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a week in the bush: vol 36

on Jan 29, 2015

Welcome to another update from the wilds of Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve. I hope all of our readers have had as great a week as we have had here in sunny, hot South Africa. There has been a lot on the go recently and especially on the birding front. Summer is a time of plenty and a perfect time for a number of species to be breeding. Luckily we have been able to find a few active nesting sites and are able to share with you some of the images captured.

First off is the nest of a Red-billed Hornbill, one of the smallest in our region, and I must say that I admire the dedication the male shows to his partner. While the female is closed up inside the nesting cavity in a tree, having sealed herself inside with her own feces, the male spends his days hunting for a variety of small creatures to feed her. He returns to the nest to feed her every 10-15 minutes or so and below is a sequence of images from one of these visits.

A variety of Weaver birds are busy with nest constructions at the moment with some having been active for some time already. They are amazing little animals and are able to weave intricate structures that hang off the tips of branches typically hanging over bodies of water. The Red-headed Weaver is one of the few that constructs a slightly untidier version using leaves and branches to accompany the other materials.

Mike Palmer Red Headed Weaver

The Village Weavers on the other hand build very neatly woven nests and we have a large colony along the edges of the pan in front of Bush Lodge. In the late afternoons and early morning, one can sit for hours watching the males displaying for the females in the hopes that their nest will be chosen and they will be the ones to breed. It is most fascinating.

The smaller birds are not the only ones benefitting from the abundance of food available and we were lucky enough to witness a Spotted Eagle Owl successfully catch a small Scrub Hare who really had no idea that it was about to be dinner. It is quite incredible to think about the adaptations it takes for the owl to be able to hunt in the pitch darkness of night.

Mike Palmer Spotted Owl 1

General game as usual has been fantastic with many animals being found congregating around the various water sources on the reserve. We are experiencing a very hot spell at the moment and there has been little rain in recent weeks. We should be expecting some heavy rains to grace our land soon, but for now water is the commodity that all our wildlife are remaining close to.

Maxabeni has been quite active in the last couple of weeks, especially in the area surrounding Bush Lodge. We spent some time with him again this week, as he was moving about the area scent marking, still paying a lot of attention to his southeastern boundary where the encounters with the Xovonekela male have been taking place. Still no fireworks on that front, but Maxabeni is in fantastic condition and my money would be on him to gain the expansion.

The Fourways males graced us with their presence again this week and they were found in the company of what looked to be the Charleston female. She has been seen in their company quite a few times now and looks as though she may be leaning toward linking up with these two males, while the much larger Charleston males have been hanging around on the banks of the Sand River. It’s going to be interesting to watch the developments here.

Mike Palmer Fourways Male

Huge news! The Southern Pride females have joined up again, if only for a short period. The females from the split seem to have either forced the young sub-adult male out or he has met with some trouble in the form of other dominant males. Either way, it appears that they are trying to possibly gain favor with Floppy Ear and make their way back into the pride. We have yet to see them interact with the Sand River males, but an encounter is inevitable and surely they are going to appreciate the access to extra females. I am on the edge of my seat for this one.

Warthog Wallow made an appearance this week and we were lucky enough to spend some time with the girl, watching her on the hunt. She failed to capture any quarry while we were with her, but I’m sure she would’ve had some success there. She was looking rather on the skinny side and this just indicates that she has been struggling a little lately, probably due to the pressure and tension on the boundary that she occupies, between Maxabeni and Xovonekela. I hope the next time I see her she will be in a better condition.

The Toulon Pack of wild dogs is also back on the reserve and we managed to catch up with them for a while. In fact we spent well over an hour following them as they went about trying to catch anything unlucky enough to cross their path. It was an incredible experience.

It has been another sensational week out here in the bush. I hope you have all enjoyed the recap and I hope to have many more amazing things to share with you next week. To end the blog this time around, I have chosen an image taken of a Marabou Stork against the sunset. Until next time...

Mike Palmer Maribou Sunset
  • BY MIKE PALMER (BUSH LODGE RANGER)
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