From Floods and Surprises in River beds

[Flutterby]

Stunning pics of the waxbills.

[Dindingwe]

So many nice pictures ! Love all the bird pictures

[Lisbeth]

There is not one pic too many

The common waxbill lying on the back is really funny and all of the birds extremely pretty

Lovely white flowers

[Mel]

Such beautiful bird sightings again! Would be hard to choose favourites, but the waxbills are pretty far the top

[Pumbaa]

A birdie day!

Totally agree that it is difficult to photograph the waxbills, Pumbaa!

What pretty creatures they are!

We indeed had such a great fun with them

Stunning pics of the waxbills.

We took so many of them it was so amazing

So many nice pictures ! Love all the bird pictures

The best was we were most of the time the only car there

[Pumbaa]

There is not one pic too many

The common waxbill lying on the back is really funny and all of the birds extremely pretty

Lovely white flowers

At least all the waxbills were indeed extreme comical birds

Such beautiful bird sightings again! Would be hard to choose favourites, but the waxbills are pretty far the top

As it is always difficult in photographing them today they posed for us like mad

[Pumbaa]

and resting wildebeests.



At the lovely pond along the S130 we stopped again and today a grey heron was around



as well as the Egyptian goose couple



and a bit further down we also noticed a brown snake eagle.



The rest until we again reached the Lower Sabie causeway was dead quiet and now we stood already for the final time during that trip on that causeway where we soon spotted an African fish eagle



as well as a Jacobin cuckoo very well hidden the whole time.



After our final visit at Lower Sabie camp also a final visit at Sunset dam was a must where today an egret could be found extreme close



and for sure the dead tree in the middle of the dam had to be captured



with all the buffalo weavers and glossy starlings bringing food to their chicks.



Extreme close we enjoyed once again the hunting or better to say wading skills

[Pumbaa]

of the black winged stilts



as well as from the three banded plover



and suddenly we heard some hue and cry from the dead tree in the middle of the dam and from behind of the huge nest a juvenile gymnogene appeared





whilst the weavers tried to chase same away



as they had mouths to feed and the gymnogene tried to destroy the huge nest to catch a chick.



On the one hand we were extreme happy to spot another African harrier hawk as this raptor is indeed a rarer sighting for us but on the other hand we felt extreme sorry for all the weavers



but it was an extreme interesting sighting especially when observing the hunting skills of this raptor. Same hang itself onto the huge nest and pulled on same with its claws quite often within very short intervals.





As patience and will is paying off quite often same finally was successful and got hold of a chick



and now the hue and cry from the weavers got ear-splitting



to be continued......

[Klipspringer]

Wow! Harrier-Hawk raiding a weaver’s nest is a very special sight

[Alf]

Wow great sighting