Pink in Pilanesberg

[Penga Ndlovu]

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As dumbass 1 and dumbass 2 (that's me' :lol: ) forgot their birdbooks at home and dumbass 3 had it with him, but left it in the camp, we will refrain from any namegivings and leave you peeps to it to do the identifications.
-O -O

Here are a few more from the Saturday afternoon:











And now the sequence of the day. Each photo taken with the space of 5 minutes in between them.
It is called: "How do I lite a Skottelbraai".

The answer is: "Do not hire a Bunny to do it"

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[BunnyHugger]

The Pygmee Kingfisher turned out to be just another "ordinary" Malachite Kingfisher but the pie was a silver colored fish it had in it's beak.

-O -O -O -O -O

-O There is only a little difference between the two. -O

[BunnyHugger]

From here on it was a relatively straight drive to camp. Ice cream was a definite necessity and a long swim in the pool was the other.

The drive back was punctuated with sightings of springbuck, Steppe Buzzards, more European bee eaters, Zeebies and a few Wild cows. (Wildebeest.)

Much later we would take in a quick afternoon drive to see pretty much of the same. No cats and no dogs.

What we did see a lot of was damage from some recent heavy rains. The sand roads were rutted in places, with pools of water in evidence everywhere. Ironically, we were to find out later that despite the heavy rains, some of the dams would be very low or empty while some were full to the brim. Rhinos were seen regularly.

Blue waxbills and yellow canaries were also well represented.

Things we didn't see:

Baboons, monkeys out in the wild (We saw one running around on the roof at the restaurant at Manyane. Clearly he was not a welcome visitor because he pretty much stayed just out of reach of everyone by sticking to the higher branches of the tress and the roof.)
Lions, leopard, wild dog or any large groups of Ellies.
Exploding or otherwise monitors, hippo or Vultures. Although I was keen to see a crimson breasted shrike, it also didn't materialise. Jackals were also not seen.

We came to the conclusion that predators were very limited in number as the animals all looked very relaxed, some alone or far away from the herd. Many lying down and it all seemed rather calm and peaceful.

[JustN@ture]

So a scenery view from the picnic site while BH got the skottle going...



and then from the hide we had some great sightings.


African Darter


Pied King Fisher

Malachite King Fisher...(AKA Pygmee if you don't take the book or PDA along...)
with the silver fish -O




Southern Red Bishop


Reed Cormorant

A rather wet African Darter making a graceful landing -O



and thats how it stayed for a while -O



African Jacana

and on the way back to camp

[Penga Ndlovu]

No Fluts.
Not understocked at all where most mammals and birds are concerned.

They could stock them with a few more cats and dogs though.

[JustN@ture]

I may be wrong, but I've always thought that Pilanesberg is understocked...

That's why we took our own beverages -O

will admit They could do with more of the cats and dog as PN says but the rest where good.

PN, great photo's bud

[Lisbeth]

Red-breasted swallow!

And where is your bird book now PN? //\0--

Beautiful european Bee-eaters all!

Great shots of the African darter JN and PN

What is that wetish LBJ? A wagtail of some kind it seems.

As a sustain to BH, I must say, that I always thought that it must be quite difficult to cook a skottel breakfast, with everything cooking together; on the other hand it should not be too difficult to light it...

[Penga Ndlovu]

Thanks JN. Same to you.

Lis. I am at work and I do not have that thing with me.

As for the skottekbraai.
Have you ever niticed how a flame is burning upwards when you lite it.
Have a look at BH's hand. -O -O

[Amoli]

At our brunch we had company - Red winged starling - waiting for food. It flew into the tree above us,
and luckily, it messed on PN and not into our food...



Our ways parted again and we would meet up in camp later.

We took pics of wild animal bunches having a meet in the bush.... enjoy - :P



IMG]http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z44 ... G_6429.jpg[/IMG]

Some nursery pics ....




and when she is fed-up - she just starts walking :roll: :roll: leaving baby fall over his own legs...


JN & PN - you guys got some great shots at Mankwe - wow.
I will add this one... White throated swallow...



I am practising to do the 'in flight' dis-ting - but I need lots of practise still.
My timing sucks... -O -O Notice the round hole in it's right ear - must be some ID?



I loved sitting and watching this elephant and it's strength and emotions... awesome. Deep thoughts.



It then gave me the look.... and I knew I was adding some discomfort with my presence, so I went on my way.


I had so much fun with the birds - yet my lens is not good enough, and I am not switching off the car, and I am not using a bean bag, and....
I need lots of practise. In the meantime, I am loving every minute I spend with the birds.

Here are a few :
Burchells cuckoo

Obvious....


Dark capped bulbul

I think its a Red-backed shrike

And a little Grebe


I made in back into camp 7 minutes before they closed the gates. That was good

[Amoli]

The highlight of my morning was definitely the spotting of a Diderick Cuckoo. The very first one for me which made it a truly special sighting. We even managed to get a picture of him.

We even almost had a head on collision with our errant and absent Amoli and navigator who were just as busy as us looking at the ellie. The road, not so much. It occurred to me only much later just why Amoli got "lost". Her navigator doesn't speak. At ALL!!!

..... Beautiful pic of the Diederick Cuckoo.... thanks

Guys..... I had a choice between two friends.
I chose the quiet one, yet if I had taken the chatterbox, I would have got lost in any case -
and you guys would have chucked me out of camp, for sure... -O -O