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| This morning’s four hornbills love our birdfeeder. |
“Sightings of the Day in the Bush”
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| A typical day at “home,” drying a little laundry in the sun, and a zebra stops by. |
We can hardly describe ourselves as expert bird watchers. But as enthusiastic animal watchers, birds certainly provide us with considerable entertainment, as witnessed in many of our posts over the years.
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| Laughing doves are frequent visitors to our feeder. |
Here in Marloth Park, we can enjoy a wide array of birds in our garden or when out on frequent drives through the park or during any foray to Kruger National Park for the day.
Louise recently loaned us a bird book for common South Africa’s birds arranged by color, but I continue to struggle to find the names of birds we’ve seen in the garden and when out.
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| This is a streaky-headed seedeater, aptly named, who loves the birdfeeder. |
I partly blame myself for becoming frustrated when I don’t correctly pin down the bird’s features efficiently enough to find the photo in the book. At that point, I’ll look online and then, as a last resort, pester our bird-enthusiast friends Lynne and Mick, who live in the UK and part-time in Marloth Park, and friend Louise in Kauai, Hawaii.
When they go to Kruger, they’re searching for birds while reveling in spotting other wildlife. For us, it’s the other way around. We’re looking for other wildlife and happen to come across birds in the process.
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| Ostriches tend to hang around a specific territory in Marloth Park. We’ve yet to have any in our garden this time. However, when we were here in 2013, we had an enthusiastic visitor. To see those photos, please click here. |
I suppose it’s a matter of personal preference. Also, it’s not as if one can’t be enthusiastic and expert in both areas. For us, it’s a matter of where our attention is focused at any given time, and although we aren’t experts in either aspect of wildlife viewing, we quickly can wrap our minds around appreciating both.
In other words, it revolves around the lyrics from the old song, “Love the One You’re With,” which I guess applies to many areas of life, including wherever we happen to be at any given moment, loving the one you’re with, the place we’re living at the time, the scenery we’re embracing, and the wildlife we’re incorporating into our daily lives.
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| Early morning dewdrops on the back of the head of a helmeted guinea fowl, permanent residents in our garden. Typically, dozens of these birds hovering in the bush, waiting for us to toss pellets to other animals. They peck at the pellets to break them up into bite-sized pieces. |
Perhaps, that’s what travel is all about, getting outside your comfort zone, seeking the unusual, the new, the unique, and the enchanting to expand one’s horizons and furthers our personal growth.
The difference for our way of life, essentially as homeless drifters, nomads, or wanderers, we’re always seeking to learn and grow through our surroundings, whether it’s rich with birds or other wildlife or exquisite scenery and vegetation.
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| On any given day, there may be as many as 60 of these turkey-like birds hanging out in our garden. They wait underneath the birdfeeder for other birds to drop seeds while they eat. |
The world is a magical place, filled with rife, worry, war, and disharmony. One day it could all be gone. We can only pray and play whatever role possible in striving to keep our exquisite surroundings intact.
Photo from one year ago today, August 7, 2017:
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| Early morning view of low-lying clouds in Atenas, Costa Rica. For more photos, please click here. |