Selous : Siwandu 2010 & 2014

[Bush dog]

Continued (morning game drive 4th day 2014)

 

New attempt of the eagle to fly away with its prey.

 

 

It’s a failure once again, back on the ground.

 

 

Now, it’s moving to change its grip on the lizard. The talons are really impressive !

 

 

Two more attempts to fly away resulting in two more failures.

 

 

 

To be continued

 

[graceland]

That is just amazing. Good thing you were able to stay; I doubt many people have ever seen this up so close on safari. It is fascinating!

[Bush dog]

@@graceland

 

Thank you very much for your comments. I do not know if it's relevant or not, but from my personal experience, I would say that such sightings arise every 12 to 15 trips!

[Bush dog]

Continued (morning game drive 4th day 2014)

 

A last attempt to blind the lizard.

 

 

Obviously, after a succession of failed attempts to take off with its prey, the eagle decided to drag it towards a tree.

 

 

Finally, it gave up to it and went on the tree where it kept a close eye on the weakened monitor.

 

 

In normal conditions, the monitor is fast. There, its strength had dramatically declined, it had lost one eye and a small part of its internal organs was out through a hole made by the eagle’s claw (visible on the third picture). After a short moment of wavering, it decided to go in the road’s direction. It was moving like it was in slow motion. The martial eagle tried a last attempt to catch it in flight like fish eagles do with a fish, but it failed, and went on a tree on the other side of the road. When the monitor reached the road, it disappeared behind a tree that was alongside. It did not reappear on the other side. So, we moved to discover that there was a big hole in the trunk, about three meters from the ground. End of the story, back to the camp.

 

 

[wilddog]

The Martial eagle sequence is amazing . and what a story. Thank you.

[Bush dog]

@@wilddog

 

And thank you for your comments and support!

[Bush dog]

4th DAY 2014

 

Afternoon game drive

 

We decided to go along lake Siwandu, lake Mzizima to finally reach the Rufiji. The surroundings, all along the way, are completely different, a lot of exuberance and even luxuriance, the road being, sometimes, a gallery in the forest, with plenty of birds around. I even thought that I was back in the forest at Barranco Alto, in Pantanal. After lake Mzizima, we saw a rangers’ fly camp. As we were close to the reserve’s boundary, there are still a lot of poaching that motivates the presence of such patrols. Then we reached the sheer banks of a Rufiji’s tributary where the white-fronted bee-eaters are nesting and where we found a lot of girafes in the dry bed. After this we got back to the camp by the main road.

 

Some pictures of what we saw

 

 

White-throated bee-eater

 

 

Sacred Ibis

 

 

African jacana

 

 

Open-billed storck

 

 

A first sighting for me, the quite uncommon and beautiful Böhm’s bee-eater

 

[Big_Dog]

What a story on the eagle vs the monitor.
And a pyrrhic victory for the monitor...half his tail already missing, one eye left and a punctured torso is a sorry state. Gripping pictures throughout.

[Game Warden]

@@Bush dog That martial eagle sequence deserves a topic all of it's own in the birding subforum. Can you pop all the photos and story together in one article? Be a shame for it to be hidden away in a trip report.

[Soukous]

The eagle vs. monitor sequence is terrific Mike. A once in a lifetime sighting.

 

The photos are superb throughtout but I really like the Bohm's BeeEater. At least I know what it looks like now.

[Bush dog]

@@Game Warden

 

Thanks a lot for your comments. I followed your advice and opened a new topic!

[Bush dog]

@@Game Warden@@Soukous

 

Many thanks for your kind words and comments!

[dubessbe]

Great hippo pictures!

[Marks]

Great stuff. The martial eagle/monitor attack is really something to show to anyone who isn't into birds!

[Atravelynn]

The Martial and the Monitor is simply riveting. I held out zero hope for that monitor, but it appeared to have two intact eyeballs in the end, some wounds maybe, but the eyes looked to be working. The blood around the eyes was not even excessive. I can only imagine the terror in that reptilian monitor brain as all this was going on. The pauses "to look at us" were almost comic relief in your scenario.

 

Now to cuter and cuddlier matter--those lion cubs. Any age estimate?

[Bush dog]

@dubessbe@Marks

 

Thank you very much for you comments

 

@@Atravelynn

 

Thanks a lot, Lynn! I think that it lost its left eye. Indeed, if you look carefully to the first of the last 3 pictures (those without the eagle), you can see that there is no more sphericity in its left orbit.

Concerning the lion cubs' age, though I am not a specialist at all, I would say not more than 3 months?

[Atravelynn]

I also noticed part of its tail is gone. It really looked like the eagle was successful in blinding it during the struggle. The getaway shot had me thinking the eyes might have survived. Regardless this was battle to behold!

 

I would think less than 3 months for those cubs.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Atravelynn

[Bush dog]

@@Atravelynn

 

Part of the tail is indeed gone, but not during this confrontation, probably during a previous battle for life?

[Bush dog]

5th DAY 2010

 

Morning & afternoon game drives

 

This is going to be very short. Indeed, it was, morning and afternoon, what sometimes happens in the bush, a complete day off !

 

Even though, two non active wild dogs.

 

[Marks]

Re: the lion cubs' age, their eyes appear to be golden...which I think happens around 2-3 months of age. Not sure if that helps, should provide a minimum age at least though.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Marks

[Bush dog]

@@Marks

 

Thank you for your comments!

 

5th DAY 2014

 

This early morning , like every morning, elephants in the camp.

 

Morning game drive

 

A lonely baboon, a male, probably ejected, from the group, for dominance dispute’s reasons.

 

 

That’s how giraffes get rid of the dry mud that sticks to the lower part of their legs and to their hooves. They use the bushes as scraper.

 

 

A couple of striped kingfishers.

 

 

The flight of a black-chested snake eagle.

 

 

A black and white colobus.

 

 

To be continued

[Bush dog]

Continued (morning game drive 5th day 2014)

 

Couple of hammerkops mating.

 

 

This one is nothing more than the shadow of itself.

 

 

Sandpipers & Co.

 

 

Allen spotted the carcass of an impala on a tree, with a bush at the foot of it, but no leopard. I asked him to get closer to have a better look at it and he moved the car around the tree to have a better angle of view, and surprise, the leopard came out of the bush, unintentionally drove out by the maneuvering of the car. It was a young male. After a few minutes, it moved off, sat a bit further for a while and then decided to disappear in the forest.

 

 

Palm-nut vulture.

 

 

To be continued

[Bush dog]

Continued (morning game drive 5th day 2014)

 

Once again, we found ourselves back to lake Manze where the struggle for fish was still at the full around the remaining pools. The pelicans, storcks and fish eagles were very busy catching fish, trying to steal the catch of the other and formed a real air ballet above the area.

 

[Marks]

What a busy scene. Marabou storks are such characters, too.

[Soukous]

@@Bush dog it looks to me as though your photographs have got steadily better as this TR has progressed (and they were pretty damned good to start with). Almost as if you have really settled into a safari groove

Edited January 9, 2015 by Soukous