February 28, 2013

 This Fruit-Bat was spotted by one of the Groundsmen at school.

I am particularly excited because this is a first for me and my blog

What a fascinating creature. What's with the Spider, I wonder?

February 27, 2013

 Walking home this afternoon while chatting to a friend we spotted this Agama on the fence giving us the eye.  The late afternoon sun enhanced the beautiful colours of this creature.

It swung around giving us a view of the other side.  As it turned its head, we thought it was sticking out its tongue, but once the photos were downloaded, I realised that it had a damaged upper 'lip'

The photos that I posted on 12.12.2012 showed severe damage -  territorial fighting, perhaps?

 I need to add that although I own a tripod and a mono-pod, I had neither of them with me on this occasion.

Today I had the privilege of using a 'Pat-☺-pod' 

Thanks Pat for letting me balance my camera on your head....  what a sight we must have been!

February 26, 2013

So...  the butterfly took off!

But the photo somehow still seems to work without it, though.

February 25, 2013

My house is filled with cuteness at the moment.

Cute little puppies and cute little Jumping Spiders!

February 24, 2013

 Caught sunbathing on a mat that I hung out to dry. This is in the courtyard where the dogs are during the day when I am at work. Dogs being dogs, they love to chase the Lizards. It was so cute the way the Lizards were watching the ground to see if the dogs were following me. 

When the larger one decided it would be safer to move off,  the other allowed me to get quite close. 

Was she smiling because the dogs were not around? ;)

February 23, 2013

Waiting patiently on an unsuspecting insect to land on the leaf.

February 22, 2013

This dead alien creature has the most amazing mouth parts. It could be of the cricket family.

This post disappeared last night, let us hope does not happen again....

but the with aliens it is always difficult to tell ;)

February 21, 2013

 Today I had to dig in the archive for a photo!

This photo was taken In the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve a while ago.

Quite amazing how the Giraffe gets his tongue to the young shoots through all those thorns!

I also share with you a clipping taken from  a previous edition of the KZN Wildlife newsletter. 

February 20, 2013

This little Jumping Spider lives in my bathroom.

This morning it was sitting against the tiles above the basin.

The joys of living in the country!

February 19, 2013

The awful CMR Beetles are back in swarms!

Judging by the munch-marks on the flower, they must have menacing mandibles!

The photo below shows how they strip Granadilla of flowers even before they have opened.

I wonder if they are awarded extra stripes for eating the most?

My apologies for the quality of the photo below- the sun was on the wrong side -I tried to make the best of it!

February 18, 2013

In case you are wondering - I did not get this close to it!

This Wasp had a broken wing and probably felt very threatened by the camera lens zooming in on it.

February 17, 2013

Nature came indoors again today.

As I was preparing my morning cuppa, I noticed this little butterfly sitting on the wall in the kitchen.

Apart from going to church in the morning, I did not venture outside again.

Last week at school a number of children had dreadful colds and I seem to have caught the 'bug'

February 16, 2013

Our VERY intelligent Miniature Schnauzer puppies can spell!

Two days late for Valentine's day, but nonetheless..... 

 

These have to be the most photographed puppies ever!

The above photos were taken as they were sleeping, I did not have to 'pose' them.

When I saw them sleeping in the "L" formation this morning, I decided to look through all the photos taken over the last two weeks. All that was missing was an "E" and for that I had to crop and rotate one of the group photos that I took this morning. Not the best photo, but it deserves an E!

February 15, 2013

This very hairy little caterpillar looks like a mini mop.

We could not figure out which end was the head until it moved!

February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 13, 2013

Once upon a time there was a little Moth that dreamed of becoming a Teddy Bear...

Hang in there, little Moth- you're nearly there!

February 12, 2013

This is day 1139 of my daily photo journal.

I have photographed a variety of Stinkbugs during this time but I have never seen such a beautiful one! The greens and blues blend so well. 

A closer look reveals a prominent second set of 'eyes' - giving the insect quit a comical look!

February 11, 2013

When I moved a piece of wood that had been eaten by ants, I probably disturbed this guy's nest.

Whip Spider or Scorpion Spider or Tailless Whip Scorpion. Order Amblypygi
Amblypygi are carnivorous and are usually nocturnal hunters
So called because of the very long 'whips' that it waves around when it feels threatened.
I have seen very dull brown ones but never one as brightly coloured as this guy.

February 10, 2013

As I bent down to clean the rather overgrown fishpond today, a sudden movement among

 the leaves startled me. Much to my surprise it turned out to be a Loerie.

At first I though it might be an injured bird, but looking at the photos now 

it looks more like a juvenile. How it ended up at the pond, I do not know. 

Fortunately the dogs were inside.

It hissed at me when I got too close, and the photo below shows the threatening puffing of feathers. 

I placed pieces of apple close by,  but it showed no interest.  

After an hour I went out to see if it had perhaps eaten but it was gone and nowhere to be found.

Perhaps it is able to fly short distances and had just stopped here for a rest.

It is nice to know that these beautiful birds breed here in town.

February 9, 2013

Today I introduce to you a Cockatiel called B4 - "B for Bird", that is.  

He was given to me unexpectedly and I did not spend much time finding a name.

He was still very young and had to be hand fed with a re-shaped teaspoon for a few weeks.

B4 has been a part of my household for 11 years. According to Cockatiel.com they have an average  lifespan of up to 15 years but can live up to 22 years. 

He turned out to be a clever talkative bird with quite a vocabulary. He is also quick to mimic sounds.

(No, he does not swear!) 

Today I heard B4 'squeak' like one of the 10 day old puppies, which obviously sent the 

Schnauzer parents running to investigate!

 It was major cage cleaning day today. B4 is very good about it but watches my every move.

I found one of the tiny orange cheek feathers in the bottom of the cage.

How many of these make up that beautiful bright spot?

The little feather contrasts well against a piece of denim fabric that I use as a rag

February 8, 2013

A splash of yellow!

This Butterfly knew exactly where to settle to show off.

February 7, 2013

All I could find this afternoon were Stink Bugs. 

This was the only one that did not run away from the camera - because it couldn't ;)

February 6, 2013

Often when I roam around looking for a subject for my photo of the day I get 

quite despondent when there is not much to be found. 

I then tend to take a photo of the first object that catches my eye.

This is one of those  *this will have to do* shots!

A warm welcome to Wendy Saville who is a new viewer from Australia.

Our mutual friend Rodney Field tells me that you are enjoying all the 'wild and wonderful thingz' that I stumble upon!

I truly appreciate your compliments and support of my efforts.

February 5, 2013

Scary stuff!

*Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini) is an orb-weaver spider that produces one of the largest known orb webs, web size ranged from 900–28,000 cm2, with anchor lines spanning up to 25 metres (82 ft). 

The species was named in honour of the naturalist Charles Darwin, with the description being prepared precisely 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, on 24 November 2009.

*Courtesy of Wikipedia

February 4, 2013

The weather has not been kind to the Catawba Grapes this year.

Last year the small vine produced over 90 healthy bunches - this year only about 30 poorly ones.

This was the first cluster that ripened and I decided to pick and taste it before the birds got to it. 

I gave it a good rinse and as I popped the first grape into my mouth, this guy crawl out. Eek!

Quite a crunchy grape it might have been!

February 3, 2013

There is a blue drum on the veranda that catches the overflow from the gutter. 

The collected water is used to water my plants.

Today I noticed tiny insects darting around in the water, surfacing occasionally, probably to take in air. This macro shot shows that the creatures have shrimp-like tails.

They could be the larval stage of some insect and I look forward to seeing what they will become.

February 2, 2013

A dog's life? No. Not after you have met these puppies!

Today I spent some time making bedding for the new babies and also managed to finalise their ID's and weight charts. It was great fun to get to know them! I love the way they 'swim' blindly around the box yet quite accurately find what they were looking for!
(Considering that they cannot yet see or hear)

I refer to it a swimming because they seem to 'doggy-paddle' to drag themselves along.

This is Alex - our 'red boy'. Like his siblings, he knows exactly what he wants from life - food and sleep with plenty of motherly attention and cleaning in between.

It is quite amazing to watch the routine in the box -  I noticed that after having his fill, Alex 'swam' to the appropriate end of his mother to be cleaned and then moved away to sleep.

At first I was worried the the 6 puppies might not get enough nourishment or would not find a spare nipple, but nature sorts itself out along the way. While a few are sleeping, the others would suckle.

I hope to get good shots of the other puppies tomorrow.

The puppies are growing at an amazing rate and now weigh between 221 grams and 250 grams.

February 1, 2013

Where did January go?  Washed away?

Heavy rain yesterday afternoon brought us 60mm, with another 12 during the night. 

The new month also got off to a wet start.