200 different Animals for a Non-birder on a Winter Trip?

[Lisbeth]

[Toko]

Milkweed Locust Phymateus leprosus


Swaziland, Hlane Royal National Park, 31 August 2014

A large grasshopper about 7cm in body length, males (40 mm) are smaller than females (50-60 mm). They are brightly coloured, green and pink (male) grasshopper with two large bumps on pronotum. Nymphs are a bright green and black colour and very well disguised in the grass.

Don't touch or eat it, it can store and secret noxious substances in special glands, its haemolymph contains cardiac glycosides sequestered from milkweed on which it feeds. Steyn (1962) reported detailed observations on the death of a four-year-old Bantu child within 12 hours after she had eaten a single adult.

[Lisbeth]

This one is only 640, Toko!

Great colours

[Toko]

They are all 640

[Toko]

I like this pretty bird and it's the second time I found it at the same place


Cape Rock Thrush Monticola rupestris


Male, Marakele National Park, 17 August 2014

Identification: Size smallish to medium. Iris brown; bill black; legs and feet pinkish brown to black. Male: Head, throat and upper breast bright blue-grey; back mottled dark brown and rufous (plain blue-grey in Sentinel and Shorttoed Rock Thrushes); breast and belly rich orange-rufous; tail orange with black centre. Female: Above brown, streaked black; face and throat mottled white and brownish; rest of underparts rich orange-rufous; tail as in ♂. Immature: Above brown, mottled buff; below rufous, mottled black.

Distribution: Cape Province S of Orange River, E Orange Free State, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, E Gauteng escarpment to Zoutpansberg, Lebombo Range into SW Mozambique; also W Gauteng and SE Botswana.

Habitats: Rocky gorges, cliffs, boulder-strewn hillsides, scree slopes, usually with scattered low trees, bushes and aloes.

Habits: Solitary or in pairs. Perches on top of rock, bush or tree when alarmed, or to sing; sometimes flicks wings after landing. Forages mostly on ground, by hopping; attracted to burnt areas; also feeds on flowering aloes. Tame around human settlements.

Food: Insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, molluscs, small frogs, nectar, fruit, seeds.

Breeding: Season: September to February. Nest: Untidy mass of grass, twigs, roots and soil, with cup-shaped cavity on top, lined with rootlets; in crevice or on ledge of rock. Clutch: 2-4 eggs (usually 3).

[Lisbeth]

They are all 640

Your choice?

[Toko]

ja, most of them are too blurred for larger size

[Lisbeth]

At least you have a good reason, even if exaggerated

[Toko]

Another one in blur


African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus


Kruger National Park, 27 August 2014

Identification: Size small; build very slender; uniform brownish grey; tail very long, pointed, deeply forked; wings long, slender, pointed. Immature: Scaled with rufous buff above and below; tail shorter than that of adult.

Distribution: Africa S of Sahara, Madagascar; in South Africa mainly in N and E; spreading westwards to SW Gauteng, N Cape (Kuruman) and S Namibia (Mariental, Auob River).

Habitats: Palm trees, both indigenous and exotic, mostly at lower elevations; gardens, parks.

Habits: Gregarious, sometimes in company with other species of switfs and swallows. Roosts under or on palm leaves. Flight swift and graceful on stiff wings.

Food: Aerial arthropods, including termite alates.

Breeding: Season: All months. Nest: Pad of feathers glued with saliva to midrib of underside or upperside of palm leaf, vertical wall of building or bridge member; as low as 2 m above ground, usually much higher; eggs glued with saliva to lower lip of pad. Clutch: 2 eggs (rarely 3). Incubation: 18-22 days; incubating parent clings vertically to nest, using sharp claws. Nestling: 28-33 days.

[Toko]

Scrub Hare Lepus saxatilis


Mapungubwe National Park, 21 August 2014

Scrub hares have a typical hare-like body shape with long ears, long well-developed hind legs and a short fluffy tail. The body hair is fine and soft, the upperparts are a brown-grey to grey colour with a black-fleck giving the coat a grizzled appearance. The underparts are white. The head is a lighter whitish or buff on the sides of the face and around the eyes. Most animals have a distinct white patch on the forehead just above the eyes. The nucal patch, situated in the nape of the neck behind the ears is a more reddish brown than the rest of the body. The tail is black above and white underneath.

Scrub hares are found throughout southern Africa, excluding the Namib Desert. It generally prefers woodland and scrub cover with grass.
They are nocturnal but may be active during the early morning and the late afternoon. They occur singly unless a female is accompanied by courting males or her offspring. During the day they lie up in “forms” (shallow depressions in the ground or grass), usually concealed under bushes amongst some grass.
The diet of scrub hares consists of the leaves, rhizomes and stems of dry grass, but they have a preference for green grass.