March 31, 2012

Today the subject for my daily photo came flying into the lounge.
It was bashing itself against the window to try and get out (the dogs went beserk!)
The little heart was beating like crazy, but I HAD to take a photo before I let it go.
 I watched it fly to the fence, where it gave me a last glance, scraped its beak, shook its feathers into place and disappeared - before I could even raise the camera for another shot.
It still has no name, although I searched the net to try and identify it. The upper parts were all one colour except for the splash of yellow on the shoulders, while the belly was light brown/dark beige

March 30, 2012

A male House Sparrow sitting high in the Mkuhlu tree - I wonder if it was cooler up there?
The heat and humidity today was unbearable

March 29, 2012

A beautiful Water-buck nervously looking around while grazing about 500 metres from where Lions were spotted on Sunday. Mom and I could not believe our eyes when a car pulled up with four young tourists who wasted no time to get out of their car, stroll across the road and take photos!
They ignored our friendly warning and defiantly continued while muttering quietly.
Quite sad really - why is it part of our human nature to ignore rules?

March 28, 2012

This little wasp had caught a spider and was frantically trying to get it in a grip to escape the camera.
Much to my surprise it managed to pick it up and fly away.

March 27,2012

Indigenous  Flowers
My mother says they might be "Wild Hollyhocks"

March 26, 2012

A dainty Damsel Fly enjoying the bright morning sunshine. 

March 25, 2012

 Today was my second attempt at photographing these hairy little spiders.
There were literally hundreds of them, but they are very small and difficult to focus on.Despite the very distinct pattern, I could not identify them on the internet.

The number of page views hit the 7000 mark today.  

Some days are rushed and it is not always easy to get a photo that is of great interest or ‘blog-worthy’,  

but I enjoy the blog and find the statistics very interesting and motivating.   

@maggiezlenz is viewed are far and wide:

Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hongkong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestinian Territories, Phillipines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, UAE, UK & last but certainly not least - United States. 
I thank you all for your support!

March 24, 2012

Hey... did I hear a comment about my teenager's big ears?

March 23, 2012

Old age, bad teeth and sad eyes....
This old Baboon was sitting in the shade looking very sorry for himself.

March 22, 2012

More Swallow tales....

The European Swallows are still in the area. 

Something strange below the beak of the one on the right caught my eye.

At first I thought it was a piece of egg shell or a large tick, but on the close-up below

 it looks more like a growth of sorts. Poor bird....

March 21, 2012

For Blackie, with lots of love.  (He reckons he is 21 today with 20 years experience!) 
Hope your day was a happy one - 41 little birdies told me that your year will be a great one!
For those who missed previous posts on the subject:  There used to be a dead Guava tree just outside my yard. The tree was a very popular resting place for birds, and obviously a source for many photos.  Unfortunately the tree was chopped down by one of the workers. I was devastated and summoned help to go and find the discarded tree.
We cut off a large branch, brought it home and wired it to the corner post of the fence a few meters
 from where the original tree used to be. Slowly the birds started coming back.
 Earlier this month, while sitting on the patio chatting to Blackie on the phone, I found these European Swallows all perched in the Guava 'tree'  After downloading the photo, and finding that there were 41 birds I decided to save it for Blackie's 21+20th birthday!

March 20, 2012

This little bee kept rubbing its face - a pollen allergy, perhaps?

March 19, 2012

At 5:15pm I still had no photo! Just today I said to a colleague that I do not like to take photos of dead insects,
but this moth had such a colorful underside and it was getting dark....!
I would never have noticed had it been alive because the upper wings were very plain brown

March 18, 2012

This young Crested Barbet stopped for a rest on the patio today.
Too soon it became aware of the camera and was less relaxed, though.
The last photo in the sequence was taken shortly before it took off.

March 17, 2012

Although the focus was on the Buffalo, I found the Red-Billed Oxpeckers very interesting.
The photo shows one mature and two juvenile birds. The yellow wattle has started to develop around the eye of the one on the left - obviously the older chick of the two.
The Buffalo certainly needs a clean around the eyes, but it was rather intolerant of the bird
working in that area and would shake its head violently to chase it away.

March 16, 2012

A grumpy Masked Weaver complaining bitterly.
Perhaps the nest he built did not pass her inspection?
We had  SGB Elections today and I did not have time to take a photo.
This photo was taken earlier this week

March 15, 2012

Not much time for a photo today.
Not much to say about this fly either, but the flower does compliment the colour of her eyes, though!
The older white thorns of the Prickly Pear create a pretty background

March 14, 2012

What I thought to be a tiny spider, turned out to be an exoskeleton.
These little webs look like silk diamonds on the fencing
The photo nearly landed in the recycle bin, until I realised that it has the most
 amazing 'accidental' Bokeh -  caused by blue sky and the sunlight filtering through
the trees in the background. 

March 13, 2012

A Drongo enjoying the afternoon sun.

March 12, 2012

What a lovely Monday I had!
Two of our classes went on an outing to Phinda Private Game Reserve today,
and I was permitted to go with them.
A great day was had by all.
A big thank you to the staff at Phinda Mountain Lodge and to the Guides,
and of course to the school management for allowing me to go.

March 11, 2012

These birds have a distinctive whistle - if I were a dog I would run and hide as soon as I heard it!
It has traumatised a number of dogs and dog owners in our town.
Why are birds so difficult to identify? One never seems to have the book that shows them all.
This might be a Yellow-billed Kite, but I am not sure.
Recently I had a very bad experience in the Park at Hilltop Camp .
A Yellow-billed Kite swooped down and grabbed my ham roll out of my hand as I was going to take a bite! It was so close to my face that it's wing hit me behind the head.
Fortunately only my finger was punctured by a talon.
We still laugh about the incident, but at the time it was quite scary

March 10, 2012

This Spectacled Weaver was not happy about the camera pointing in her direction!
The male has a black 'bib'

March 9, 2012

A Grey Heron fishing off a log in the river.
My sightings in the Park this afternoon include Rhino, Buffalo, Water-buck, Zebra, Impala,
Warthog and a variety of birds.
Nothing as exciting as the Lions I saw earlier this week, but a very relaxing drive.
No better way to 'unwind' after a busy week

March 8, 2012

Tonight I tried to photograph the moon again.
It is very bright though, and I did not get the results I was hoping for.
Fortunately I had taken photos of this unidentified LBJ.
I want to start a bird count of visitors to our garden, but will need to get a good bird book first.

March 7, 2012

A Red-Eyed Dove relaxing in the morning sun.
This is quite a large bird.

March 6, 2012

"The Wing Inspector hard at work"
This is all that I could find at the fruit that I put out for the birds today.
These are Gnats or Midges and I was rather surprised to see that she was also blowing bubbles!
On March 4 I posted a photo of a bubble blowing insect.

March 5, 2012

After work today I took a quick drive to the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park
to see the effect of the heavy rains caused by Cyclone Irina.
My plan was to drive up as far as Zincakeni Dam and then turn back.
Much to my surprise, young Lions entered the road where I had traveled less than 5 minutes before!
At first I thought there were 5, but after the frenzy of getting my camera out, I saw only 4.
Unfortunately it then started to rain and a car came from the front.
The remaining Lions also disappeared into the bush so  not many photos were taken :(
Considering the hours that I have spent driving around hoping to to see the Big Five, today's quick visit was quite a bonus. Lion, Buffalo & Rhino- all within an hour - 3 out of 5 ain't bad!)
The Park is looking good - waterholes full and animals happy! I also saw Zebra, Giraffe and Warthogs.
I did not go further than  Zincakeni Dam and do not know if there was any flood damage.
Roll on, Friday.....
In case you are wondering: the entrance to the Park is 15,8 km from my house.
I would love to move closer, though  ;)

March 4, 2012

 This strange little bubble-blowing creature might be a type of Fruit Fly.
I have seen this behaviour before and found various interesting theories about it at
http://diptera.info/articles.php?article_id=16
Judging by the size of its abdomen, my guess is that it overindulged on pear juice!
 I was hoping that the fruit I put out yesterday might draw a bird or two, but they were too skittish to come on to the porch. A variety of smaller visitors did not mind my four legged family though.

We had 200mm of rain in 24 hours and there could be more tonight.

March 3, 2012

This Rhino seemed to have it's own strategy - hide what the poachers want and RELAX!
(If there was water in that pool, it might have been dreaming of life as a Hippo)
Today has been a rather rainy day so I set up the camera at the front door and placed fruit on the porch in the hope of finding a victim to shoot with the Canon!  No luck, though!
As we brace ourselves for Cyclone Irina with more rains forecast over the next few days,
I decided to dedicate today's post to the plight of the Rhino again.
This photo was taken on 16 February - we have seen the waterholes gradually dry up
in the scorching heat that we have experienced this season.
Thankfully there will be water for the animals and all rivers will be flowing again.
Let us hope and pray that the cyclone will not cause extensive damage,
 and that human and animal lives will be spared.

March 2, 2012

Nectar duty?
This is a Policeman Butterfly on Yellow Lantana
The Lantana is home to a variety of Spiders.
Spiders are my favourite photo subjects by far, but it has been too windy to get natural macro shots.
I will not move, capture or kill any creature for the sake of taking a photo

March 1, 2012

A new month again?  How time flies - we are now in the last month of the first quarter of 2012!
The moon looked so fresh tonight that I decided it was time I tried again...
I am quite pleased with the result