I'll be leaving the forum in the capable hands of Mrs T, Tom and the other moderators who lurk in the background for a few weeks as i'm off to SA trying to catch up with some critters of a large predatory nature. Of course I will try to get some half decent snaps and will let you know of any top spots on my return!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Hi Alan, I can't promise nice but here are a few of the critters that posed long enough even for me to get a picture!
Subantarctic skua
Great white shark (from the cage diving boat off seal island)
Habeba ibis (at Kirstenbosch)
Cape fur seal (relaxing in Cape Town harbour)
Rock hyrax or 'dassie'
Nellie and nellie jnr (distant relatives of the hyrax!)
Lilac breasted roller (he just wouldn't turn around!!!)
Male cheetah
Ooh WOW!! Stunning shots! Would love to see more if you have time!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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Glad you had a good time, Ian. Great to see your photos. I love the profile of the Cheetah. What a beautiful creature it is.
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Tony
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Thank you. I will try and get a few more on later when i've caught up with some letters - from the content of most of the correspondence we've received it looks like a few people have been noticing a lack of garden birds over the last couple of weeks!!!
Here goes then, some more bird pics from my travels, tried to get a few record shots of some of the more obscure species!
Red winged starling
Grey go-away bird
Brown-hooded kingfisher
Double-banded sandgrouse
Arrow-marked babbler
Stunning! Love the babbler's eye!
Great photos, Ian! Looks and sounds like you had a fabulous time!
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Thanks for your comments!
I love all of your photos but what I'd really love to know is how on earth did the grey go-away bird come to be named?
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Hi Clare, as far as I know it comes from the days when big game hunting rather than wildlife watching was the biggest draw to Africa. Whilst it's call can sometimes sound a bit like a distorted 'go away', these birds had a habit of alarm calling if a hunter was spotted, usually spoiling their chances of successfully stalking their quarry - hence the hunters would say go away birds, the name stuck!