Ons Voëls DIKKOP (Spotted Thick-knee) -258

deur Manie Swarts

Ek  het dié foto’s gedurende Desember 2008 geneem, toe die Dikkop in ons agterplaas gebroei het.

Ek het die nes in ‘n oop ruimte tussen perdemis gesien. Die voëls lê twee eiers, wat dan na ± 24 dae uitbroei. Ek het die nes behoorlik opgepas, in afwagting op die koms van die kuikens! Groot was my teleurstelling, want gedurende dié tyd het daar een middag ‘n harde bui reën met hael geval, wat die nes oorstroom het met yswater. Ek het probeer om die water weg van die nes te ly, maar net een kuiken het uitgebroei. Dit was baie moeilik om die kleintjie te sien, omdat hy so goed gekamoefleer is.

Kestrels Spectacular Over Town

Apart from the rain and the resulting green veld, one of the most spectacular sights in Smithfield at the moment, is the cloud of Lesser Kestrels circling over the village in the evenings.

The kestrels used to roost in a stand of bluegums on the other side of the mountain, and then for a couple of years we didn’t see them at all. At the end of last season, Lynden and I watched a few dozen fly in and out of some trees near my house – but then they flew away again. This year we’ve been delighted that they not only came back, but they brought a whole lot of their friends with them.

Why so Many Eagles Drown

by Carmel Rickard

DROWNING is a major cause of unnatural deaths in birds of prey. One of South Africa’s top bird specialists, Mark Anderson, says that a bird of prey with waterlogged feathers has little chance of getting out of a farm reservoir, especially if the dam is only partly full, because it cannot scramble up the sheer sides and it cannot fly up from the water if its feathers are too wet.