Lions - Wild Dogs and others

 Something other than birds here a bit of the African Wild life.

Part of a pride of white lions

These are a Male and Female resting in the shade.

Pride females returning from the stole around.  

Pride Male

This male is one of a pair of pride males here he is watching the pride females as they go exploring. These guys have the system down to a fine art sent the Women to do all the work then stole over and dish out the orders. Otherwise they are doing what Lions do best sleep and wait around. 

Red Hartebeest

European Bee Eater

Immature Diederik Cucoo

Nabbed lunch big fat juicy worm.

African Wild Dog

Ever felt like you are being sized up for the menu, well that was the feeling i got while photographing this male.

Wild Dog

This dog was just cheerful sole as his face shows. But this all changed when he spotted me as the photo above shows. 

Nothing like a mid morning nap.

These dogs are part of a small pack of  9 dogs when found them they were mostly sleeping.

Pride Male

He is also carefully watching the females as they wander around.

Female Rino and Calf

Sable Antelope

Watching me very carefully before deciding that i was fairly dodgy then galloped off. Hence one photo one opportunity once.  

Rufasnaped Lark

A Fly

What type of fly i don't know except that he had these monster eyes. It Posed for a while then flew off and i just have  this rather interesting photo of it.

Electric Light Display

 Friday night nature was at its best following a week of high temperatures during the day and some rain during the nights then on Friday the the finale a light show of note and then a thunder storm of epic proportions.

But then this is Africa nothing in half measures.  

Electric Light Display

 To give you an idea of how far away these strikes were i was using a 50mm lens and I never heard any thunder from these Lightening strikes. This display was taking place at approximately 9pm local time in Johannesburg.

For the photographers out there the settings used are as follows 50mm Lens, F 14 aperture, Bulb setting, 25 second exposure, ISO 80. The problem with using bulb setting is that if you expose for 25 seconds the the write to SD Card is 25 seconds, this resulted in me missing about two or 3 strikes while saving each shot.

This one ripped through the sky and then arced down

Stunning Display

Nature At its most Awesome

Tree Fungus

This Fungus was growing at the base of the tree just shapes and colours caught my attention. I decided to photograph it before some dimwit decides to break it which happens more often than not these days.

Egyptian Geese Take Off

Sitting in one of the local hides at the botanical gardens the only activity was this pair of geese here they decided to take off and this can be a bit of an experience if you are not used to it as these are fairly large birds and the dam fairly small. This results in the visual effect of them flying right at you and it can feel like they are going to come right through the viewing slot.

Malachite Kingfishers came to Play

This post is mainly of Malachite Kingfishers both adult and juveniles or immatures. The Bittern, Reed Warbler and a Waxbill also have a guest appearance.

Saturday was an early start to get to Marievale  bird sanctuary which is a very large area near the Gold Mining town of Nigel on the east Rand. The wet land was created by the mines when they pumped the water from their underground workings.Some of these mines are still in operation at the present time so the wet land is still being filled from this pumping. Land as far as i am aware was turned into a conservancy by the mine owners and as such the whole community has benefited from it.

Bittern

This is a rather delicate balancing act while fishing.

Common Waxbill

Immature Malachite Kingfisher

Caught Lunch

Immature Malachite Kingfisher

The image above is of the immature bird as can be seen from the colour of the bill and feet.

Fly by

The immature Kingfisher has a dark coloured bill and feet, while the mature has the very distinctive red bill and feet. As one can see from the photo below.

Snack Time

Botched Landing

Purple Swamp Hen

Reed Warbler

Wiskered Tern

Common Mongoose

The common mongoose or as it is known locally as the Red Mongoose, these creatures can be very shy and most often they are seen fleetingly as they rush off to safety usually away from humans. So i felt very privileged to be able to photograph this one as it posed quietly then left in a very dignified way not the usual mad dash.