Friday, April 8, 2016

April 08, 2016 Sunset Drive




Jamie Paterson presenting with Jeandré Gerding on camera.

Brent Leo-Smith presenting with Bryan Joubert on camera

Jamie,                               ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
It's draw a bird day she shows us her drawing of a hornbill.

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A little acria and African vagrant butterflies
Mating African monarch butterflies
A white and a yellow butterfly
Wandering donkey butterfly
A tiny fast blue one and sheraxies??
Hawk moth
Elephants in the distance along the power line he is getting closer for us to view. He finds us a cow to view
Brent tells us that tomorrow will be our first drive on cheetah plains property Woo hoo! That is so awesome.
Broad banded grass yellow butterfly

Jamie,                              ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Terrapin tracks in/on a mud wallow
A few magpie shrieks in a tree
African hoopoe

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Kudu herd
Brent got a report that one of the Birmingham boys is in very bad health they think possibly a snake bite they think he will die in the next day or two. One of his coalition mates is still with him, but the ill one is laying down not moving breathing very heavily.
Impala ram


Jamie,                               ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Greater blue eared starling
Male grey duiker
Yellow-billed hornbill
Buffalo bulls

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Brent with a close up of a buffalo bull he is at tree house dam. Bryan shows us the thumb who is dressed as a bird today but which kind. I say red billed oxpecker.
He says he had a talk with the ranger who saw the sick Birmingham boy, his main symptoms are milky eyes and heavy breathing. He is still calling which is a decent sign but only time will tell.

Jamie,                              ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
White berry bush
Blue  waxbill
Jamie welcomes a class from a high school class, for the next half hour.
Dwarf mongoose

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
White-backed Vultures in a dead knob thorn tree
Impala in a thick brush area

Jamie,                               ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Scares off a steenbok

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sunset and mountains

Jamie,                              ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
buffalo and oxpeckers
Two spotted hyenas show up at Jamie's Buffalo sighting Clan male # 15 spiral and unknown hyena was seen once before at Djuma pan cam on January 23, 2016. Other than that we don’t know the hyena that runs into the bush first.
Sunset

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
17:54 Brent has a surprise for us.  Oh a branch in the road sign means BIG CAT!! Into the bush we go!  Oh no we have to wait a few more minutes until it's our turn.
As Brent takes us into the mystery sighting he tells us he got an update from the Sabi Sands management who went to investigate the Birmingham boy who was reported as deathly ill, and they said he is just very skinny not dying so Great news there.
17:58 It's a leopard in a tree but which one?  Hmm short nose I say Thandi but could be shadow I think to dark for Thandi, but wait which one is darker OH NO I need to learn the difference between the sisters better.  I don’t see the "WOW" Karula has on her forehead, although I haven’t seen the face straight on yet, and I am not a leopard identifying expert. Hmm first clue it's a mommy so I am wrong must be shadow, Thandi doesn’t have cubs. She is too wide eyed and alert looking with the shorter/smashed looking nose to be Karula to me.  (Just thought I would share my thought process I am nowhere near great at identifying the big cats)
 Its shadow well at least I was right that it wasn't Karula. Yep Shadow!! And Brent says there is a hyena there but we haven’t seen it yet.
18:06 Shadow comes down from the tree. 

Jamie,                              ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
18:11 We go to Jamie while Brent gets us a view of the hyena on Shadow's kill. She shows us the amazing orange shy view through the trees.

Brent,                             ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The kill is an adult male impala. Shadow killing this is an amazing feat for a female leopard Great Job Shadow. She has a full round belly as she took one piece of meat and wandered off so, she was probably mostly done with the kill anyway, so why not help feed your neighbors good job Shadow LOL.
 We see the horns of the impala ram when Brent finds the hyena feeding on it.  We are in the Western Territory so these are not the Djuma clan hyenas that we all know and most love. So I don't know age or anything on them. I did look carefully and compare them to all my collages of the Djuma hyena clan just in case, but none of them match.
One hyena is eating on the carcass when another comes running in and kicks him/her off the kill and take it over, the one who was eating (the 2nd to show up hears the other hyena crunching something and does a little cackle as she runs over to either chase off the other or make sure there wasn’t a better piece of meat over there, then returns to the main kill to eat some more.
Then a younger smaller hyena charges in and grabs the main chunk of meat without any fight from the 2nd one that was eating it. The sub-adult gets the big chunk and runs off after a few seconds and the other continues to eat his/her small chunk of hoof, and skin.  The hyena that is the 2nd to arrive and the last on the kill, has a damaged right eye it is blind in, he/she is still eating at end of drive. Crunch crunch till the end.

Brent says good night to all and says all the Thank yous and good job to and from the entire WildEarth, Safari Live crew.

End of Drive


© 2016 Chell Taft
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