Low flying birds near O.R. Tambo Airport…

I had to drop off a parcel for my son at the Anglo hanger at the airport. Leaving the security area I saw 2133 Grey-headed Gulls. (Don’t you believe that I actually counted them, but there were thousands.)

The sky was overcast so the photos weren’t good enough to post, but they were good enough to view and zoom into on the computer…. and to my surprise I noticed thousands of chicks in various stages of growth.

I returned to the site today (24th May) the sun was shining and I made a few captures….

Back in July 2012 I posted on this bird, (Click here to see the post) who would have thought I’d find their breeding ground.

Just look at all the chicks….

They take to flight fairly quickly when you move about…

But I’m not joking when I say there are thousands, if I was clever I’d be able to post my video clip, but I’m too stupid to get it on the blog…

When they circled above my head I thought they might be looking for food… or wanting to crap on my head… but when reading up on them… they were coming closer to attack me… and I quote from    http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/laridae/larus_cirrocephalus.htm

• The chicks flee the nest if disturbed and can run freely within a day of hatching, while their parents may attack intruders (such as humans) if they get to close.

I think these wanted to do more than make a deposit on my head… !!!!!

As you might be able to make out from the above photo that they are nesting at the end of a Gold Driving Range, I wonder how many have a close encounter with a golf ball or mistake a ball for an egg.???

Surprise, surprise, surprise… a plant of beauty Kaapsehoop…

Aloe arborescens (krantz aloe, candelabra aloe)

Whilst in the lowveld Linda and I went for a drive up to Kaapsehoop, something to do and of course I love to try and emulate “Awindowsinthewoods” (Click here to see some of her horse photos) by capturing photos of the wild horse of the area.

Leaving Linda at her favourite place (any coffee shop) I took off for a walk on the wild side… did I find a horse or two? No, but I did find huge areas of the Aloe in flower… this made the walk worth it… I never made it to the top as the lungs are not quite up to that as yet.

But with flowers like this who cares about a wild horse or the top of a mountain …. no matter what angle I took this plant from, their numerosity is impossible to capture. But I did try… enjoy “small house/BIG GARDEN” (click here to see her post on the same plant)…

I love this photo below…

Is she ready to breed? .. A buffalo’s perspective…

Yesterday I showed the size of this buffalo bull, today I show you what he was actually up to…

How does a buffalo know when a cow is ready to breed? He has her deposit a drop of urine on his nose and there he will test her readiness… (glad we’re not like that!)

I can hear him saying… “something smells suspect around here…”

“A small deposit please”  sniff sniff sniff !!!

“Not quite ready yet so you will have to wait for this magnificent body”

“You can beg all you want… and all this cupboard love will get you nowhere….”

“Stop it now… nothing for you till I say you are ready…” what a Bull !!!!

A bull will closely guard a cow that comes into heat, while keeping other bulls at bay. This is difficult, as cows are quite evasive and attract many males to the scene. By the time a cow is in full oestrus, only the most dominant bull in the herd/sub herd is there.

Looking at this Guy … I reckon he gets his Gal…

African buffalo… Viewable from the Loo…

African buffalo or Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

Between Nelspruit and Middleburg in the Mpumalanga there is a highway rest stop. We tend to stop here for Linda to buy coffee and to use the restrooms (Loos). I love the men’s room as I can stand and look out of a big glass window at the animals on a farmers land.

This trip all his African Buffalo (my favourite bovine) was at the water hole.

I love this animal for its pure size and power that exudes from it. It is scared of nothing and the size and power of the bulls has been the demise of many a lion.

This trip I saw probably the biggest bull I’ve ever seen.. look at this photo, two bulls having a rub in friendship…

But look at the size of that one on the right compared to that on the left… damn he is BIG…

The African buffalo is a very robust species. Its shoulder height can range from 1 to 1.7 m (3.3 to 5.6 ft.) and its head-and-body length can range from 1.7 to 3.4 m (5.6 to 11.2 ft.).

Looking at the condition of the one on the right I’d say he was younger than the other… but look at that head size… I am impressed and would avoid walking into this guy if he got upset…. look at his skin, what good condition, this is a bull in its prime….

Patterns in the Grass.. a famous video.. my perspective..

I have often referred to the Zebra as a pattern in the grass and the books talk of the confusion their stripes can have on a predator… these few photos certainly confuse the eye as to the zebra stripes, where do they start and end ??…