We popped into The World of Birds the other day. I was remembering that I first went there in 1983 and have found it fascinating ever since. Apart from the rehabilitation they do (there are a huge whack of pied crows and spotted eagle owls no doubt mostly brought in injured) you get a chance to see birds up close in real life that you’d seldom or never get to see - like this handsome Amazonian Blue and Yellow Macaw. ...
Trinket likes secret places for her daytime summer naps.
Trinket enjoying a rainy sunday.
This fat boy is as tranquil as ever - fastidiously washing his face. He’s taken to lounging about in the shade outside - including in flower pots with his limbs hanging out. One day he’ll let me photograph him like that.
Trinket overcome by a truly savage yawn. She at least gets to go out visiting the neighbours by her wall-top pathways.
Balcony Birds No. 6. This one was exciting. We’re almost positive this is a juvenile Rufous-Breasted Sparrowhawk. It makes sense that it would be coming around here trying to murder our sparrows. These kinds of hawks are built for manoeuvrability - they can zip between the branches at speed to surprise perching birds. Aparna spotted this through the window and I was lucky enough to grab some hand-held, unstabilised pics - and got a few decently sharp ones. Lightroom could only partially compensate for the heavy purple fringing due to the older teleconverter dealing with the intense contrast against the sky. ...
A spiky plant that I know not.
Roaming about, photographing small things.
All the thorny acacias in the Karoo are blooming with these tiny yellow pom-pom flowers.
Eland are pretty spectacular. The second-largest antelope (after the Giant Eland of West Africa). They’re recovering their numbers in South Africa after being nearly wiped out through hunting by the end of the 19th century. Gotta say, I found the operation and layout of my Fuji XE1 much more understandable from the get-go than the Nikon Z50. It’s really great for us olds who grew up on film gear that Fujifilm makes cameras that use film-camera control layouts as a starting point. Very lucky.