Winter Birding in Mwadui

As I mentioned on Monday, we've been spotting an Augur Buzzard so often that we even refer to it as "our" buzzard! The first time I saw it though, was during our first week back in Mwadui. We were driving along the road and I noticed a large bird on a lower branch of a tree. Normally we see these raptors on top of trees, mostly dead trees. They're also too far away in the middle-to-far distance and I struggle to get clear photos. This time we stopped the vehicle below the branch and the bird sat quietly while I clicked away. We sent the photos to Jez for his identification and he returned with Augur Buzzard!

Our first sighting of the Augur Buzzard which we see regularly now on our trips

How awesome to be able to photograph this regal raptor so closely

Bateleur

We've been watching a pair of Bateleur since 2012. This winter we were blessed to see the male soaring above us in the sky. (Impossible to get photos; believe me, I tried!) 

We've not seen the female for a couple of months; then a week ago we spotted an unusually colored Bateleur. I took several photos and sent them off to Jez. He told us this was a Bateleur Sub-adult. Many raptors, Bateleurs being one of them, take up to seven years to reach maturity and their full colors!

Bateleur Sub-adult 

Around the corner, above a body of water, I photographed a duck in a tree. It always tickles me to see a web-footed bird perched on a branch!

 

Comb (knob-billed) duck (Juvenile) 

The Comb (knob-billed) duck is a large duck with speckled head and blue-black and white plumage. The male has a rounded knob on its bill which is pronounced during breeding season. Female is smaller with no knob and paler patch on lower back. Juvenile is duller with pale specking on breast, belly and flanks. Just below the duck in the tree, another duck swam in the pond. It was too far to see whether it was a female or again, a juvenile.

Comb (knob-billed) Duck 

Just further along from this pond is another expanse of water. We'd seen a family of White-faced Whistling Duck there on several occasions, but as we stopped for me to take photos, the parents would steer the ducklings into the reeds and out of sight. This particular day when I'd photographed the above Comb Duck, we managed to sneak up on the other duck family. I managed to procure some beautiful photos! 

A pair of White-faced Whistling Duck and eight ducklings! 

 The parents lead their youngsters away from the edge where danger lurks!

(to be continued) 

I'm linking my post to Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart Monckton. You can visit his amazing blog by clicking here

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Dedicated Mum

Several times before I've posted about the angel in our Tanzanian home. Regina is not only my house-lady who cleans, does the washing (laundry) and ironing  before going over to work in the Guest House for the rest of the day. She is also the cats' devoted and doting mama when I'm away in South Africa.

Regina's husband, Phillip works for the mine on Thys' production team; their two little girls, Serevia and Anna attend the school down the road from my house. It fascinates me when I see Regina riding past on her bicycle in the morning with both little ones safely perched on the bike with her. She drops them off at school and then cycles back up the road to my house.

In October last year, Regina told me she had to take Anna to the doctor for treatment. Anna had just turned five and been diagnosed with an over-active thyroid and the doctor prescribed a three-month course of medication. This treatment was very expensive and as Regina is a private (cash) patient, Grant and I footed the bill.

In February I asked Regina - since the treatment was over, - if Anna had improved any. She told me that Anna had shown improvement for a mere six weeks and was back to square one.  She was listless, she had no appetite and she'd lost a lot of weight.  Regina asked me to look in SA for better medication for this ailment.

While on leave in May, Grant and I - with the assistance of a consultant - went through the self-help medication in our supermarket pharmacy. Eventually we decided on a herbal three-month-course of thyroid medication. Ever since I've been here, I've given Regina a hamper of food staples at the end of the month: ugali (ground maize meal); sugar, tea, coffee, rice, dried beans, gravy mix; 15 kg of fresh vegetables and fruits; biscuits and sweets/candy as well as a bottle of peanut butter and jelly mix, these last three items especially for the little girls.

Every day Michael (my outdoor angel!) visits a man up the street who has a cow in his garden. There he buys me three liters of milk and I boil it on my stove. Regina sieves it into a bowl and when cooled, she decants into clean 1.5 liter empty water bottles. She takes one bottle and Michael takes the other for his children at home. 

A few days after I returned from leave, I asked Regina to bring the two girls in before she took them to school. When they arrived, I placed them on my bathroom scale respectively and weighed them. I recorded their weights and the date in the back of my prayer journal. Next month Regina will bring the children back again and I will check on their weights. As you can see, I weighed Serevia as well as Anna, so as not to make any distinction.  

I believe with a natural remedy for Anna's problem as well as wholesome meals and monitoring her progress, we could help the little girl over this hurdle.

Here's hoping...

Anna (five) and Serevia (six-and-a-half) look very solemn while posing for Bib's camera! 

 Regina loads the two little girls onto her bicycle

Regina is very gentle in everything she does; it shows when she deals with her children and also with our three cats!

Mother and two beautiful daughters!

Even when I was in my early thirties, like Regina is now, I'm not sure that I could have comfortably lifted two young children on a bicycle!

Big smiles and the girls are off to school!

I am linking today's post with Our World Tuesday which you can access by clicking here

Perspective

Over the past few weeks I've unwittingly captured some strange images. I decided that instead of always deleting them, I'd save them in a special folder for a later date. Today is one of those dates where I'd like to post about an Augur Buzzard which Grant and I saw and I subsequently photographed on many occasions. In fact we're seeing this regal raptor so often, that we refer to it as "our buzzard" ! 

Another reason why I want to show these images is the age-old argument of progress versus wildlife. I.e. in this case, mining and causing distress to the local wildlife and birds on the mine. 

Mmm...

Take a look! 

 

 Augur Buzzard perched on tree top near an earthmoving operation on the mine

 Augur Buzzard perched quite peacefully on a tree near wheel-loader and operator

 Once I started playing with the focus settings, I arrived at this image...

 ... and this one! 

To explain here about the machine in this post, I had to ask the expert/s. In my case it was Grant. He said a wheel-loader has a bucket on the end which DIGS into the earth, removing it and placing in a selected area. So my point is: with all this activity (and this is only one small part of an independent mine outside the diamond mining operations),  Grant and I regularly see birds, deer, reptiles and mammals all over the mine and in the bush surrounding the activities.  

Later this week, I'll post more about this Augur Buzzard and other birds and wildlife we've spotted since returning from our SA break. 

Here's wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!