Social birds

Southern white-crowned shrike

There are three species of birds that we see often around the lodge and that are both social (moving and feeding in small groups) and noisy.  They come from three different bird families. 

Most common are the Southern white-crowned shrikes, mostly feeding on the ground. 

Next are the Arrow-marked babblers, also very much ground-feeding birds. 

Arrow-marked babblers

Least often seen are the Green wood-hoopoes, iridescent blue-green birds with long, curved red-coloured bills that they use for finding insects in the bark of trees.  However, all three make their own distinctive and quite continuous noises, generally as they move around and fly from point to point or from tree to tree but also whilst sitting as a group in a tree.  Indeed the wood-hoopoes are known locally as “bahlega mfasi” or “cackling women.” 

Green wood-hoopoes

There is a fourth species of social and constantly noisy bird that we see only rarely and have not spotted for a long time:  this is the White-crested helmet-shrike.  It was therefore a great pleasure to see a group of these birds on two occasions in the last week.  Although they moved on relatively quickly the second time, the first visit saw them flitting from tree to tree around the lodge for a while, enabling us to get a good view and take photographs.

White-crested helmet-shrike

Crescendo!

On Friday 16^th, soon after dusk, and as we waited for guests to arrive, a dark shape appeared at the back of the waterhole:  one white rhino. 

Then a second appeared at the other end of the water: two rhinos. 

After watching these for perhaps a minute or two, two more walked in from the left and drank at the front of the waterhole:  four rhinos. 

By the end of ten minutes, two had drifted off into the darkness while the remaining two grazed in the light. 

Although obviously focused on these two we then became aware of movement on the left of the water:  a leopard was finishing a short drink and then turned and moved off.  It was a brief glimpse only but nonetheless exciting. 

The grazing rhinos slowly moved up into semi-shadow, towards the lodge, and finally some 30 minutes after they first appeared were lost in the dark and the thick bush. 

Throughout this we kept hoping our guests would arrive but sadly that was not to be and all was quiet when they reached the lodge.

Great views of the lunar eclipse

The lunar eclipse of 15^th June was a worldwide event but here in Balule Reserve we were blessed with both a total eclipse and perfect, absolutely cloudless viewing conditions.  We were therefore able to see the whole phenomenon, notably the change from brilliant white full moon, through the earth’s shadow moving across, to totality and the orange-red colour of the moon as it was lit by light refracted through the earth’s atmosphere.  It was interesting to note how the stars and the Milky Way became increasingly visible as the eclipse proceeded.  The sahdow first cut into the moon's disc at 20.23 pm locak time and the disc was fully covered at around 21.27 pm.  We managed to obtain a reasonable series of photographs, some of which are given below.  For those interested in photographic specifications the pictures were taken with a 100-500 mm zoom lens on full zoom;  ISO settings ranged from 200 before the eclipse to 12000 at totality; shutter speeds ranged from 1/4000 before the eclipse to 1/30 at totality.  This enabled detail to be seen beforehand  and in the early stages and the later orange-red colour, which is very distinct with the naked eye approaching and after totality, to be realised in the photos. 

19.56 hrs: before the eclipse

20.30 hrs: soon after shadow started to cross the moon's disc

20.46 hrs: about one third across

21.05 hrs: almosy two thirds across

21.26 hrs:  almost total

21.30 hrs: totality

One-horned impala still going strong

September 2009 - the earliest photo we have

June 2010 (top left)

When we first arrived at Leopard’s View in September 2008 we were immediately aware of the presence of a male impala with one horn only.  He appeared to be in charge of a small harem of females and so we reckoned that he was doing alright in spite of this handicap to seeing off other males.  He has not been in charge of a harem since that first year, however.  How he lost the missing horn we do not know but impala do sometimes lose horns during fighting or perhaps even falling while being chased.  We have seen “one-horn” on and off ever since, always within the general vicinity of the Lodge, although the first photograph we have of him is from September 2009, a year after we first encountered him.  Further photos are on our files from early June 2010 and then 13^th March of this year, 2011.  We were pleased, therefore, when a one-horned impala and a couple of other two-horned males spent some time browsing outside our house late on the afternoon of 12^th June.  We assume that it is the same animal:  while it could be another male altogether, the likelihood of two one-horned impala in the same area is small.  It is good to know that he is still surviving.

March 2011 at the waterhole (top centre)

12th June 2011 - still going strong

Cheetahs rescued

On 6^th June we were both amazed and delighted to come across two cheetahs lying on a track adjacent to the western boundary fence of Balule Nature Reserve.  Cheetahs are an extremely rare sighting within the Greater Kruger Park and the core Kruger Park:  there are only some 250-300 in an area of about 2.4 million hectares.  They were very relaxed and appeared not to be disturbed either by us or by the traffic passing on the main road past the reserve gate.   Apparently their mother had left these two youngsters (they are only about 9 months old) on several occasions in recent weeks, exiting the reserve to the west.  The rangers had caught her and brought her back several times but each time she got out again and now appeared to have gone for good.  Meanwhile the youngsters’ condition was deteriorating rapidly and, despite attempts by rangers to feed them, they were starving and so on 7^th June it was decided to capture them and take them to Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, which specialises in looking after cheetahs.  They were duly darted, checked by the vet, tube-fed and rehydrated, before being taken to HESC.  When they are fully recovered they will be returned to Balule reserve.  It is always difficult to know whether to intervene in situations like this or whether to let nature take its course:  in this instance there were two important factors to consider.  First,  the problem was due, at least in part, to the presence of man-made fences; and second, cheetah are so rare and sufficiently endangered that preservation must take precedence over the course-of-nature argument.  We look forward to the return of these beautiful creatures once they have regained their health and are old enough to fend for themselves.