Tag: blue

Stance

The Kurrichane thrush is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is dry savanna. Its name is derived from Kaditshwene (rendered as ‘Kurrichane’) in Botswana. Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feeding on the ground. They are insectivorous, but most species also eat worms, land snails, and fruit. Many species are permanently resident in warm climates, while others migrate to higher latitudes during summer, often over considerable distances. Thrushes build cup-shaped nests, sometimes lining them with mud. They lay two to five speckled eggs, sometimes laying two or more clutches per year. Both parents help in raising the young.

Stance

Picture of the day, Wildlife

Curve

Yellow-Billed Hornbills are a distinctive bird that is widespread in South Africa, including in Kruger National Park. They are also called ‘flying bananas’ because of their huge bills that are yellow and look just like bananas! They are distinguished by their very large, downward curved yellow beaks. They feed mainly on the ground, foraging for seeds, insects, spiders and even scorpions. They may catch snakes, which they kill by bashing them on against a hard surface. They swallow their prey whole, letting indigestible parts pass through their digestive system. Yellow-Billed Hornbills are known to forage cooperatively with Dwarf Mongooses, catching prey items that the mongooses scratch up from the ground. In return, the hornbills alert the mongooses to danger from overhead raptors.

Curve

Picture of the day, Wildlife

Placid

Lake Panic is an earthen dam on the Mafunyana Creek (named after one of the nicknames of L B Steyn a Park Warden. Literally, the word means he who eats greedily. Lake Panic is close to Skukuza camp. Lake Panic is the name that was given shortly after construction was completed about 1975 when, during a major cloudburst, it was feared that the dam wall would give way. The hide is “L” shaped allowing a view east towards the bend in the dam and a view south across the short width of the dam close to the creek inlet. This section is heavily grown over with various aquatic plants including water lilies, reeds, and grasses of various sorts as well as trees. The far bank is heavily treed and slopes down to the dam edge. The hide is perfectly situated for close viewing of so many things with the Southern bank being about 100 meters from the hide itself.

Placid

Landscape, Picture of the day