Kalaharikind merel(y) lark(ing) about in 2021

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Kalaharikind said:

Did you go and Google the date?

Just fine tuning. I do recall the first episode on my mum's B&W set and knew the 60th had just passed so why not go for the right date in the interests of total accuracy?

Off topic. "Was Moses ever a baby?" I am not that well read.

[Kalaharikind]

@Galana I love off-topic posts! By virtue of my Protestant upbringing, I know that he was a baby: a basket case, in fact.

 

@Xelas the Tour is almost like birding: deadly dull when people rave to you about it, and then, once you've tried it, you're hooked for life. the two youngsters are absolutely phenomenal. And if the man in green wins tomorrow's stage....

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Kalaharikind said:

I know that he was a baby:

Thank you for the reminder. I had forgotten that the old chap with long hair and straggling beard portrayed wandering in the wilderness was the same little babe found by Miriam. I should stick to birds.

[xelas]

On 7/17/2021 at 6:33 PM, Kalaharikind said:

@Xelas the Tour is almost like birding: deadly dull when people rave to you about it, and then, once you've tried it, you're hooked for life. the two youngsters are absolutely phenomenal. And if the man in green wins tomorrow's stage....

 Not only the Tour, Pogi won also bronze at Olympics a mere 7 days later. What and achievement!

[Kalaharikind]

@Xelas Bronze for him, then gold vir Roglic in the TT - your riders are superhot! ("Super" seems to be a super word amongst cyclists, judging by their pre and post-stage interviews.) Pity about Cavendish losing green - I had something super appropriate lined up... 

[Kalaharikind]

My posted 93 has withdrawn itself from competition, seeing it has already done its BY duty. Current total: 94 birds.

 

Next stop: Rooisand NR, a place that we've driven past countless times, but never visited. However, Google assured me that there was a bird hide with 360 degree views. It sounded perfect - except that the wind was not playing along, and I just knew that birding would not be as good as promised. This was confirmed by an extremely disgruntled birder I met there, who said that he'd never seen it so bad. 

 

On my way to the hide: zebra, and eland, one with a wonky horn:

 

 

 

The Bot River  lagoon is famous for its wild horses, and there are several theories as to how they got there: some sources say that they were let loose by farmers as farms became mechanised, others that they were hidden in the vlei (marsh) during the Anglo Boer War and yet that they swam ashore when the Birkenhead sank in  1852. However they got there, they have completely addapted to their environment, such as growing thicker fur during winter. They also act as organic transport for a new cattle egret subspecies: the overexposed equine egret.

 

 

 

And so on to birds:

 

95) Three-banded Plover         Driebandstrandkiewiet          Charadrius tricollaris

 

 

Uncropped, the EBC 96) Cape Shoveller          Kaapse Slopeend          Spatula smithii   looked like nothing more than rocks in the grass; cropped the bills are visible, and that's about it.

 

 

The English describes this heron as grey, the Afrikaans as blue; I take it as one bird nearer the elusive 100:

 

97) Grey Heron          Bloureier          Ardea cinerea

 

 

Earlier seen as a BIF EBC, the sacred ibis was really buffeted by the wind while trying to feed:

 

 

[Galana]

34 minutes ago, Kalaharikind said:

The English describes this heron as grey, the Afrikaans as blue;

I think the Afrikaans have problems with colour charts. They have the Purple Heron as Red. But a tick is a tick whatever the colour.

[Kalaharikind]

11 hours ago, Galana said:

I think the Afrikaans have problems with colour charts. They have the Purple Heron as Red.

Could of course be the other side has it wrong... 

 

To prove your point, though: crossword clue, from an Afrikaans newspaper yesterday: dark white

Answer: grey

 

I let out a loooooong low sigh as I solved it.....

[Kalaharikind]

Small mercies: both languages agree that this one has a grey head:

 

98) Grey-headed Gull          Gryskopmeeu          Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus

 

Kleinmond lagoon

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Kalaharikind

[Kalaharikind]

Plain old "black" in Afrikaans, a bit more descriptive in English:

 

99) Amethyst Sunbird          Swartsuikerbekkie          Chalcomitra amethystina

 

Garden

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Kalaharikind

[Kalaharikind]

Gather round, good people from BY - we have to celebrate! I'm not going to be coy and post my 100th bird and pretend I didn't notice. I'm damn proud I got here - albeit mostly with EBCs - but this one is special to me.

 

Every time this one calls, Johan and I storm outside, hoping to see it - but they are masters at calling and hiding, taunting and hiding. So, when I heard it call, I once again grabbed the Dinkytoy and rushed outside, hoping against hope. (The neighbours, hiding behind their twitching lace curtains, sighed and said that the odd one was out and about again, pointing the camera, sighing, pointing, swearing - all in vain. They simply do not understand.)

 

There was a flash of white in a dead tree, I lifted the Dinkytoy, tried to aim and zoom and press the shutter at the same time...  and here is 

 

100) Klaas's Cuckoo          Meitjie          Chrysococcyx klaas

 

Garden (well, actually the dead tree outside the neighbour's garden)

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Congratulations, great job and what a pretty Cuckoo!

[Galana]

Let me be the first to congratulate you on your first Century. Hats raised to applause. Dinky Toy held high.

A great achievement.

So OK. @Zim Girltypes faster and does not waste effort on superlatives.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Galana

[Galana]

5 hours ago, Kalaharikind said:

crossword clue, from an Afrikaans newspaper yesterday: dark white

Answer: grey

I had to smile at this. Technically grey is a lightened black but I did worry at the alternate meanings that could be placed on both dark whites and light blacks should either be carelessly capitalised.

[Dave Williams]

Well done on the ton!

[Tdgraves]

Congratulations on your inaugural century-the first of many to come? And we’ll done on a very unEBC shot of a beautiful cuckoo.

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations and a very worthy bird and shot to get there!

[xelas]

Excellent, and congratulations on #100!! Beautiful cuckoo.

[Kitsafari]

Congrats on your inaugural 100th with  many more to come in the years ahead. 

 

and what a stunning bird to celebrate with - i've only seen it once - i think - in all my safaris. 

[Kalaharikind]

Thanks, everybody - I really appreciate your support! 

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations, well done on your first century. The Klaas' is such a pretty bird, and you got a great photo. 

[shazdwn]

Congratulations on your 100, and on finally getting your bird! Gorgeous cuckoo 

[pedro maia]

Congrats for the century, and with a very nice one!

[PeterHG]

Congratulations on reaching the magic number and I agree: with a beautiful shot of a beautiful bird. I've only ever managed to see it once.

[Kalaharikind]

@PeterHGand @KitsafariCuckoos are so frustratingly difficult to see, and the fact you hear the call incessantly makes it worse! I think my biggest birding moment was when I saw the Red-chested at Nylsvley in plain sight in a tree. I knew that if I moved to get my camera it would fly off, so I just looked and listened, and looked and listened. 

 

@pedro maia, @shazdwn, @michael-ibk, @xelas, @Peter Connan, @Tdgraves, @Dave Williams, @Galanaand @Zim Girlthanks for the kind words.

 

A bird I missed from Augrabies: 

 

101) African Pied Wagtail          Bontkwikkie          Motacilla clara

 

 

Not sure if this is 102) Spotted Flycatcher          Europese vlieevanger          Muscicapa striata.

 

Seen in Keimoes