DAY 291: THE BLESSING OF BIG FEET!

This AFRICAN JACANA CHICK is stepping it out across the lily pads like a boss!

I've never really seen big feet (of which I possess 2) as a blessing, but seeing this little guy in action makes me realise that for some, big feet are indeed a blessing!

However, when you have to schlep from shoe shop to shoe shop with great disappointment
when no one, but no one, keeps your size in shoes, its not so funny: the curse of DNA -
this family has always had big feet!   Live with it!

DAY 290: WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

The eagle locates it's prey more often from a perch than during foraging flights. Once the fish is detected, the eagle flies over with the legs held forwards and the talons ready to grasp the victim. Then, it swoops down onto the fish when it is close to the surface. Only feet and legs are immersed. Once the fish is caught, the eagle rises in the air with its prey in the talons. It carries it to a drier place, on land or other perch, a mound of branches above the water or a tree, in order to consume it.

DAY 289: FEEEEEEEEED ME!

Here's a bird feeder story I found on the internet - but beware, it has a sting in the tail!

“I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbeque. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table …… simply everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And other birds were boisterous and loud: they sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanding that I fill it when it got low on food. After a while, I couldn’t even sit on my own back porch anymore.

I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the backyard was like it used to be…. quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see…our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free 
medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child’s 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn’t speak 
English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press “one” to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than “Old Glory” are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free 
liberties. 

Maybe it’s time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

DAY 288: PROWLING LIKE A DINOSAUR!

 JAMES OCHSE:

 PURPLE SWAMPHEN 








This chicken-sized bird is a common resident in reed beds, marshes and flooded grasslands. With its large red feet, bright blue plumage and red bill and frontal shield, it is easy to recognize and distinguish from any other birds in the field. 
 
According to Peter Hancock, the Australian Swamphen prowls like a dinosaur!

Striding like a miniature tyrannosaurus across wetland pastures, the purple swamphen with its heavy red beak and iridescent blue chest is a strikingly handsome bird. Known to the Noongar as "Mulal", the swamphen is larger than its cousins the coot and dusky moorhen and common in wetlands from Europe to Australia, including Africa.

In the metro area it congregates in flocks of up to 30 birds to patrol lakesides and riverbanks for its food, but while it enjoys a varied diet of herbs, seeds, fruit, eggs, insects, spiders, crustaceans and molluscs, its main sustenance is derived from the stems of young bulrushes and reeds. Watching a swamphen eat is a comical sight as it awkwardly clasps its food in long-fingered claws designed for walking on floating reeds.


Though tame in spots where people regularly feed waterbirds, in its natural state the swamphen is a shy and secretive bird, skulking in reed beds and only betraying its presence with its loud screeching cries. Swamphens often trample rushes into feeding platforms which can be identified by piles of food scraps, such as marron shells.

In the Perth area the swamphen breeds from mid-July to November – and it's a real family affair.
The entire flock builds a platform of rushes and grass with stems drawn over it to form a canopy, and in this single nest several females lay their sandy-coloured eggs, which are splotched with chestnut and grey.  The flock also constructs a nursery nest in which the chicks are brooded at night and from which they are led to forage by day, usually by adults at the lower end of the pecking order.

DAY 287: NATURE'S UNDERTAKERS

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ANDY LOWE
WHITE BACKED VULTURE

 

The white-backed vulture has black eyes and a strong, slightly hooked black bill, contrasting with its pale crown and hind neck. As they age, the plumage of white-backed vultures becomes paler and plainer, especially that of the  female; conversely, juveniles are darker, with lighter brown streaks on their feathers.
 
Vultures have historically been grouped with other raptors on the basis of their overall appearance. Often seen soaring high in the sky, they are often mistaken for hawks or eagles.

However, it has recently been determined that the seven species of New World vultures are more closely related to storks than to the hawks and eagles with which they were originally grouped. Unlike all other raptors, vultures are not birds of prey. They feed solely on carrion, preferring animals that have been dead for two to four days. African White-Backed Vultures have no natural predators, except humans.

DAY 286: BLUE CRANE

CHRIS JONES - 
BLUE CRANE

The Blue Crane, South Africa's national bird, is very special to the amaXhosa, who call it indwe. 

When a man distinguished himself by deeds of valour, or any form of meritorious conduct, he was often decorated by a chief by being presented with the feathers of this bird. After a battle, the chief would organise a ceremony called ukundzabela – a ceremony for the heroes, at which feathers would be presented. 

Men so honoured – they wore the feathers sticking out of their hair – were known as men of ugaba (trouble) - the implication being that if trouble arose, these men would reinstate peace and order.

DAY 285: SOUTHERN MASKED WEAVER

MARIE LOUISE MYBURGH'S PHOTO
Southern Masked Weaver.



















Masked weavers are named for their elaborately woven nests built of papyrus, grass, and twigs. They are round structures built hanging from a branch, with the entrance near the bottom. They look like funny fruit hanging from a tree! 

The male builds a nest for a female. If the female does not like the nest, he will tear it down and start over. If she does like the nest, she will line it with grass and feathers, and start raising a family. The male will then try to build a nest for another female. These social birds live together in noisy colonies.