dive-bombing us, flapping in the grass and screaming at the top of their voices.

 and this is what all the raucous was about!

Eventually, taking my cue from where they were at their most frantic, I found the nest - three beautiful speckled eggs so well camouflaged that it took me ten minutes to find it! The eggs were within meters of the truck's front wheels, my husband has stopped just in time! If it wasn't for this brave little bird stopping a 5-ton truck, the nest might have been destroyed.

After taking some photographs and enduring a lot more abuse from them, my husband reversed the truck and did a wide berth around the nest. Now that we know where they are, we avoid that area and hopefully will be able to see the birth of these little wonders.

The Crowned Plover (Vanellus coronatus) occurs across much of sub-Saharan Africa; in southern Africa it is common in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, northern and south-western South Africa and southern Mozambique. It generally prefers dry, open grassland, sparse woodland, open areas in Karoo scrub and man-made habitats, such as open fields, short pastures, airports, golf courses and roadsides.

They build their nests totally in the open and only after the grass has been cut on our smallholding. No trees, long grass or any other sort of cover for hundreds of meters around them. It always amazes me that they face the elements this way, with no cover whatsoever, but understandably it gives them a wide range of sight to see any predators approaching.

They mainly eats termites (which make up approximately 80-90% of its diet), using the typical foraging technique of plovers, running, stopping then searching for prey on the ground. It often forages in groups, sometimes alongside Black-winged lapwings, moving in a regularly spaced line.

(See the eggs hatch here.)

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Imperceptibly they arrived

My swallows are back, 10 Oct 2013 - stealthily and imperceptibly they arrived; was I unconscious? 

Greater-striped Swallow sitting on my washing-line

They were very late this year, usually they arrive the beginning of September, maybe that's why I missed them. But we also had no rain in September, with our first shower happening on the 8th October. This leads me to believe they time their arrival with the rains... 

Wonder if they'll be using last year's half-completed nest? 

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Crawling among the Cosmos

Just outside our front gate, on both sides of the road, the Cosmos flowers were thick and bountiful after all the beautiful rain last summer. Every year I pick bunches for my vases and place them all over the house. Stray seeds also get dispersed by birds and the wind and I inevitably end up with some Cosmos flowers in my garden every summer. 

Crawling among the cosmos next to the side of the road to try and get a good shot of these annual flowers was quite an experience. I almost fell in a rabbit hole, got black jacks all over my pants, walked straight through a huge Orb Web Spider’s web before I realised it and even disturbed a family of Partridges, who scared the daylights out of me as they all raucously took to the air! 

Nature puts up this grand show every year from November, well into March, and tourists travel from the Cape Province to Mpumalanga to witness this spectacular event here in South Africa.  Hopefully I will have another beautiful Cosmos experience this year!

Cosmos are originally native to scrub and meadow areas in Mexico (where the bulk of the species occur), and occur in the southern United States (Arizona, Florida), Central America, South America south to Paraguay and South Africa. 

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Kiep and her red bandana

Kiep, wearing her red bandana around her neck, ready to deliver this morning's breakfast. Her nest is in my studio, on one of my art tables. She grew up here in my studio since I rescued her as a day-old two and a half years ago after being abandoned by her mother. She now spends her days outside with all the other chickens, but daily, without fail, she returns to her nest to lay her egg and then spending some time sitting on my lap or in the bottom drawer of my desk, chatting to me. 

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Thank goodness it's Thursday

(Equally thankful for Monday or Friday or Sunday...) 

I am just a bird. Not even a rare one, just a robin on a rock looking up at that big sky. 

And yet, I can fly. 

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This week I have been saying blessings and thank you's to the ordinary everydays. Nothing spectacular, yet everything is amazing. The sun is shining and I have friends in my garden. Watching me. Following me. And allowing me to photograph them.

Life is good.

 

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Grey-headed Bush Shrike - a new visitor!

 

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Ground-scraper Thrush

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The Masked Weaver was hard at work and not taking any notice of me! And just look at the acrobatics!

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Laughing Dove (Stigmatopelia senegalensis)

This Laughing Dove became a pet of mine after I found her as a baby, where the Fiscal Shrike had dropped her on the lawn, obviously intent on spiking her in his pantry for a later-in-the-day-snack. I have often watched, helplessly, as the Fiscal Shrike raids nests and carries off the newly hatched babies. 

  The raised wing is saying "keep away!"

 I named her Flutterby' and she lived with us in the house, only venturing out the door when she saw me going out, happily sitting on my shoulder as I tended to things in the garden. As she slowly gained more confidence, she spent more and more time outside, only coming in to roost at dusk, but eventually she started staying out at night, harassing me for seeds first thing in the morning as I left the house.

 Flutterby contentedly roosting on a rock and watching me digging in my new garden.

We sold that smallholding we were living on and I managed to catch her before we moved, bringing her up to our new property, where I kept her inside for a couple of days before allowing her to go outside. She now happily lives in my new garden and I've watched her and her new husband rear many babies. 

Flutterby preening herself before settling down to roost. 

The Laughing Doves are regular visitors to my feed tables, but gentle creatures that they are, they always seem to be the last allowed to feed, with the Weavers and Red Bishops leading the pack, making sure nobody gets close until they've had their fill. 

I have now resorted to spreading the feeding tables all over the garden, as well as putting some seeds on the ground, out of the way where it's easy for the Laughing Doves to also get something. 

The infamous but lovable Fiscal Shrike having some minced meat at one of my feeding tables. 

If you look closely, you can see a mouse that the Fiscal Shrike spiked on a branch in my peach tree. She is a fearsome little predator that will pluck the eye out a fully grown bird if they're not aware! Besides insects, they will hunt fledglings, birds, lizards, frogs and mice.

Another mouse spiked on one of the thorns of the White Karee


(See another one of the Fiscal Shrike's larders here.)

The Laughing Dove (Spilopelia senegalensis) is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East east to the Indian Subcontinent. This small long-tailed dove is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground. A rufous and black chequered necklace gives it a distinctive pattern and is also easily distinguished from other doves by its call. 

It is a common and widespread species in scrub, dry farmland and habitation over a good deal of its range, often becoming very tame, often to its own detriment as it always waits to the last minute before taking flight, making it easy prey for predators. The laughing dove feeds primarily on seeds, but it also eats other vegetable matter, such as fruit, as well as small insects, particularly termites. It typically takes fallen seeds and fruit from the ground, although occasionally it may pluck and eat fruit while perched. They actually often make use of my feeding tables provided access is fairly easy.

 Although the laughing dove typically occurs individually or in pairs, it may gather in flocks at watering points, roosting spots, or where there is an abundance of food. At such feeding sites, hooting and moaning can be heard as the laughing doves bicker over the food. Sometimes I think they get very little to eat while they are so busy worrying about who else wants to eat! 

A fledgling that hatched this spring in my garden. Where there's one, there's usually another one and it wasn't long before I found him in the Black Karee next to the peach tree

 

These doves are monogamous and only have one partner and will tend to return to the same nesting site year after year. It may nest at any time during the year, but peaks in nesting are often recorded in spring, or during the rainy season. Each nest is typically situated on its own, in a fruit tree, but occasionally a few breeding pairs may nest close together. The male laughing dove collects materials for the nest and the female then builds the nest with meticulous care and despite its flimsy appearance it can last a couple of seasons. The female lays two eggs and both the male and female take turns to incubate the eggs for up to two weeks.

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Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm 

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) 

Afrikaans : Nonnetjie-uil 

The Barn Owl (Tyta alba) is a frequent visitor to my property and is not shy to hunt in broad daylight. I often see one pouncing on something in the long grass during the day, flying off with its prize, probably to feed some babies. 

Ghostly pale and (not) strictly nocturnal, Barn Owls (Tyto alba) are silent predators of the night world. Lanky, with a whitish face, chest, and belly, and buffy upperparts, this owl roosts in hidden, quiet places during the day. By night, they hunt on buoyant wingbeats in open fields and meadows. You can find them by listening for their eerie, raspy calls, quite unlike the hoots of other owls. Despite a worldwide distribution, Barn Owls are declining in parts of their range due to habitat loss. I for one do not see them as often as I used to. 

 

Barn Owls love to use man-made structures to build their nests and are very partial to nest boxes one supplies. I’ve always had a box or two in my garden but, sadly to say, the weather has taken it’s toll on them and seeing as I’m past the stage of climbing trees to put one up, it’ll have to wait until I find someone young and agile to do the job for me! 

Once welcomed by farmers as one form of pest control, the population is now under threat from modern farming techniques, e.g. the destruction of hedgerows and meadowland, which affect their prey, the removal of old barns & buildings, which were their nesting places and the use of chemicals to control rodents. 

The Owl Rescue Centre is the only raptor centre in South Africa that primarily focus on owl species. They give all their time and attention to owl species because of the high mortality rate of owls in South Africa, making owls vulnerable to a decreasing population. They rehabilitate and release 200 – 250 Spotted Eagle Owls, 100 – 150 Barn Owls and 80 -100 other owl species each year.

SHOULD YOU FIND AN OWL THAT YOU SUSPECT MIGHT BE INJURED, PLEASE CALL THEM ON 082 719 5463 (24/7 emergency line – South Africa)

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The simplicity of Nature

“Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.” 

― Isaac Newton 

The Magalies River. Pic taken at Magaliespark, North-West Province, South Africa.

Nature has a great simplicity and, therefore, a great beauty. 

Many people find their greatest peace and serenity in nature. The natural world is exactly what it needs to be, no more and no less. There is no excess or clutter or a lack of organization in nature. Every rock, tree, drop of water, leaf, piece of sand and animal plays its part in nature with no thought as to whether they will match the local terrain or whether they will need extra storage to have all the things they want to have. 

A walk in the woods in the fall, or in the mountains by a bubbling stream, or by the roaring ocean can bring a new perspective into your own life and how it is affected by its surroundings. Our own living spaces should give us the same feeling that we get from being in the outdoors. Peace, quiet, and the time to reflect on our place in this world.

The benefits of nature is to experience the magnificent expressions of nature, who is our greatest teacher. She teaches us to experience and embrace the present moment, expand our deep appreciation and gratitude for all of life and deepen our love for self and other. Nature provides a feeling of full connectedness and aliveness with all, for all and stillness and a peaceful state of being. 

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