Africa – Page 79 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

April 20, 2015

Sossusvlei Highlights

I know once I am home I will be able to fill several posts with photos from my time at Sossusvlei, but for now, here are a few highlights from my brief stay.

I landed in Namibia hoping I would see Oryx, and within a few minutes, I did :) The lodge had a small watering hole, and I frequent sightings. — I landed in Namibia hoping I would see Oryx, and within a few minutes, I did 🙂 The lodge had a small watering hole, and I frequent sightings.

Some young zebra playing in the desert. These little guys were whipping around, without a care in the world.

An oryx tests the water of the lodge pool.

April 16, 2015

I am gratefully, happily, joyfully back in Southern Africa again, and spent the past few days in Cape Town. This time, I was lucky enough to get the cable car to the top of Table Mountain (the “tablecloth” covered it almost my entire stay last time, and high winds had the cable car closed). I took the journey to Robben Island, seeing where Nelson Mandela spent his imprisonment and heard a first-hand account about what life was like in the prison, and had a lovely day trip to Franschhoek, the Cape of Good Hope and Boulders Beach (penguins!).

Honestly though, the absolute highlights of my time in Cape Town was having the opportunity to meet up with a friend I met my first trip over, and finally meeting my fabulous SA based travel agent in person.

I’ve brought along a tablet/PC hybrid to back up photos, and the editing capacity is a bit on the sluggish side, but I will do my best to get a few highlight photos posted when I can, because I can honestly say I would much rather be outside enjoying the beautiful scenery than spending too much time inside on the computer.

I’ve finally had a chance to sit down to post this one day two of my time in Namibia, depending on internet connections, I might get a chance to post some photos of the desert and animals in the next couple of days.

April 9, 2015

Grey Herons

Seeing about 6 or 7 of our beautiful great blue herons on Tuesday reminded me that I still had a few photos of grey herons to edit. These are the last of the photos I had flagged off from my stay at Zimanga for editing.

Enjoy 🙂

A grey heron, an egret and a pair of died kingfishers. Those were some busy rocks! — A grey heron, an egret and a pair of pied kingfishers. Those were some busy rocks!

A grey heron with an antelope skull and various bones littering the background.

A grey heron in flight above Jozini Dam.

A grey heron nicely poses in the grasses next to the dam.

April 9, 2015

African Hoopoe

I may have posted a version of this photo before, but I somehow lost the PSD file when transferring things from one computer to another, and I liked it enough to edit it again 🙂

http://jennifersawicky.smugmug.com/buy/46618501_HZ72M2/3981061978_qfRpqHR/

April 8, 2015

Goliath Heron

I was so excited when I had the chance to watch a goliath heron two evenings in a row; I wasn’t so impressed with the light and weather conditions I had to photograph them. Hopefully one day I will see one of them again in more favourable conditions; until then, here are a few of the photos I captured 🙂

Have a great evening!

A goliath heron in the tall grasses along Lake Sibaya.

April 1, 2015

Fish Eagles

On my first trip to South Africa, I completely blanked on the name of this bird while watching a pair perched in a tree along the river, and asked my guide the brilliant question “What is their primary prey?” Fish. Oh dear… I felt quite silly. I learned a bit more about the fish eagles this past trip (thank you to Graeme, Rebecca and Vincent for all the valuable information throughout my stay!) You can tell the difference between the males and females by the white front feathers. The males have a shirt, and the girls have a skirt. I had serious trouble distinguishing between the two at times though – those fish eagle girls sometimes have VERY short skirts! I’ll give my best guess as to the sexes in the pictures below. I’ve got a 50/50 shot of being right. Have a great evening!

A male fish eagle gave us a fly by while we were out doing our monitoring activities. The more I look at this picture, the more it looks like I (badly) photoshopped the bird into the background. I can assure you I didn't! 1/800 sec, f5.6 ISO 800 — A male fish eagle gave us a fly by while we were out doing our monitoring activities. The more I look at this picture, the more it looks like I (badly) photoshopped the bird into the background. I can assure you I didn’t!
1/800 sec, f5.6 ISO 800

A female fish eagle along the shores of Jozini Dam. I saw several fish eagles during my morning boat trip, but unfortunately for my photography, most were too far away to get a reasonable picture on a somewhat bumpy boat ride. 1/1250 sec, f5.6, ISO 320 — A female fish eagle along the shores of Jozini Dam. I saw several fish eagles during my morning boat trip, but unfortunately for my photography, most were too far away to get a reasonable picture on a somewhat bumpy boat ride.
1/1250 sec, f5.6, ISO 320

I'm not even going to hazard a guess on the shirt vs skirt for this photo! 1/1600 sec, f6.3, ISO 400 — I’m not even going to hazard a guess on the shirt vs skirt for this photo!
1/1600 sec, f6.3, ISO 400

March 26, 2015

Jameson’s Firefinch

I saw this beautiful firefinch couple at the Zimanga bird hide during our morning session. They are similar in size to the blue waxbills, and like them have such soft, gentle looking faces. As with (almost) all birds, the male has much more vibrant colouring than the female. And check out the tiny white dots running along the sides of their chests; such a delicate detail.

Time for drink. 1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1250 — Time for drink.
1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1250

A stern look from the male firefinch. 1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1250 — A stern look from the male firefinch.
1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1250

The look on their faces! "OMG he's huge!" 1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1250 — The look on their faces! “OMG he’s huge!”
1/1250 sec, f8.0, ISO 1250

March 25, 2015

Blue Waxbill

I spent a lot of time watching these little birds on my last trip to South Africa, both around the yard at the volunteer house, and while at the bird hides. There was something about the way they gathered in small groups, their flight style and their happy looking faces that reminded me of the oregon dark eyed juncos we have here at home; it certainly wasn’t based on appearance, as other than size and beak shape, they physically have nothing in common.