2 December 2009
Bird activity at Rietvlei:
Cape Francolin with 8 chicks
Helmeted Guineafowl with 15 chicks.
The White-throated Swallows are breeding again.
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My bird photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/omdiebos/WallySBlog?authkey=0VT7Mn3IZkw#
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1 December 2009
This evening, before leaving for home, I was checking the fishing sites for nylon left behind by the fishermen, when I saw a Helmeted Guineafowl attacking something. At closer inspection, I saw a mole lying on it's back while the bird is fiercely pecking it.
My approach disturbed the bird and the poor mole scurried away and instantly burrowed into an old mole mound. The aggressiveness of the birds is due to them having chicks.
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The masked weaver chicks are squawking like mad.
We noticed both the male and female feeding on Sunday.
Since then a domestic cat killed the female. I heard the frantic distress call of a bird, but was too late to save her.
We could hear the persistent cries from the hungry chicks demanding for food. The male was doing his best to supply the demand.
He managed to rear both chicks.
Posted by Wally Water-ranger
27-Nov 2008 Rietvlei
We went on a very enjoyable walk around the island. We took lots of photographs of birds.
The bird islands are great.
Many nests of mostly Ibis.
Other birds seen were:
Rietvlei 7 11 2008
Birds spotted:
Banded Martins (breeding)
Pied Kingfishers are breeding in the bank of the South-vlei on the point.
Rietvlei 7 11 2008
About two hundred river frogs appeared in Santie's backyard pool, bordering on the vlei, after a 5 mm rain shower the night before.
They were identified as
We managed to catch most of them. The frogs were released into the vlei.
The question is
"How did 200 fully grown frogs end up in a fully enclosed, well maintained, backyard pool when there is no other water source within he enclosure?"
05-Nov-2008
I spotted some birds (about 8) with black body, red beak, grey tail, black cap and white a stripe across the eye.
We forwarded a photograph to Trevor Hardaker from www.zestforbirds.co.za to confirm the ID of the bird. His reply was
There is no doubt that it is in fact a Whiskered Tern, which is in full breeding plumage. The potential confusion candidate, White-cheeked Tern, has a deeply forked tail and not a squarish ended tail like the bird in the photo and is also not quite as dark on the underside as is the bird in the photo.
05-11-2008
The Water Thick-knee (Water Dikkop) nest in the boat-park contains only one egg.
Tuesday 4 November 2008,
We visited Rondevlei for a fire-fighting course.
In South Africa Fire-fighting is an important element of Nature Conservation.
The following birds were spotted:
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