4th November 2007

[PHOTOS FOR THIS ENTRY ARE COMING SOON...IN THE MEANTIME, WHY NOT CHECK OUT THE PHOTO STORIES I'VE ALREADY CREATED?]

It’s 6.30 on a Sunday morning, and it’s just me, the birds, the already hot sun and the wide open river view…not forgetting, the mother and baby Hippo in the river below the house, and the two small crocodiles seeking the morning sun in one of their favourite spots in the shallow water by the reed islands. I photographed six Dikkops all together on one of the rock islands. [Later, my father saw a group of eight!] To my left, up on the sandbank, the gaggle of Guinea Fowl are there as usual, chasing each other around and nibbling at the new grass shoots. The Egyptian Geese are here already, the family with six goslings and other pairs too, arriving by air with a fanfare of noise. The Hammerkop has just flown in.

The Tree Squirrels are busy in the commiphora trees behind the house, foraging in the early morning sun.

There are early morning visitors at the bird table, Village Weavers and Bulbuls. In the fig trees over the river, I can hear the Parrots screeching.

Everywhere I look, birds are preening themselves, preparing for the day, from the Greenshank in the river, to the Swallows in the treetops. Even the sunbirds are at it. The tree squirrels are already busily foraging in the thicket behind the house. There’s no Plover sitting on the four-egged nest yet, but that’s not unusual at this time of morning, when the air is still relatively cool from the night. With the sun rising into a cloudless sky, as it is today, it won’t be long before the day becomes sweltering, and the parent birds will be back in situ. [Sure enough, by 7.30am, an adult is sitting on the nest again.]

The birds have finally discovered what the birdbath is for. Over the past few days, they have been drinking from it, but it’s only this morning that they’ve started bathing properly in it – another breakthrough! After the birds ignoring the new bird table for so long, it feels great to watch them all vying for space on it now – they just can’t seem to get enough! We’re still getting the same four species of bird there on a regular basis: Village Weavers, Yellow Vented Bulbuls, Glossy Starlings and Grey Headed Sparrows – occasionally the African Golden Weavers too - but I’m sure it won’t be long before more start coming.

A Vervet Monkey has just been on the balcony stealing the bird food. It will be impossible to keep them away, when they know we are feeding the birds. The trick is to try to keep them out of the kitchen, where they would cause havoc.

We’re sitting here watching a colony of ants stealing away with a piece of bacon dropped on the floor from Ian’s breakfast. If that’s not an example of a cooperative community, I don’t know what is. Imagine humans lifting something so much bigger and heavier than themselves like this – the pyramids would be built all over again.

The crocodiles are up to no good today, a couple chasing each other up and down the river in front of us – whether this is a mating ritual or they are fighting is hard to tell. The hippo mother was not too impressed and at one stage, disturbed by a large crocodile, she moved out to deeper water with her little one, before returning again to the cover of the reeds, passing close by a medium sized crocodile, which was sunning itself on a rock island.

We’ve had other passers by today – a large Warthog boar down on the sandbank to the right of the house – he looked great in amongst the flowers…

…and the newly arrived migrant White Throated Bee Eaters who were chased off their perch by our resident Pied Kingfisher.

Two large white flowers are blooming on the far riverbank. They look wonderful against the lush green background.

For a while, two small plants have been flowering in the balcony flowerbed outside our bedroom window – they’re both self-seeded and I don’t know what they are: one plant hugs the earth and the rock and has a small peach-coloured flower; the other stands taller but also has a small flower, this time white. They’re very delicate and pretty.

Not so delicate, here’s Ian in our balcony bath – what a great way to end a Sunday! (Don’t you love the tap?)

[PHOTOS FOR THIS ENTRY ARE COMING SOON...IN THE MEANTIME, WHY NOT CHECK OUT THE PHOTO STORIES I'VE ALREADY CREATED?]