Tag: birds

poetry

Llanquihue

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Llanquihue

in the postcard-perfect panorama
surrounded by white peaks
that sometimes glow red
all is well –
grebes dive
and the mist does not descend –
at least
not right now

photography

Zambia and South Africa

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I am now posting photos from Zambia and all of South Africa. I know that these are from August and September and it is now February, but that is just procrastination at its most extreme. Anyway, here are the photos.

In Zambia we stayed at Bongwe Camp, where I saw this male Red-headed Weaver constructing its nest. You can see the tube-like entrance at the bottom and the wider main area near the bird.
This is a cropped image of my best photo of an African Finfoot, which we saw at Mosi-Oa Tunya National Park in Zambia. Finfoots are rare and secretive, so to see this one out in the open on a river is unique. You can see the orange bill and white stripe behind the eye.
In the national park there is a herd of Southern White Rhinos that are kept under constant supervision to guard against poaching. On our trip to the park we got to see the herd, which included this baby.
This is the mother rhino of the baby seen in the previous photo.
Near the end of our time in the park we got excellent views of this White-fronted Bee-eater, in my opinion one of the most beautiful birds in southern Africa.
At the beginning of our time in South Africa we stayed at Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre where we got to tour the enclosures. This is a picture of one of their leopards that we got to see.
Once in Kruger National Park in South Africa we began seeing lots of wildlife, including this Brown-headed Parrot, seen at one of the many camp areas.
In one of the larger herds of elephants there were several babies, including this one, who had not even started to grow tusks, indicating very young age.
This is a young bushbuck, also seen in the middle of camp in Kruger.
In Kruger we repeatedly found that the most friendly and least afraid bird we met was the Wire-tailed Swallow. This one we saw at a hide in the park where there was an active swallow nest.
On one of our most eventful drives we saw a family of African Wild Dogs, a pack with several pups, one of which is this one.
Almost immediately after seeing the wild dogs we came across a group of around four rhinos, completing the day.
At one hide in Kruger the water was dry and we saw no animals except for this squirrel, which we used to practice photography. This is one of my best photos from that session.
This is another photo of the same squirrel.
This is a male African Gray Hornbill also seen in Kruger National Park.
This Hamerkop (Afrikaans for “hammerhead” after the bird’s backward-pointing crest) is standing on a hippo. This was seen at the Krokodilrivier, the southern boundary of Kruger.
Also seen at the Krokodilrivier was this Pied Kingfisher. They are pretty common in the area, but this was my only chance to get a close-up picture of one.
In eSwatini we stayed at Hlane (pronounced like Shlanay) National Park, where we got to see a lot of rhinos and this African Hoopoe, here raising its fan-shaped crest.
South of eSwatini we stayed at the semi-legendary (among birders of southern africa) semi-unknown (among everybody else, including even our guide) Mkhuze Game Reserve, which at a area of 150 square miles boasts the second-largest bird list in the country, after Kruger (For comparison Kruger is over 7,000 square miles). Mkhuze has a list of over 450 bird species because of the incredible diversity of habitats packed into it: There’s a fig forest, sand forest, Acacia savannah, marshes, ponds, a river, and more. This Long-crested Eagle was one of the first birds we saw there.
At one of Mkhuze’s several hides overlooking a watering hole we witnessed this pair of Woolly-necked Storks preening each other and attending to each other’s needs. It was very impressive.
At the same watering hole we finally got really good views of the Hadada Ibis, characterized by its loud call, iridescent wing, and gray coloring.
As mentioned before, Mkhuze has a fig forest, and it is here that some of the rarer birds reside, including the Pel’s Fishing-owl, Green Malkoha, Blue-mantled Crested-flycatcher, and, shown above, the beautiful Narina Trogon. As you can see, it has an iridescent green back, but its belly is bright scarlet. It is very quiet and secretive, and for us it just flew down in front and perched.
This photograph shows an adult male African Paradise-flycatcher. The male paradise-flycatchers all have one remarkable, eye-catching characteristic: their incredibly long, graceful tail. When we were watching this male fly it seemed as if his tail would always tangle or hook on some branch, but it never did. The male, along with being beautiful, was either extremely lucky, or extremely skilled.
Mkhuze also has hides on the river, where there is an abundance of wildlife, including this Malachite Kingfisher, one of the most beautiful birds in Africa.
At the same hide we also managed to see this African Jaçana using its extremely elongated toes to walk on lily pads without sinking.
Another of Mkhuze’s star birds is the Purple-crested Turaco, whose red and black wing feathers are actually the crown of the king of eSwatini. We saw two drinking at a bird bath.
Mkhuze is not just birds; we saw this unidentified mouse near our camp.
After leaving Mkhuze we had lunch at the beautiful Shayamoya Tiger Fishing and Game Lodge, where we got great views of this herd of Crested Guineafowl, one of the weirdest of the area’s specialties.
While eating at the lodge, this Eastern Nicator flew up to near the deck and perched. Nicators are generally very skulky and shy, so to see one in the comparative open was new.
At the White Elephant Safari Lodge near Mkhuze we saw this jackrabbit feeding on the lawn.
This is a Crowned Eagle. Adults have been known to kill children up to 12 years old, but this was a young bird, so it didn’t attack us.
Rose-ringed Parakeets are native to India, but since we were spending a night in Johannesburg where there is a feral population we still managed to see them.
Our house in Cape Town has a very nice Protea garden, which attracted this Southern Double-collared Sunbird.
Seen at the penguin area, this Blacksmith Lapwing chick was extremely cute.
This is a half-grown African Penguin chick. We called all the chicks “Bob Rosses” because of their fluffy plumage.
One of Cedar’s favorite African animals was this dassie or Rock Hyrax. This is a younger one.
This is a picture of a dassie scratching (Cedar is making me put two more dassie pictures in this post, so prepare yourself for more adorable cute, chubby, mammals).
This is a family of dassies, with a baby at the bottom.
This is an African Penguin shaking itself off.
African Penguins are actually classified as globally endangered, so it was kind of amazing to get this close for free.
One of the many endemic bird species of the Protea ecosystem is this Malachite Sunbird, only found in the Cape area.
During our trip to Cape Point we actually managed to see several whales spout and swim near the shore.
Our Cape Town house came with a dry pool, and this mouse managed to get stuck inside it. We used a broom to create a ladder for it to get out.
One of our neighbors was a birder and had bird feeders all around their backyard. We got to walk around it and saw this Speckled Mousebird eating an apple.
Seen in the same backyard, this is a Cape Sugarbird, one of two birds in its family, and endemic to the Cape Town area.
When we went to the Cape Town Botanic Gardens we saw this classic example of the Cape ecosystem. Here you see and adult male Cape Sugarbird, (with pollen on its forehead) sitting on top of a King Protea, one the most iconic plants of the region.
This is the last dassie photo, taken on Table Mountain, engaging in what Cedar calls “his little glare of happiness”.
Also seen on Table Mountain, this is an Orange-breasted Sunbird, another endemic, and one of the most colorful sunbirds (that’s saying a lot) in the region.
poetry

manners

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manners

in Puerto Varas
nonstop dogs and parakeets
all day/night long
until the moment I close my eyes
then mercifully
they all go quiet simultaneously
and I hear nothing more –
one more miracle
of a brain that knows
when I’ve had enough,
lies to my body to just bring rest –
until the instant my lids open to sun
when the whole rough chorus
sings the day awake

poetry

satellite stream while awaiting the Okarito kiwi

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satellite stream while awaiting the Okarito kiwi

at least 30 glowing pearls on a string
arc across the sky
below Orion’s belt
evenly spaced
long enough for us to
discuss the phenomenon
while it unfolds

satellites, the simple answer
but to what end?
the old Englishman and I both say
we’ve never seen anything like it before
what could it mean
but war?

at the library next day
I consult the 1s and 0s
and quickly find an answer
Starlink-1, a chain of 60 satellites
Elon Musk’s put in the sky
sailing over New Zealand each night,
an effort at connection not destruction
another wonder
that still doesn’t approach
my delight at seeing
B-Zed the kiwi

poetry

Sand Creek sigh

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Sand Creek Sigh

wending our way
through ghosts of kahikatea trees
shattered into cheese crates
we all go sour

buttons pushed
silent or silenced
vacant stares
and equally frosty penetrating scowls
the irritating jabs like mozzies upon us
I steam
why can’t we all just get along?
as usual
not seeing how I’m running things off the rails
not taking into account
a hierarchy of needs
no amount of sunshine or seaspray can fill

tonight the little morepork owls are everywhere
their 2-note incessant cries
like the repeated badgering question
of one son grinding his will against another

no, I can’t fight it
that little morepork must say his say
share all his dark time wishes and won’ts
sing his little heart silent
and I must summon more patience
again tomorrow

poetry

Weka with a Walking Stick

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Owen took this photo.

Weka with a Walking Stick

little tokoeka comes hobbling along the strand
planting his walking stick
in every likely bit of wrack
big clown feet marking up the beach
with dinosaur tread
tiny round bum barely balancing him out
and we’re all transfixed
our prayers answered
but this biggish bird just keeps going about
his jolly way
slowly becoming mammal
not realizing a whole people
have named themselves after him

poetry

royal (albatross)

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Owen took this photo.

royal (albatross)

through the whirl of white-bodied
red-legged foul-mouthed retching gulls
she wheels on impossibly long thin
elegant angular
tapered black-and-white wings
her dark eye unfazed by either
the mob of petty gulls
or the gasping people
dodging guano bombs below
and with her sweeping circuits comes
a silence seen (not heard)
a stillness felt
in the presence of grace

poetry

The People Parade, as told by L’il Foot, the Little Penguin

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The People Parade, as told by L’il Foot, the Little Penguin

they’re there all day if you look hard enough
one or two scattered along the boardwalk
hidden in the scrub

but it’s only when the light goes rose
that they gather by the hundreds
wide pockets of bodies
lining the shore

we wait for them to settle down
my mates and me
then when they’re calm and quiet
we move in close
to see them face-to-face

they make so many calls
it’s hard to know what they mean
squealing and cooing
trotting up the path

I like to stand still sometimes
let them flow around me like a river
of legs and eyes and voices
and wonder what their homes look like inside
where exactly are they hurrying off to?

it’s different every night
this evening there were four
who matched each step with mine
as if I were escorting them home
out under the stars together
heading back after a long day’s fishing

we took it easy together
ambling up the hill
the smallest one didn’t even wear trainers
he left his pink feet out in the cold
and his flip flops slapped against
the boards each step

I named him Li’l Toes
and blinked him a quiet goodnight peck
and wished him sweet dreams
wherever he lays his head
before I lost him in the crowd

poetry

ribbon-tailed astrapia

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Owen took these photos.

ribbon-tailed astrapia

bobbing through the bush
he sews a white path
through green ground
binding memory and dream

poetry

To the Mangled

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To the Mangled

now we bow to the mangled
three-legged dogs
soldiers covered in scars
deckhands maimed by sharks
to those whose forms changed in an instant
bikers crushed by trucks
women falling in the shower on vacation in Cancun
boys fumbling with fireworks
to the souls who stayed whole
even after bodies were broken
after the slipped table saw blade
the faltering plastic surgeon
the heavy machinery suddenly backing
and right here
on this tropical island
to a cheerful white bird
unaccountably battered by a stick
in the rough hands of a brutal stranger

Cocky’s half the bird he was
paralyzed from the hips down now
dragging himself by his beak
blind in one eye
his legs twisted
tail covered in excrement
and still when you walk past
he calls out hopefully
“Hello, Cocky!”
and if you stop
he’ll laugh until you start, too,
or cry like a baby if you walk on

looking into his good eye
you see he’ll graciously accept
a gentle ruffle of his feathers and a kind word
and if you’ve peanuts
he’ll even tip his crest to you in thanks
his unwarranted trust
pains me every time

some souls
no matter how beat down
how twisted by fate
can’t help but continue to hope
to still cling to dignity
to make us all believe goodness still exists
to trust that despite their own suffering
there must be some joy left in the world