In flight the Southern pale chanting goshawk, when seen from below, appears to be white (it is in fact very pale grey) with black primary flight feathers.

The Southern pale chanting goshawk, near-endemic to the southern African region, prefers open semi-desert areas, where the bushes and thorn trees are fairly low. It is usually a somewhat quiet bird, but it has a melodious whistling chant “kleeu-kleeu-kleeu”  that has given it both its common name and its scientific name.

This little raptor eats mainly small mammals, lizards and insects, but will also take small birds or small reptiles. It may hunt from a perch, but is often seen on the ground and may run after its prey. Sometimes it will follow smaller mammals, like jackals, to feed on the insects and other suitable prey that is flushed by their passing.

The female Southern pale chanting goshawk might pair up with a single male, or two males and a female may form a polyandrous trio. They build a relatively small cup-shaped nest of sticks, usually well above the ground in an acacia tree, and the female lays a clutch of one or two pale blue or pale green eggs that hatch after an incubation period of about 35 days. It is common for only one youngster to be raised even if two eggs are laid.

The scientific binomial for the Southern pale chanting goshawk is Melierax canorus; Melierax from the Greek for a “melodious hawk”; and canorus from the Latin meaning “to sing”. Someone was certainly impressed with this birds vocalizations!

A Red-billed teal lay dead amongst the vegetation in the murky water and was being eaten by a small group of turtles!

The sunbirds were forgotten for the moment as I stood and watched in amazement as the turtles gathered, sometimes as many as five appearing to feed at the same time, pushing at the teal so that it twisted and turned in the water, sometimes presenting as just a pile of feathers, at other times its full duck-shape being obvious. In the gloom of the dirty water the turtles could only be seen when they were near the surface and there could have been more nudging the teal from below.

I watched several of the turtles swim away from the teal, only either to return after a short interval or to be replaced by others. It wasn’t therefore possible to see just how many turtles were taking advantage of this bonanza, but the most that were clearly in view simultaneously, either at the teal itself or swimming nearby, was seven.

I watched the activity for some time before I went back to trying to photograph the uncooperative Dusky sunbirds, but returned to the same spot the following morning to find no trace whatsoever of either the teal or the turtles. The teal could have been out of sight deep beneath the surface of the water, but there wasn’t so much as a feather to be seen.

I should imagine that the turtles were not instrumental in the death of the teal, as, although omnivorous turtles are known to feed on carrion, duck eggs, and even to take young ducklings, this had looked like an adult teal. I did, however come across this rather amazing video clip on You Tube of a turtle taking a pigeon, so who knows what is possible?

Take a look …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGZ5XUW27E&feature=player_embedded

 

The bill of the Greater flamingo is a distinctive shape, curving downwards, and is pink with a black tip. In flight their long necks are stretched out in front and their long legs trail behind, once again rendering them very distinctive. Young birds lack the pink or red of their elders and are a rather dull grey and white.

Greater flamingoes have a very extensive range, being found in Africa, Asia and parts of southern Europe. Their preferred habitat is shallow coastal lagoons and mudflats, where they use their feet to stir up the mud. They suck water into their bills, using their tongues as a pump, and have filters to retain the shrimps, worms, algae and other tiny organisms on which they feed. They feed with their heads submerged and upside down and sweep their heads from side to side, presenting a very odd picture.

They are very sociable birds and, where feeding conditions are suitable, may be found in very large groups of up to hundreds or even thousands of birds. They often stand on one leg, with the other well tucked up against the body, but the reason for this is not clearly understood. They have a loud honking call, not unlike that of a goose, but may also call much more softly when they are feeding.

Greater flamingoes are monogamous and their nest is a simple mound of mud scraped together in shallow water. The females lay a single chalky-white egg that hatches after an incubation period of about 30 days.

The scientific binomial for the Greater flamingo is Phoenicopterus ruber; Phoenicopterus from the Greek for “bright red wings”; and ruber from the Latin for “red”. Thus a bird with bright red wings. With a bird as exotically shaped as a flamingo (used as a live croquet stick in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”),  you would think they could have done better than that!

In fact there are loads of myths and legends around dragonflies, perhaps because of their light, mystical and magical qualities.  Stories and poems abound about them as well and they are even used in tales for eulogies and grief counselling.  They certainly seem to elicit an enormous amount of attention for such small insects.

On a happier note, we’ve been camping twice in January (aren’t we lucky!) and have been privileged to see many beautiful dragonflies around our campsites and at the dams.  They aren’t always easy to photograph so it’s especially rewarding when you manage to get a half decent shot of one.

They are worse than birds when it comes to staying still long enough to photograph them and this is because they have these enormous compound eyes with about 30 000 lenses that cover a 360 degree area.  They actually sense more than they see so if you approach them they fly off.  Sometimes you get lucky though!

I’m not even going to try and write about all the interesting facts and myths surrounding dragonflies as there is THE most amazing website covering absolutely everything you’d ever want to know about them – the Dragonfly Site.  Do pay it a visit and prepare to be enchanted learning all about these beautiful little creatures.

They are medium sized birds, with a length of about 24 cm and derive their name from the plumage on their head and breast, which is brownish-grey with white tips to the feathers that give the characteristic “arrow-marked” effect. The back and tail are a darker brown and the belly lighter. The bill, legs and feet are black and the eyes are two-toned, having a red outer rim and a yellow centre. The males and females are alike in both size and plumage.

Arrow-marked babblers are common throughout large parts of Africa, but within the southern African region they are largely limited to the north-east, their preferred habitat being semi arid woodland and moist shrublands.

They are quite social birds and are usually found in small groups of four to twelve birds. They forage low down in the undergrowth or on the ground and feed mainly on insects, spiders and small reptiles; also taking some fruit and seeds.

Arrow-marked babblers are monogamous and co-operative breeders, building an untidy cup-shaped nest of twigs and dry grass lined with finer material. This is usually placed in thick vegetation well above the ground. The female lays a clutch of three to five blue eggs that hatch after an incubation period of approximately 15 days. The nest may be parasitized by the Levaillant’s cuckoo (Clamator levaillantii).

The scientific binomial for the Arrow-marked babbler is Turdoides jardineii; Turdoides from the Latin for “like a thrush”; and jardineii after the naturalist Sir William Jardine. Not a very descriptive name without a mention of the distinctive plumage or the two-tone eyes!

Initially it takes a few days for the club to get noticed, but once the word spreads we are inundated with guests.  We often find them waiting even before we have opened our doors in the morning.  They get quite impatient too – if we are late delivering they set up a dawn chorus of chirps to remind us that they’re hungry.  It’s gratifying to see how popular our unofficial restaurant has become.

We get to know the little quirks and eccentricities of some of the regulars and that’s what makes a club like this so interesting.  It really broadens one’s knowledge of temperaments and dominant characters and personalities.  And when we move house we get to meet new and different friends and our next club is soon established and vibrant.

Here in Windhoek we have a wonderful pageant of birdies who visit us every morning.  Apart from the usual house sparrows and canaries, we get to see a number of very colourful birds.  And of course their plumage often changes with the seasons, so we also see them tranforming from their drab winter outfits and developing fine breeding feathers, then strutting their stuff in front of the ladies as they get more beautiful.

Because of the regular supply of seeds and bread, a number of southern masked weavers have built nests in the trees next to our fence.  We’ve been able to watch them rearing their babies and launching them into the world (sometimes with disastrous results!)  If we could offer crawling and flying insects as well we would have a much wider variety of birds to welcome to our space, but unfortunately that is a little more difficult than buying a packet of seeds or a loaf of bread from the local supermarket!

Some of the birds we’ve fed here include :

Bulbuls, blue waxbills, red-headed finches, southern masked weavers, red-billed queleas, rosy-faced lovebirds, southern red bishops, long-tailed paradise whydahs, chestnut weavers, acacia pied barbets, shaft-tailed whydahs, laughing doves, speckled pigeons, pale-winged starlings, great sparrows, canaries, white-browed sparrow weavers.  (I’m sure there are a few that have slipped my mind!)

It’s delightful to start the day off watching these beautiful little creatures getting stuck in to their breakfast.  Kind of sets a peaceful tone for the rest of the day.  An added bonus is that we can photograph them too.

 

 

 

Previously called the Melba finch, the Green-winged pytilia is a popular cage bird.

The males and females are similar in size, but are quite different in their plumage. The male has a red forehead, throat and cheeks; grey head, face and nape of the neck. The rump is red; the tail brown with red edging; the breast is a greeny-gold colour and the balance of the under-parts are white barred with black, The female lacks the red on the head, the entire head being grey, and the throat and breast are white barred with black. Both sexes have orange-red bills and grey-brown legs and feet.

Green-winged pytilias feed mainly on seeds and insects, particularly termites. They generally forage on fairly open ground or in low vegetation, in pairs or in small groups. They are quite shy and retiring by nature and in spite of their bright colouring are often overlooked.

Green-winged pytilias are monogamous and build a nest that is an untidy ball of dry grass with a side entrance, and is generally located in a thorny bush just one to two metres above the ground. The females usually lay a clutch of four or five white eggs that hatch after an incubation period of about 14 days. The nest may be parasitized by the Long-tailed paradise whydah (Vidua paradisaea).

The scientific binomial for the Green-winged pytilia is Pytilia melba; Pytilia from the Greek for the diminutive form of the grosbeak genus Pitylus; and melba which was the name used by Linnaeus, apparently without explanation and the derivation of which is unknown.

We placed some left-over burger meat on the ground, Rob set his camera up on a tripod and we waited for our dinner guest.  It took about an hour for the mongoose to arrive.  It was very nervous and detoured through the flower bed to grab a piece of meat before disappearing back under the garden wall.  Having obviously enjoyed the tasty morsel, it followed this procedure until the food was gone.  Rob, in the meantime, had been clicking away and getting some magnificent shots.

On day two cold chicken was on the menu and sure enough, right on cue, our little mongoose arrived.  We could see by its size that it was a juvenile.  Still nervous, the meal took more than an hour to eat as the mongoose kept running off with each piece of meat.  There was great excitement when halfway through the meal a Slender mongoose arrived on the scene.

They are quite different in colouring – being darker and having a black tip on their tail as opposed to the white tip on the tail of the Yellow mongoose.  The Slender mongoose also has a very different face with a pink nose.

By day three we’d almost run out of meat so used cat pellets to supplement the meal.  We were delighted when our Yellow mongoose (note how possessive we had now become!) brought a friend along to eat.  They weren’t too nervous and stayed eating at the dish, all the while ‘talking’ to each other with little cooing noises.  When alarmed by something, they made a completely different warning sound as they ran off.  At one stage our cat went outside and one of the little mongooses bushed out its tail and rushed at him in a threatening manner.  I was somewhat alarmed by this as I wouldn’t want any harm to come to our beloved cat.

On the fourth day no less than six mongooses arrived.  Our little garden was completely overrun by these animals and we decided that we’d taken enough photos and would stop the feeding/photography project.  It’s amazing how quickly the word spreads when there is food to be had.  One or two still come nosing around during the day looking for food and it’s very difficult not to feel sorry for them and throw a few cat pellets their way.

If you’d like to read more about the variety of mongooses that we’ve seen, click on The Heroic Mongoose and Namibia’s Largest Endemic Carnivore.

 

 

 

The flightless Common ostrich is a member of the same large family as other flightless birds such as the kiwi and the emu. It is able to run faster than any other bird, with a top speed approaching 95 km per hour. The males are slightly larger than the females, and the sexes differ in plumage, with the males having predominantly black feathers, with some white on the wings and tail. The females are a drab grey. Both sexes have bare legs and necks. Bills are broad and flat.

The Common ostrich is one of the very few species of birds that is farmed on a large scale; for its feathers that are used in fashion and also for feather dusters, for its meat and for its skin which is used for a variety of leather goods. The feathers differ from those of most other birds in that they lack the tiny hooks that lock them together, and so the feathers of the Common ostrich are quite fluffy.

Although Common ostriches are generally fairly common, the wild population is quite small, and is limited to the arid regions of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. They are quite nomadic, and form flocks of up to fifty or more birds as they move through the drier areas of southern Africa, feeding mainly on vegetable matter, but also on insects and other invertebrates, If threatened they will usually run away, but if cornered they can defend themselves very ably with powerful kicks.

Common ostriches are polygamous and make a nest that is just a scraped hollow in the ground. Several females may lay their eggs in the same nest, until the clutch reaches twenty or more eggs. The eggs are the largest eggs of any bird, and they hatch after an incubation period of approximately 40 days. They make good use of their dimorphic colouring as camouflage during incubation, with the grey females incubating the eggs during the day and the black males during the night.

The scientific binomial for the Common ostrich is Struthio camelus; Struthio from the Latin for an “ostrich”; and camelus from the Latin for “pertaining to a camel”. So “Struthio” makes sense, but I have no idea about “pertaining to a camel”!

The instructions inside the box say that you should first enjoy an ice cold beer.  Not a problem for me at all in our current Namibian heat wave.  Then take another can of beer, drink about a third of it and place it firmly inside the holder on the frame.

That done, you take one wholesome chicken, rub it inside and out with oil and seasoning of your choice (I chose lemon, herb and garlic). You can get really creative with your spice rubs (e.g. mustard, peri perid, garlic – whatever).

Then stretch the cavity of the chicken over the beer can.

If you have a Weber Kettle barbeque, or a barbeque with a lid, you place the chicken in the centre and cover the barbeque.  Your regular kitchen oven is also fine if it’s big benough.  (If using an oven, you need a drip tray under the grid, in which you place your potatoes or vegetables for roasting.)  The chicken gets cooked for about 90-120 minutes over medium-high, indirect heat (no coals or burners directly under the chicken), or at 180C in an oven.

While it’s cooking and giving off the most delicious aroma imagineable, you can enjoy knocking back a couple of frosties.  When done, you remove the chicken carefully from the beer can in the barbeque or oven (don’t burn yourself) and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.  Your reward for all this effort?  The most tender, succulent and tasty chicken you’ve ever eaten.  It is absolutely delicious, as the moisture from the beer has risen and permeated the meat.  My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Don’t take my word for it, give it a try.  The South African manufacturers can be contacted at www.beerbird.co.za.  I’m not being paid to advertise for them by the way (I wish I was!)   I just think this is such a super idea.