I had a wonderful surprise, as I saw something last night in the early evening that I have never seen before.
Moms and babies responded jointly to the night time call!
A small river runs past one of our shopping centers and whenever we go there to buy bread and milk, I spend my time on the riverbank while my wife does the shopping. We got there late due to a power cut, as we had to stay at home during the cut, for security purposes. So the light was not too good for photos, but I tried my best and here are the results.
The birds all responding to the night time call, made me think that it is the same as our human knock off time responses. When the clock strikes 5pm, at some places a bell, or an alarm sounds and then we all pack up and go home.
Come and watch this response.
Time to sleep, come all, time to sleep, time to sleep, come all, was the guinea fowl's call as he sat a far distance away on a hill.
The first surprise, as the Guinea fowls had babies and they walked past us.
All of the birds gathered at the bottom of the hill and then they walked into the tall grasses.
So, I thought that was it, but then another surprise appeared and I have never seen this before.
Here it was and yes, it was an even bigger surprise!
I have heard about these birds, but we have never seen them before. So I thought that they were Cape Spurfowls, but not to be, as these had dark crowns on their heads. Maybe done at the local bird hairdressing salon:)
They are Grey-winged Francolins (Scleroptila afra). Endemic to the Cape area. And they had babies.
The kids look exactly like the mother, and it is so great to see that they have survived the predators. Five kids. Wow!
Seemed like there was a young Red Bishop officer controlling the traffic :)
I was so happy to see this and it was a real great gift to get this on camera, especially in the bad light.
I love this little river and I have posted many happenings here in the past. It is a pleasant little stream and a huge parking lot hides it from public view. The birds and the crabs love the area, as well as the bugs on the flowers, and it is an ideal spot for photography.
As you will see in the first photo, the mountain range is on the horizon and the wind was fiercely covering the mountains with clouds, that I will show you in another post.
But for now, this will have to do as we are waiting for our next power cut.
I hope that you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
