Juvenile African Mole snake (Pseudaspis cana)

Walking in the garden yesterday morning, I noticed all the chickens gathered in one spot on the lawn, necks outstretched and a general look of alarm and consternation on all their faces. Upon closer inspection, I found this little juvenile African Mole snake (Pseudaspis cana), equally alarmed at being surrounded by such a curious audience.

I didn't have my camera with me, and besides which I feared the chickens might attack and hurt him, so I had to pick him up and go inside to get the camera. I apologise for the pics not being better, but it's rather difficult working a camera with a zoom lens with one hand! After these couple of photos, I carried him to outside the garden wall and released him in the long grass on our smallholding. It's no guarantee he'll be safe there either, the closest trees where he might find some birds' eggs is either our blue gum bush further down the plot or the neighbour's garden.

Before I had chickens, I always used to leave them in the garden where I was sure they would be quite safe until they decided to move on. This little chap is about 30cm long and they reach a length of up to 2m.

The Mole snake can be identified by its uniform brown, grey or black colour (juveniles have zigzag or mottled markings), its preference for burrowing, a round pupil and highly aggressive self-defence display. (Read HERE about Mollie, my resident mole snake). It grows to an average length of 1.4 meters but may reach 2 meters in length. The Mole snake eats rodents (particularly rats, mice and gerbils), moles and birds. Juveniles however are largely restricted to lizards, probably why this juvenile was attracted to my garden, I have a lot of lizards (African striped skink).

Mole snakes give birth to live young), gives birth to between 25 and 50 young (or up to 95 in rare cases) in late summer. They have been known to live for 20 years in captivity.

PS: Never pick up any snakes, even small ones, if you're not 100% sure of what it is!

Molslang [Afrikaans]; Inkwakhwa [Xhosa]; uBhulube, umJungendlu [Zulu]

.

New life

Summer is the time of new life - baby chicks and  birds are hatching, my bathroom court-yard garden is full of new baby lizards and virtually every day I witness the birth of something.

Yesterday morning, as I was packing my garden tool basket, I came upon a spent cocoon and it was rather large, almost three inches. I wondered what on earth could have hatched, obviously a moth and I hoped she was still around somewhere. A search revealed her sitting on the edge of the patio step, trying to unfold her shrivelled wings. I quickly picked her up and carried her to the nearest tree, and only afterwards thought that I should have taken a photo of her before picking her up!

Once in the tree she started crawling up and vibrating her wings, making it very difficult to get a photo!

She's not this blurry in real life! Even while sitting still for a moment, her wings were trilling and vibrating, pumping blood through to strengthen them. I've come to the conclusion that she's one of the Hawk moths but have not been able to find a positive identification (there are 7 000 species of moths in South Africa!)

The Sphingidae are a family of moths (Lepidoptera), commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths, and hornworms; it includes about 1,450 species. They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid, sustained flying ability. Their narrow wings and streamlined abdomens are adaptations for rapid flight.

Some hawk moths, such as the hummingbird hawk moth or the white-lined sphinx, hover in mid-air while they feed on nectar from flowers, so are sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds. This hovering capability has evolved only four times in nectar feeders: in hummingbirds, certain bats, hoverflies, and these sphingids (an example of convergent evolution). Sphingids have been much studied for their flying ability, especially their ability to move rapidly from side to side while hovering, called 'swing-hovering' or 'side-slipping.' This is thought to have evolved to deal with ambush predators that lie in wait in flowers.

And now there's a spin to the tale. As soon as I finished photographing her and had moved away, I noticed my Robin in the tree, hopping from branch to branch, trying to get a good look at what might be the biggest snack of the week! I immediately climbed up the lower branches of the tree, retrieved her and took her to another tree at the other end of the garden, hoping the Robin didn't know what I was doing. Upon my return to the patio, I noticed the Robin still hopping around in the tree, trying to find out what had happened and where that snack has disappeared to all of a sudden! Hopefully he, or any of the other birds, won't find her hidden in the foliage of the other tree.

Just before dusk I checked on her, and she was quietly hanging onto the trunk of the tree, quite well camouflaged, so hopefully she would be safe until night time. All moths are nocturnal and some species fly only for short periods either around dusk or dawn, while other species only appear later in the evening and others around midnight, but such species may occasionally be seen feeding at flowers during the day. A few common species in Africa, such as Cephonodes hylas virescens (the Oriental bee hawk), Leucostrophus hirundo, and Macroglossum trochilus, are diurnal.

Most species of Hawk moths are multivoltine, capable of producing several generations a year if weather conditions permit. When I checked early this morning, she was nowhere to be found and hopefully she survived the dangers of the night. And maybe I'll be seeing a lot more of these moths in the future.

.

Happy New Year!

Snoodles, the dustbin chick I saved out of the egg.

::

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!

.

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!

.

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.

.

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...

::