Archive for May, 2010
Bird of the week – Week 22 : Common greenshank
May 30th, 2010 | 
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Posted in The Common greenshank is not a particularly big bird, with a length of about 36 cm and a weight around 250 gm, yet those birds that we see in Southern Africa are mainly visitors from Northern Europe, where they breed. Although some birds are known to over-winter in Southern Africa, the majority arrives in July and departs again in May, thus making a twice-a-year crossing between Europe and Africa. Other birds migrate from Northern Europe to Southern Europe, Southern Asia and even to Australasia to escape the winter, so it is pretty widespread.
The Common greenshank has a mottled grey upper body; white lower back and tail; white lower body; a long, straight black bill, and long, light greenish-grey legs. It is closely related to the Greater yellowlegs and the Spotted redshank. (What is it with these legs?) It almost always calls a loud tew-tew-tew on take-off.
They are found on dams, sewage ponds, vleis, and at the seashore where they feed on small fish, molluscs, crustaceans, worms, and tadpoles. Although they are usually solitary, they will sometimes be found in loosely coordinated groups as they forage in shallow water, particularly when food is abundant. They feed while wading forward at a steady walk, dashing forward when they spot a small fish or some other likely prey within reach. They are quite wary birds, readily taking to flight when alarmed.
They breed in Northern Europe, nesting on the ground in a hollow lined with grass or oteerh plant material. The female lays 3 to 5 pale yellowish-green eggs that hatch after an incubation period of about 24 days.
The deadly Peregrinatio cimex
Everyone is familiar with measles, mumps, rubella and the like. These are minor, mostly childhood infections that are well under medical control and no longer a real threat to anyone with reasonable access to medical care. So, forget about those. Africa faces bigger challenges from bugs; from really small bugs to the somewhat larger.
The bite of the mosquito can transmit Plasmodium falciparum and cause malaria. The bite of the tstetse fly can transmit Trypanosoma brucei and cause sleeping sickness. The bite of a meercat can transmit the Lyssavirus that causes rabies. Tramping on a rusty nail can result in an infection with Clostridium tetani and cause tetanus. The list is endless and the threats diverse, and each infection is costly to treat.
But none is as costly as the infection with Peregrinatio cimex. Spread through exposure to the magnificent scenery; the blue skies by day and the star-filled skies at night; the wonderful assortment of animals and the incredibly diverse people, Peregrinatio cimex is deadly. Although physically painless, it eats up the family budget rapidly and is no respecter of pension funds, college funds or any other jealously hoarded sum of money identified for some well-conceived, all-important objective. For Peregrinatio cimex is the Travel Bug.
Just a single bite from the P. cimex causes itchy feet and restless legs; the need to keep moving on to see and experience new things. The need to see what is over the next hill, across the next river, down that interesting looking track. The need to visit places just because they have fascinating names, or because you heard mention of them sometime in the dim and distant past. Glazed eyes at the thought of work, clearing instantly at the sight of a road map of some exotic clime. The bite of the Travel Bug is largely incurable, and although sufferers may concede that it is nice to return home after a trip, a relapse is inevitable and they will soon feel compelled to move on, forever bemoaning the shortage of time and money.
A bite by the Travel Bug will lead to all manner of new experiences, including exposure to more bugs. Some of the larger bugs that will be encountered are interesting and less destructive than those referred to in the first paragraph; some are even large enough to be photographed. Let’s look at a few.
Here we have the fierce-looking (but harmless) Koringkriek, or Armoured Ground Cricket. In some areas of Namibia there are armies of these wandering on the paths at certain times of the year, migrations may be seen crossing the road, many losing their lives under the rolling rubber of passing vehicles.
Then there are scorpions. These little creatures have tails that curve up over their backs and their poison is potent enough to ruin a holiday. It is always advisable to wear closed shoes after dark when they are most active.
And the infamous camel spider. This nasty little beast has a number of aliases because it isn’t really a spider at all, but a solifigud (a rather awkward name which apparently means ‘escaping from the sun’). Also known as a sun spider or wind scorpion, this is not a gogga to mess with. It moves very quickly and often appears to run after someone walking in the sun, although what it is really doing is looking for shade. We were terrorized by camel spiders on Christmas night at Khamkirri on the Orange River (and it wasn’t only the ladies who were climbing on chairs!)
This first picture is of a female camel spider –
The male is much smaller and has a very ferocious-looking face. Love the red hair!!!
On a larger scale and perfectly harmless, but a bit alarming to find climbing on your chair is the Turner’s Tubercled Gecko (not a bug per se but it falls into the creepy crawlie class).
In fact folding camping chairs seem to be magnets for bugs. Put a hand on this hairy caterpillar and you could spend the next hour getting rid of its prickly hairs.
Post script:
For those with a scientific bent, the binomial Peregrinatio cimex derives from the Latin “Peregrinatio” meaning “travel” and the Latin “cimex” meaning “bug”. The Travel Bug. Of course it doesn’t really exist (as if you thought it did!), but doesn’t it make a wonderful excuse for all those rather expensive and pointless excursions?
Tags: Armoured Ground Cricket, camel spider, Clostridium tetani, escaping from the sun, hairy caterpillar, itchy feet, Koringkriek, Lyssavirus, malaria, mosquito, Plasmodium falciparum, rabies, scorpions, sleeping sickness, solifigud, sun spider, tetanus, Travel Bug, Trypanosoma brucei, tstetse fly, Turners Tubercled Gecko, wind scorpion | 
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Botswana 2010 : Rooiputs Part 3
We changed campsites three times at Rooiputs as we couldn’t get bookings at one particular site for the whole duration of our stay. In fact very often the campsites were purported to be fully booked and we ended up being the only campers there. Travel agents apparently make block bookings and then fail to come with clients. This is unfortunate as people are turned away when in fact there are sites standing empty.
The birdlife around the campsite was always interesting. Rob managed to track down the Barn Owl that we had found in the A-frame. It had taken up residence in a nearby tree, obviously not planning to come back until we had left.
Another lovely bird to photograph is the little Pygmy falcon that is so prevalent in the Park.
We had a very productive game drive on our last afternoon of the holiday. We took a drive a short way past the Kij Kij waterhole and Rob spotted an African wild cat (Felis lybica) in a tree. (How he saw it amongst all those branches is still a mystery!) These wild cats, that closely resemble domestic tabby cats, are mostly nocturnal, which made our daytime sighting all the more gratifying.
On the same drive we came across a pair of Tawny Eagles in a tree, which we photographed. We later found out that they had caught a snake, that can be seen pinned under the foot of one of the eagles. Amazing what one could miss with the naked eye!
Another bonus was a Honey Badger, known in Afrikaans as a ratel (Mellivora capensis). The Honey Badger, which gives off a foul smell like a polecat when threatened, is tough and aggressive, so has few enemies. They mainly hunt at night, but are often seen in the early morning or evening. Their gait is rolling and they keep their noses close to the ground as they hunt for food – bees, honey, fruit, scorpions and reptiles.
We saw literally dozens of leopard tortoises in the Park. This tiny one was battling to climb to safety from the road.
Everyone knows that awful feeling when a wonderful holiday has come to an end. The sadness at knowing that we’d be leaving behind wonderful friends, amazing birds and animals and the freedom of the great outdoors. Our special evenings around the campfire chatting about the day’s sightings would be sorely missed, as would the jovial sundowner times at our various ‘lone tree pubs’ out in the bush. But we had so much to be grateful for and we always had next year to look forward to – wherever the next adventure would be.
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is truly one of Africa’s great game reserves. If you have the right vehicle and don’t mind bad roads, then it really deserves to be on your list of ‘must do’s’.
Bird of the week – Week 21 : Cape wagtail
The Cape wagtail is a fairly common and familiar bird in the gardens and urban areas of most of southern Namibia and South Africa. It is less common through the rest of its range, including Zaire, Angola and Kenya. It is believed to be very sensitive to the use of insecticides and this may well be the reason that its numbers are declining in some areas. This wagtail is not very colourful bird, clothed in dull grey and white, but is still somewhat attractive. Medium in size, slender, with a length of about 20 cm and a wingspan of about 65 cm, it is grey above and off-white below, with grayish flanks and a grey band on the breast. The bill, legs and feet are black. It has the longish tail, constantly wagging, that is characteristic of the wagtail family.
It is usually seen singly or in pairs, but it may form larger groups outside of the breeding season. It enjoys short grass and is therefore often found on lawns, walking purposefully as it forages for insects and wagging its tail vertically when standing still or when landing. It is often found close to water, along the shoreline or along the banks of rivers and streams, pools, parks and sewage works, and it may take insects and other prey such as tadpoles from the surface of the water. In urban areas it is often to be found foraging in gardens or paved areas such as car parks.
The Cape wagtail’s voice is a jumble of “tweep-tweep” notes, most commonly sung from a raised perch such as a rock, tree or building. The nest is a cup of grass, lined with hair and feathers on the bank of a stream, on the ground under a rock or under the eaves of a building. The female usually lays a clutch of 3 or 4 dull yellow eggs that hatch after an incubation period of about 14 days.
The scientific binomial for the Cape wagtail is Motacilla capensis; Motacilla from the Latin for a wagtail and capensis from the Latin meaning from the Cape. Thus the Cape wagtail. Names don’t come any clearer than that!
Botswana 2010 : Rooiputs Part 2
When we drove into the Rooiputs camping area the first thing we saw was a small tent tucked away in a thicket of trees and bushes. It belonged to the engineer working on the new road – a site he had occupied for more than a year. Apparently he chose this unconventional habitat in preference to proper digs at Twee Rivieren/Two Rivers and because of this he was very knowledgeable about the comings and goings of the lions in the Rooiputs area. He told us that Rooiputs was the best place in the Park to see lions and warned us that they came through the campsite at least three times a week. He spoke of a pride of thirteen lions in the vicinity.
We didn’t have to wait long before the deep roar of a lion really close by broke the silence of the night. The next morning Jon was up at first light and noticed lion paw prints in the road within a meter or so from where we were both camped.
We wondered at what stage of the night it had passed by – was it while we were asleep or when we were enjoying a braai outside the A-frame? Had we been sized up for dinner and found wanting? (Note: We always had a car parked near where we were sitting for quick refuge in case of a visit by lions)
Morning ablutions forgotten we dived into Jon’s car and headed down the short track to the Rooiputs waterhole. Lions can be quite difficult to spot as they blend into the bushveld scenery and at first we didn’t see anything. Luckily campers from a nearby site pointed out the lone lioness on a dune quite near the waterhole.
Our delight at seeing her magnified when we heard a loud roar and she jumped up and made her way to greet a magnificent male lion accompanied by three other lionesses. She was obviously expecting them and they had a joyful reunion.
We couldn’t believe our luck when one of the females later left the group and made her way a short distance along the road in front of us to greet yet another male lion.
Now there were six of them. We later learned that the Park rangers kept tabs on these males and they were named Moertoe and Mfaas – Moertoe being the younger male who now headed the pride. Old Mfaas, although respected, kept his distance from the pride when they were cooling off in the heat of the day.
The lions spent the rest of the day lying under trees, moving only to follow the shade as the sun rose in the sky. The jackals gave them a wide berth as they came cautiously down to drink. One lone springbok made off at great speed when one of the lionesses stood up and did a small charge, but she obviously wasn’t too keen on hunting as she quickly flopped down to the ground again.
What a magnificent lion sighting. Any other animal activity on offer that day would pale into insignificance after such a display.
