Burchell’s Coucal..In the City?

Burchell’s coucal ( Centropus burchellii )

This near endemic to Southern Africa bird prefers areas with dense vegetation and at least 600 mm of rainfall per year, such as thickets, reed beds, coastal bush, borders between woodland and grassland and land adjacent to wetlands. Now none of these areas describes where we live, we are in the city… so what is this bird doing on the lawn of my neighbours property.??? 

I’ve told you all I love to sit and watch the birds, but this had me collecting the camera… Nature at it’s best.. just when you think you are understanding it, a curve ball comes your way…

Sure he/she is collecting the snails in the garden and making a feast of them… but he/she shouldn’t be here… or so I thought….

Ok he/she did enjoy the snail… but I ask once again why are they here.?? Later another appeared, sitting higher up…. looking for danger…

and then the reason popped it’s head up for me to capture… a youngster still being fed by the parents… the darker neck is a sign of a juvenile…

Little Egret.. hallo there..

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

The Little Egret is a small white heron and is very similar Snowy Egret, in fact I don’t know how these experts tell them apart. The Snowy is slightly smaller and the yellow around the eye extends down to the beak..

The little Egret is an all white bird with a long beak and black around it’s yellow eye. It looks as though it is wearing yellow socks, which you can clearly see in my photos. It grows to approx. 55–65 cm long with an 88–106 cm wingspan.

Little Egrets eat fish, insects, amphibians, crustaceans, and reptiles. Stalking their prey in shallow water, they often run wings up or jump in the air to land near the small fish. They will also stand still and wait for their prey to venture close enough to strike.

They nest in colonies, laying 3 or more eggs and both parents are involved in raising the young that leave the nest after approx. 6 to 7 weeks.

A few Photos I’ve just captured… played “hooky” from my office and went to a bird hide I love.. got a quick 130 photos of which 60 are OK.. just shows one shouldn’t sneak off…..

 

White-backed Mousebird

White-backed Mousebird (Colius colius)

This little bird is one of a fairly large group of birds… It is found in western and central regions of southern Africa from Namibia and southern Botswana eastwards to Central Transvaal and the eastern Cape.

This bird is about 34 cm (13 inches) long, with the tail comprising approximately half the length. When handling mousebirds the tail should be avoided, as the long tail feathers come out easily, suggesting like a lizard that it might be a sacrificial defence mechanism.

This little fellow I capture in the Kalahari and the last photo, although not good, just has a good look about it…

You Know You Are A Proud South African When…

A little bit of humour I picked up on the Internet….

 

YOU ARE PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN WHEN:

# You call a bathing suit a a "kossie".

# You call a traffic light a "robot".

# You call an elevator a "lift"

# You call a car hood a "bonnet"

# You call a car trunk a "boot"

# You call a pickup truck a "bakkie"

# You call a Barbeque a "Braai"

# Employee s dance and sing in front of the building to show how unhappy they are.

# You get cold easily. Anything below 16 degrees Celsius is Arctic weather.

# You know what Rooibos Tea is, even if you’ve never had any.

#You can sing your national anthem in four languages and you have no idea what it means in any of them.

# You know someone who knows someone who has met Nelson Mandela.

# You go to braais regularly, where you eat boerewors and swim, sometimes simultaneously.

# You produce a R100 note instead of your driver’s licence when stopped by a traffic officer.

# You can do your monthly shopping on the pavement!!!!!

# You have to hire a security guard whenever you park your car.

# You know a taxi can carry twice its certified number of people in one trip.

#You travel 100’s of kilometres to see snow.

# You know the rules of Rugby better than any referee!

# More people vote in a local reality TV show than in a local election.

# People have the most wonderful names: Christmas, Goodwill, Pretty, Wednesday, Blessing, Brilliant, Gift, Precious, Innocence, Given, Patience, Portion, and Coronation.

# "Now now" or "just now" can mean anything from a minute to a month.

# You start every sentence with yes/no or ja/nee.

#You continue to wait after a traffic light has turned to green to make way for taxis travelling in the opposite direction.

# Travelling at 120 km/h, you’re the slowest vehicle on the freeway.

# A bullet train is being introduced, but potholes can’t be fixed.

# The last time you visited the coast you paid more in speeding fines and toll fees than you did for the entire holiday.

# You have to prove that you don’t need a loan to get one.

# Prisoners, Doctors and Nurses go on strike.

# You don’t stop at red traffic lights, just in case somebody hijacks your car.

# Rwandan refugees start leaving the country because the crime rate is too high.

# You consider a high crime rate as normal.

To Blog or to write.. that is the question.??

On the 17th of January 2012, I started to write articles on Street Articles. Why? to improve my English and to teach myself to write shorter articles mainly needed for the computer program. (Help files and manuals).. Did I enjoy it.? Yes, and after penning 103 articles I became the top author on the site..

Well guess what, I wrote my last article in November last year and although I’ve dropped off the top 30 ranking I still receive reads… the total as at today being.. 98 255.. can you believe it… but I only received 1618 comments on my articles…

Now as for blogging.. I started on the 12 of February 2012, which WP reminded me by sending me a chocolate cake…(I wish) and I’ve just noticed I have just past the 30 000 views… but what strikes me the most is the comments…9 814 on wordpress. Now I’m thinking, if I tallied up all the words I’ve received, and those I’ve written… maybe I could have written a further 218 articles and still been number 1 author… No, then I wouldn’t have met all of you, and that has been far more fun than trying to be intelligent and writing articles of substance…

But wow I never started this for views, but for fun, so I must thank all of you for popping in to view my photos and reading what I try to share…