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.

Butterflies and Birds with Attitude.

Last weekend the butterflies were out so the day became one of closeups of these beautiful creatures.
If any one knows the correct names for these butterflies please let me know. I have tried to the best of my knowledge to name them but have probable misidentified some of the butterflies.
 
The mountain photographs are an on going process and will be posted as and when I have a clutch of them ready.

Butterfly and Bee

 Both of these were very busy collecting or eating nectar.

Blue Butterfly

Blue Butterfly

 I think this is a Smoky Blue

Bulbul

 He just sat and watched me carefully while I photographed him.

Rufas Butterfly

 If any one knows the correct name please let me know.

Acraea Encedon

 I think the common name is Monarch Butterfly

Acraea Encedon

Prinia

This fellow was flitting from bush to bush and shouting the odds at the top of his voice. Here he sat long enough for me to get this shot of him in full voice.

Have a great week and i hope you have enjoyed these photos as much as i have enjoyed both the photographing of them and looking at them.

To all those that took the time to comment on the last post thanks it was greatly appreciated.

Maluti Mountains & Other Images

NEW YEAR 2013

I must add that I went and stood on to of the highest point in the Maluti Mountains That I could get to, not very high by world standards but high enough for me all 2500m above see level, to see the end of the World, but as I thought would happen Nothing just plain nothing.

At last here is the first post of the new year I have been reviewing the photos that I took over the December break.

Here are some of the first ones to be processed.

Old Barn

Blue Tiger

The Stud Stallion standing at Riverton Stud in the Western Province of South Africa.

Kraai River Bridge
(Kraai in English is Crow)

Blue Cranes a mating Pair
These are in one of the Paddocks on Riverton Stud.

Warriors Way River Crossing

The is the route which Mosheshwe and his warriors took thought the mountains to raid the European Settlers and Xhosa people. The Narrow gauge railway (now discontinued) bridge is the river crossing the raiding parties used to take about 100 years ago.

Bully Canary

Kraai River
This was taken upstream of the road bridge.

Daasies Hoek Nature Reserve
Her we have a little known gem in the Robertson Area of the Western Cape

 

Karoo Sunset
This was take just out side of a little town in the Karoo called Victoria West.

There will be more posts of the mountains as I process the raw images.

With all the over cast weather and rain this weekend I decided to have a look in my archives for some cheerful colourful  photos.
This what I came up with ....

Not much to say just just enjoy any feed back is welcome.