Capewinter

Arum Lily 2: Lily masquerading as frozen exothermic reaction. The lilies growing across the street seem to have come up early as I’ve seen none on the common while running where they grow in great profusion.

Took another crack at the sunbirds. There were so many. I took more decent pictures of them today than in my entire life up until. Trying to think how to post a few more without it being boring.

Arum Lilly. Past its best but still worthy of a photograph. This one’s for my dear friend @sophdex today.

I had a lovely experience with this little character. It’s a Cape Spurfowl - a common little ground bird that starts life as a fluffy golf ball on spindly legs. I was struggling to focus as it got nearer and nearer until it was right next to where I was lying on the grass - inspecting me at close range for signs of edibles. They’re lovely up close with their intricate patterns. ...

À propos first thing in the morning? The Cape Town Valkyrie, the Hadeda Ibis. I recently read that they have a sensitive organ in their long beaks that can detect the tiny vibrations of prey wriggling beneath the ground.

It started to drizzle now as I got back from my run and we got another spectacular rainbow. Auto white balance let me down here in the camera and my phone’s warmth control couldn’t get it all back. This is also where I realised that the default Apple photo editor has no perspective controls - at least none that I can find. Edit: doh! @ezlemoen pointed me to the perspective controls and I realised I’d seen them before.

Milestones: I managed to catch some of the cultists in this first pic (for those unfamiliar with my discussion of Rhodes Memorial cultists, I use the term in the anthropological sense of a niche religious society - not to refer to toxic cults). This one distinguished itself by blowing on huge corkscrew horns of the kudu antelope like a Southern African shofar. I decided to take a pic at each kilometre of my walk. Of course Sod’s law meant there was an interesting picture just ten meters before or after I hit the mark. Still. Interesting to note where each of these markers is on my walk. The straight up climb between km 1 (at the memorial after walking up from the windmill) to 2 (just below the contour path) is where all the sweat and wheezing happens. ...

Last one for a bit, I promise.

Another from the rainy day in Newlands Forest. The D600 is just young enough to have live view for composing but old enough that it’s awful at it.

More ferns. But this time from a walk in Newlands Forest a few weeks ago during the rains. I was having a great time out there until the eyepiece of the camera dislodged my hard contact lens - sending it tumbling to the endless complexity of the forest floor. It might as well have fallen through a wormhole into another dimension. An expensive mistake.