2014 - I am ready!

2013 was an amazing year, filled with lots of joy and love, lessons learned and also a few sorrows. I am ready for 2014! and here's wishing that your year ahead is filled with LOVE, JOY and INSPIRATION!

Thank you all for visiting and the wonderful chats we've had, hope to see lots more of you in the coming year! 

Happy New Year everybody!

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Season's Greetings! 2013

Camera : Canon EOS 550D

My chooks taken in my garden (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa)

Background texture by Kim Klassen
Edited in MS PowerPoint

We have never had snow over Christmas in South Africa (not that I can remember anyway), but I’m sure if we did, my chooks would be absolutely thrilled!

May you have a wonderful festive season with friends and loved ones this year!

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The shy Glossy

I have never known Glossy Starlings to be shy. Whenever we visit the Kruger National Park, they are as brazen as can be, stealing food out of your plate as you're having lunch on the deck and will readily take food out of your hands. But the Glossy visiting my garden is terribly shy. I've been trying to get pics of him for months, to no avail. As soon as they see me, they head straight for the tree tops.

The other day I was having coffee on my patio, camera at the ready, and finally spotted one of them at a bird bath. I was quite a distance away, but daren't move for fear of him taking flight. So the next best thing was to try and zoom in through the maze of plants and tree trunks. Moving very slowly and scarcely breathing, I managed to get a few distant shots of this gorgeous bird with his metallic sheen and very bright eyes.

As he was testing the water and getting ready for his bath (and I saw that he knew I was there and keeping a close eye on me!) a not-so-shy African masked Weaver landed on the bird bath and I thought, "Oh no! that's going to be the end of this now!

Not phased by the Starling's dirty looks at all, the little fella hopped right in and started splashing away.

The Starling got a good soaking in the process!

Shortly after the Weaver left, so did the Starling, without having his bath. Maybe he had gotten wet enough from the Weaver's splashing, but I got the feeling he wasn't happy with my spying at all!

The Glossy Starling - Lamprotornis intense (family Sturnidae) - is endemic to Africa and occurs from Angola and Zambia to Southern Africa, where it is locally common across much of the region, excluding central Mozambique, the Karoo, Namib Desert and the fynbos biome in the Western Cape. It can occupy a variety of different habitats, especially wooded savannah, forest edges, riverine bush, plantations, parks and gardens.

It eats insects, fruit, nectar and scraps of human food, doing most of its foraging on the ground, running and hopping in search of food items. It often associates with antelope, removing ectoparasites from them as well as catching the insects they disturb.

Interesting Info :

- It is a monogamous, cooperative breeder, meaning that the breeding pair may be assisted by up to 6 helpers, who often remain with them through many breeding seasons.

- It usually nests in tree cavities, either natural or excavated by woodpeckers or barbets, but it may also use a hole in a riverbank, metal pipe or even a post box used daily. It adds coarse material such as twigs into the cavity until the platform is close to the entrance, after which it adds a lining of dry grass, dung and snake skins. It often uses the same nest over multiple breeding seasons, in fact one breeding pair was recorded using the same site for 20 years.

- Egg-laying season is mainly from September-February.

- It lays 2-6 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female.

- The chicks are fed by both parents and helpers, leaving the nest after about 20 days after which they remain with the group for at least week.

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Greater Striped Swallow fledgling

Camera : Canon EOS 550D 

Taken in my back-yard (Tarlton Gauteng, South Africa)

After my Greater Striped Swallows (Cecropis cucullata) returned on the 25th September 2013, a bit late, normally they’re here at the beginning of September, they managed to rebuild their nest in the pump house and 3 days ago I found one of their fledglings inside the walled yard surrounding the pump house. This in itself is not a problem as it is quite safe there, I just hoped the parents knew it was there!

But I needn’t have worried. As I was taking photographs, they were circling overhead, twittering warnings and in general looking like they were going to attack me any moment. I sealed off the gate so nothing could get inside and left it in peace. Of course I will be checking on it often and probably put it inside the pumphouse for the night as we’ve been having heavy showers every night for the past week.

The Greater Striped Swallow is a large swallow and breeds in southern Africa, mainly in South Africa, Namibia and southern Zimbabwe. It is migratory wintering further north in Angola, Tanzania and southern Zaire.

The eggs are glossy white with a few brown spots; three eggs is a typical clutch (so I presume there might be one or two more babies somewhere). Incubation is by the female alone for 17–20 days to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 23–30 days, but the young birds will return to the nest to roost for a few days after the first flight.

This is a bird of dry open country, such as grassland, and has a preference for hills and mountains. It avoids more wooded areas, but is often found around human habitation.

 I actually brought him inside for the night as it started raining heavily just before dusk. This is the little fellow sitting on my calculator at 4am as I was awakened by his constant chirping. I put him back outside at dawn and the parents were there in a flash, answering his calls! I didn't bring him in last night and when I checked on him this morning I was greeted with a hungry chirp. It is now the third day and he still can't fly and I'm wondering how long the parents' patience is going to last. He is SO small...

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Mynah fledglings (sensitive image)

We're in the middle of summer and my mood has changed from one of inspiration to lethargy - we've had temperatures exceeding 30°C (about 86°F) with no rain and I haven't even had the energy to go out into the garden and do some work. Once or twice I did manage to brave the heat and take my camera with me and capture a few pics.

As I wandered around the garden, my two resident Mynahs were following me around, screeching at the top of their voices. I first thought they might be warning me about a snake, but to my delight I discovered that the Mynah's babies have fledged - the parents have been in in and out of their nest over the past couple of days (which is under the canopy of the thatch roof over our entrance and not my ideal place to have them, they've destroyed large patches of the thatch in trying to find the perfect nesting spot) with tit-bits for the youngsters and I've been waiting for the youngsters to come out.

The Mynahs' nest in the thatch roof

Entrance to the Mynahs' nest under the thatch roof over my entrance gate

I found two little Mynah's in the peach tree and, with the parents sitting threateningly right over-head and screeching, I managed to get a couple of shots.

 Fledgling one - he looks like the older of the two

Fledgling two - he's the smaller of the two

They weren't particularly interested in me and just focused on the parents, chirping softly for some food. In their youthful inexperience they are still totally trusting, both even allowed me to pick them up and after a bit of a cuddle, I returned them to their respective spots where they continued to chirp at the parents, which weren't at all pleased with my apparent lack of concern over their screeching.

(The following image might upset sensitive viewers.)

After a while I decided to inspect the nest to try and work out a plan of fixing the thatch and thwarting any more efforts on their part to re-nest there again. To my utter horror I discovered a third baby, impaled on the palisade fencing which surrounds part of my garden. At first I thought that the Fiscal Shrike must have caught it and used the spike as a larder, but I couldn't see any other injuries on the baby - the Fiscal Shrike would have removed the head and would've started feeding already. After some investigation and further thought, I came to the conclusion that it had slipped down the thatch (which is very slippery, I've watched the parents slipping and sliding as they've tried to enter the nest) and impaled itself on the spike. It really is a freaky accident, and one which I wish I could have prevented...

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