
Butterflies are self-propelled flowers!
23 Tuesday Sep 2014
25 Monday Aug 2014
Posted Birds, Colours, ecology, Garden Creatures
inThe malachite sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) is a small nectivorous bird.
The breeding male malachite sunbird, which has very long central tail feathers, is 25 cm long, and the shorter-tailed female 15 cm. The adult male is metallic green when breeding, with blackish-green wings with small yellow pectoral patches.
Most sunbird species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time. As a fairly large sunbird, the malachite sunbird is no exception. They have long thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to nectar feeding. Some plant species from which malachite sunbirds feed include many Aloe species, such as Aloe broomii, Aloe ferox and Aloe arborescens, and Protea species, such as Protea roupelliae as well as various other bird-pollinated plants such as Leonotis and Strelitzia.
The call is a loud tseep-tseep, and the male malachite sunbird has a twittering song
Breeding Malachite Sunbird
Mr and Mrs Malachite Sunbird. This species is monogamous
23 Saturday Aug 2014
Posted ecology, Garden Creatures, Honey Bee
inTags
The Honey Badger is also known as a Ratel. Ratel is an Afrikaans word, possibly derived from the Middle Dutch word for rattle, honeycomb (either because of its cry or its taste for honey). It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities.
Honey badgers favor bee honey, and will often search for beehives to get it, which earns them their name.
Honey Badger damage
these bees have relocated to an old tyre.
Honey Badger range
22 Friday Aug 2014
Posted Colours, Eco Tourism, ecology, Photography
inBlessed
22 Friday Aug 2014
Posted Bulbs, Colours, Eco Tourism, ecology, Photography, South African Endemic
inTags
accomodation, Ecotourism, environment, flower kingdom, garden, hiking, Namaqualand, Namaqualand Flowers, nature, Papkuilsfontein, photography, plants, South African endemic plant, waterfall
Soak up the peace and tranquility of this beautiful farm. Stay in the old, beautifully restored stone cottages,in your own private Fynbos setting.View the awesome canyon and its 100m waterfall. In spring, enjoy the world-renowned flowers in this Serengeti of the floral kingdom (This area is known as ”the Bulb Capital of the World” because it has the highest speciation of indigenous bulbous flowers on Earth). Experience the rich bird life, fauna, and San rock art. Swim in the cool waters of a natural rock pool, or in the pool at the cottages, built to be reminiscent of a farm dam. Hike the trails through sandstone rock formations and don’t forget to bring your mountain bike or your 4×4.
Fynbos flowers
Guest accommodation
Cat’s tails as far as the eye can see
Old Ox Wagon
Windmill
Rivers of flowers
Cat’s tails
Ruins in a field of flowers
Babiana
Blue Aster
water loving plants on cliff face
Spectacular waterfall
Cape girdled Lizard
19 Tuesday Aug 2014
Posted Colours, Eco Tourism, ecology, Flowers, Gardens
inTags
environment, Flowers, garden, Namaqualand Daisies, Namaqualand Flowers, nature, photography, Ralph Waldo Emerson, South African endemic plant
Namaqualand Daisies
“Nature always wears the colours of the Spirit”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
31 Thursday Jul 2014
Posted Birds, Eco Tourism, ecology
inTags
The Jackie Hangman gets it’s name from the habit of impaling prey on thorns to store for later consumption. One of the reasons of this species success lies in its varied diet and clever hunting techniques. It often uses a sit and wait technique in which it hunts from a prominent perch, remaining almost motionless, scanning the area with its sharp eyes. When it spots something it glides to the ground and attempts to catch its prey. It has a varied diet of insects, frogs, reptiles and birds.
It gives a jumbled mix of shrike-like swizzling sounds including some imitations and a harsh Dzzzttt-dzzzt-dzzzt alarm call.
Jackie Hangman – Fiscal Shrike
29 Tuesday Jul 2014
Posted Birds, ecology, Garden Creatures
inTags
This species is about 12 cm long with rounded wings, strong legs, and a conspicuous ring of white feathers round the eyes. The upperparts are green, and the throat and vent are bright yellow. The members of the nominate group have a pale yellow central belly with peach coloured flanks. The members of the capensis subgroup have a grey breast and belly, while the virens subgroup have a greenish-yellow breast and belly.
They are very vocal, and constantly keep in touch with soft trilled pee, pree or pirreee callnotes. The song consists of repeated long jerky phrases of sweet reedy notes, varying in pitch, volume and temp, usually starting off with teee teee or pirrup pirrup notes, then becoming a fast rambled jumble of notes, which may incorporate mimicked phrases of other birdcalls.
This is a sociable species forming large flocks outside the breeding season. It builds a cup nest in a tree and lays 2-3 unspotted pale blue eggs. The eggs hatch in 11–12 days, and fledging occurs in another 12–13 days. The peak breeding season is September to December.
The Cape white-eye feeds mainly on insects, but also soft fleshy flowers, nectar, fruit and small grains. It readily comes to bird feeders.
14 Monday Jul 2014
Posted Birds, Colours, ecology, Flowers, South African Endemic
inTags
Bird, Cape Town, environment, Flowers, Fork tailed Drongo, nature, plants, South African endemic plant
The fork-tailed drongo is a common and widespread resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. Two to four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a fork high in a tree.
These are aggressive and fearless birds, given their small size, and will attack much larger species, including birds of prey if their nest or young are threatened.
Observations show that the fork-tailed drongo in Africa are capable of using deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food from birds like pied babblers and animals such as meerkats. Tom Flower observed that fork-tailed drongos spend a quarter of their time following other animals. Sometimes when a predator is approaching, drongos act as sentries and warn their neighbours with genuine alarm calls. But drongos also earn quarter of their daily calories by sounding a false alarm, as in The Boy Who Cried Wolf, when the other animal finds food. When the meerkats and babblers flee from the non-existent predator, drongo steals their food
13 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted Cape Town, ecology, Flowers, South African Endemic
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