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Sunday, June 7, 2020

A quick bovine delivery

Hello dear Blogger friends. I had to come to the farm office, nearer to the WiFi to post here. So I'm a day late. But hey-ho. I'm here!

On Thursday I took Skabby for a walk along the farm road. At the top a lone cow approached, waddling uncomfortably. I only had my mobile with me. I took a photo of her which I cannot upload to my laptop. 

Fifteen minutes later, Skabby and I arrived back at the farmyard gate and...

there was the calf, drinking on mama cow.  I left Skabby at home, and went back to the gate to photograph the mother and  baby with my Canon. The calf was halfway into the yard and the cow was standing facing towards the paddock. 

 Not even 20 minutes old, the calf was standing a little distance from the cow 
 It walked toward Mum as I approached with my camera 
Three days later it had been separated from the cow and was in the nursery

On Friday night my SIL, Shelley (her of the birding ID fame) forwarded a link to me saying there would be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse starting at 19h45. I couldn't Google to see exactly what was happening (nothing new with my sketchy Internet) and decided to check on the moon at intervals from the start to capture the eclipse when it occurred. 

Well,  I went out onto the lawn at 30 minute intervals and by 11.29 I had STILL not seen the eclipse.  Anyone else out there see the eclipse? 
 Full moon, 20h25 5 June 2020 Solferino Farm, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa 


On Saturday I took Skabby out for his walk and I was armed with my camera this time. I was glad I was . 

As usual, as we approached the dam, the Grey Heron flew up and settled on the far bank. 
Grey Heron
 As usual, Skabby dived into the water and plodged to his heart's content. The Heron didn't move

 Walking back I photographed some old farm implements

 And heard a different bird calling nearby

 Leivaillants Cisticola 
 This LBJ is a lifer for me! 
 My SIL, Shelley, thought it was a Leivaillant's Cisticola. Any other ID experts out there, please correct me if I'm wrong 

When we got home, a starling was on the lawn, foraging for food. It soon was rewarded. I know it's  macabre that one creature can eat another, but that's the law of nature and of course, the worm was lower on the food chain than the bird - and was eaten! 







I'm linking to Saturday Critter with Eileen, here

STAY SAFE AND HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY

3 comments:

  1. What a fascinating collection of photos. Thank you.
    No lunar eclipse here (that I knew about).
    Wouldn't it be nice if our species was independent so early...

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  2. How fun getting to see the new born calf. Amazing how quickly they can start walking.
    I hadn't heard about an eclipse but even if I had I am always in bed asleep long before anything like that would occur.

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  3. The calf is adorable. Can you imagine a baby being born and standing up moments later, that would be unreal. :)

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