ants and elephants, turds and terrapins & other silly ta *

[leachy]

Posted by leachy on Sun May 13, 2012 1:16 pm

:) :) :) :)


a short drive south seemed to be a good idea....

so off i went.

this is the reason i can never stay at balule...........

i am far too boisterous for the place...............



lots of roadside activity from the tiny ones.




and a hunting party of matebele practicing its various formations

as it prepares for the onslaught on some unprotected termite colony....







the low level bridge was such a calm, serene area..........






this lapwing assuming the role of nest inspector





and this little beetle reminded me of one of the knights of old with his ornate shield on his back.



and this ??????????????????????

:? :? :? :?

a route map for the balule to olifants river rally



took the s44 before heading home



another one of those precariously high foam nests.......



and these chaps fooling around




the last bit of sun for the day for this group on the makhadzi

[leachy]

Posted by leachy on Mon May 14, 2012 6:05 pm

:) :) :) :)

so..... i figured i would head on the h9 towards déjà vu dam

found this left handed ellie at the salad bar




just before the nhlanganini loop .......way ahead in the distance i see two jackal...

one adult and one junior... and they ran in different directions ..

shortly before an oncoming vehicle zoomed past them..



i went on up ahead slowly looking on either side of the road..

then i saw something in the under growth...



a juvie jackie.............................




then in the road ahead was the concerned parent who seemed desperate to find it's offspring.

it was running ahead of me.............

and then i noticed that it was cantering almost like a dog........

not trotting along as most jackals normally do...

then noticed why.......

it was a side striped jackal.......













first one i had ever seen.....

déjà vu dam was desolate so i carried on westwards and took the last low maint road on the left before masorini

also nothing much besides this grysbok




i looped back towards masorini and stopped to snap this chappie quenching his thirst

and using the step that sanparks installed specificaly for this use.






then i spotted a white bakkie heading towards me with a green ribbon.

i caught the driver's attention by asking him to explain the meaning of the green ribbon,........... :? :? :? :?

my vehicle was sans ribbon.....

it had been flapping around in the wind for 3 weeks and there was nothing left of it so i had removed it

he was about to answer .............when i asked him if he was "wayne"

:? :? :? :?

and i then introduced myself after he had confirmed his identity :D :D :D

can't be too careful who you might be talking to in these parts of the country

so sprocky asked me where i was off to and i shrugged my shoulders in reply

he went on to tell me how he had been sitting for about an hour,,

with a young leopard just a short way up the s51 on the way to sable dam,...

and that perhaps we should try our luck and see if it was still there..............

as you will see

it was..... :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

thanks sprocky......



























and then............

after his dental display he got up......

crossed to the otherside of the road and up a termite mound to have a scout about..

and then he sauntered off.........................

[leachy]

Posted by leachy on Wed May 23, 2012 5:10 pm

:) :) :) :)

so..... when i got back to letaba i took a stroll with my camera

and came across a troupe of vervets busy interacting with each other under the protection of a big tree...

i spent about and hour with them and took about 500 photos



of which i will share a whole bunch with you......

:roll: :roll:

the first ones i want to share, is the saga of a youngster

who is learning jump off the ground and to catch on to the branches above him..........



share his frustrations ......................










and so he sat and stared at the branches for a while .........................

before joining his siblings at play......

:D :D :D :D

now one of the remarkable appendages of these primates is indeed their tails.....

the advantages and uses of the tail are numerous..........

but none so humorous as ..............................

[leachy]

Posted by leachy on Thu May 24, 2012 3:59 pm

:) :) :) :)

more antics to amuse and amaze...........

.and sympathise too..........

perhaps.......



















here it seems as though they are laughing at a really good joke......

-O -O -O -O -O



and now they just carry on screaming at each other and teasing the kids....









eventually one last plea for this to stop

please..............



one of the kids is just plain exhausted........



another looks up to the heavens for help....



and another has just had too much.........

and sobs his heart out ...................

[leachy]

Posted by leachy on Sat May 26, 2012 10:27 am

:) :) :) :)


so...... it had been a long day.......

what with the ssj .......

and the grysspringer .........

and the leopard ......

and all those silly little minkies ......

and the evening was almost upon me ..........

so i took a drive to malopenyana at the h 15

weird how it can seem so desolate and remote in this lush january
....



...

on the way back this kori bustard
...


...


i marvel at the afrikaans name for this bird - "gompou" = glue peacock ???



...

this wet nose (healthy?)
...


...

and his chirpy health and safety officer.........
...
...



these three ground hornbill
...
( i always think of burger patties when i see these birds????? ground beef = burgers)




these jousting "red goats"
......
...










the ellies at the salad bowl
...



in the letaba riverbed
...



the view from my veranda
...





last light on the opposite bank
...



and braai time light..
...

[leachy]

Posted by leachy on Sun May 27, 2012 11:12 am

:) :) :) :)


so...................... i had been visiting letaba regularly for the past few years

and i always stay in the same unit. (thanks to the very obliging staff at reception!!)

every morning i am greeted with a big smile from the house keeping lady

and i greet her in return with "good morning ma'am !! how are you ???" to which she always replies........"....thanks and you!!!"

this morning was no different....





so i figured to day was my last full day at letaba so i would wonder around a bit and see what is about at this time of day.



the usual suspects


.......

.......

......


then i heard some activity in the nearby tree .....................




ok......just two birds...................... no big deal.........................

hang on.............

a jacobin cuckoo and a toppie (dark-capped bulbul)

the toppie landed and was foraging


.........

and the cuckoo followed
..............................

....

........................

after finding a cicada
....................

....
...



they both returned to the branches

....
....

.........

and the toppie proceeded to feed the cuckoo.
....
...

...

...
..


never seen that before...........................



then the toppie flew off to find more food to feed "its chick"

....
...

..
..

..
..
..
then i heard a heck of a commotion

as if there a street fight was going on somewhere..............................

[leachy]

:D :D :D :D


so...........as i mentioned a lot earlier..................

while the cuckoo was conning the bulbul

there was a hellova racket coming from close by......

sounded like a street fight of sorts.

not too difficult to find the culprits.........

these two squirrels were the guilty party.....
.




.

from what i could gather at first

was that the one fluff tail was sorting the other fluff tail out because it was being lazy...........

it seemed that the lazy one was not moving fast enough...

and the other one kept on trying to give the lazy one a push.......
.





.

to get it moving...


...

.
a startled starling stood staring

as the saga unfolded
.


.

the lazy one was so stubborn at times

that it even pushed up against a concrete step.....
.

.

the squirrel even tried to give the standing staring startled starling a shove

but it scurried away.........
.


.

here we see again how the lazy one stubbornly pushed against the paving in an attempt stop being shoved from behind....
.


.

but the bully carried on wrestling ..........
.












.

and the lazy one kept on stopping ....



it almost seemed as though the lazy one wanted to get a push every now and again...
.


.

eventually they scampered off into the undergrowth..
.

[leachy]

:D :D :D :D


so.......... after the two happy squirrels had scampered off into the undergrowth

i continued with my walk-about.

magnificent trees in the morning light.
.

.

.

the "bush chicken" that is so noisy every morning
.

.

a starling admiring the flora
.

.

then some "cackling women" making good use of their long red bills
.

.

.

.

.

.

a juvenile tugging at something that looks like an animal hide ???
.

.

another example of the symbiosis between the plant life
.

.

and then ......................................

can you see it ??????????
.

.

.
it can see you !!!!!!!!!!
.

.

and a morning chat on the fence
.

.

wonder if he ate it ???????????
.

.

.

then a sombre sight of a deceased bat lying "in state" on the slate

with the first of the funeral flowers laid next to him as a sign of respect.
.

.

now .... here is a worrying sight.

these two trees just outside my "garden cottage" have been, over the past few years, showing signs of old age,

and this year, they look even worse.........

i am not sure if they will still be alive when i next return.
.

.

.

.

this is my "cottage"
.

.

now.... having spent a large proportion of the day in the rest camp it was time for an outing....

ground hornbill in the riverbed
.

.

some plovers having a dispute
.

.

.

a group of buffs on the move
.

.
a trunk-tango
.

.

.

pretty flowers of the veld
.

.

.

a roller sitting on a branch
.

.

a roller not sitting on a branch.
.

.

the tenderness and enjoyment of mutual grooming
.

.


.
i think this boy has been eating liquorice


.



.


.


.

a quick afternoon drink
.

.

.

and now an interesting observation

some evidence of the ability that the impala possesses when they are able to "dislodge" their teeth within their gums

and spread them apart to allow them to be more effective as a grooming tool
.

.

[Richprins]

Mammals' teeth must withstand the strains of biting and chewing and so are firmly embedded in the jawbone. However, two zoologists in South Africa have found a peculiar exception. In impalas (Aepyceros melampus), the tips of the front incisor and canine teeth can move forward about 2 millimetres before returning to their original positions.

Andrew McKenzie and Arno Weber of the University of Pretoria looked for the cause of this oddity by examining the detailed anatomy of impala teeth. They found that the teeth are loose for a good reason: the impalas can remove parasites more efficiently (Journal of Zoology, vol 231, p 167).

The biologists looked at X-rays of teeth in the mouths of impalas, and also examined sections under a microscope. These revealed that the animal's tooth sockets were unusually shallow, and that the upper end of each socket was well below the neck of the tooth.


(From NewScientist.com)

[Dewi]

I've also seen this behaviour RP.

I posted it here a while ago.

Fascinating stuff.

viewtopic.php?f=116&t=424

(Sorry Leachy, don't want to hijack your thread, but I really enjoy this sort of info).