It’s a rainy morning in Estabrook Park, Campers, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s time to hit the arts and crafts pavilion, and pity the fools who signed up for waterfront today.
Anyway, before we head over, there was a short gap in the precipitation soon after sunrise, and I snuck out to capture this image of my very first beautiful wood nymph (Eudryas grata), which, despite the glamorous name, is a moth “known for their mimicry of bird droppings.” Long, long-time readers may remember that I found a red-spotted purple chrysalis, back in the day, which also mimicked bird droppings. That’s cool and all, and I hope it works well for them, but I sure am glad that bird droppings are not the only things that bugs mimic. Right?
Now, about that arts and crafts pavilion. If you had your hopes set on stitching up a pair of leather moccasins or braiding up a lanyard, I have some bad news for you. I was just using it as a euphemism for diving into the archives to see some old travel pictures that I haven’t managed to show you yet. Sorry!
Anyway, here’s one of several Cape ground squirrels or South African ground squirrels (Geosciurus inauris) that we saw in Etosha National Park. “Don’t worry, Sweetie, we’re not coming for your burrow.”
I have already shown you a pale chanting-goshawk, from the drive back to Windhoek, and here’s another one, a youngster who greeted us at the start of our second day in Etosha.
I showed you the sociable weavers in Etosha and their massive nests already, but they were not the only weaver birds there, and here’s a scaly-feathered weaver, scaly-feathered finch, or just scaly weaver (Sporopipes squamifrons). They weave little individual nests into a bush and are sociable enough to have several nests in a single bush, but they don’t go crazy and weave them all into one big monster.
You may be stunned to learn, as I was, that “canary” isn’t a species of bird, but that there are 37 species in the genus that includes “yellow canary”, and this black-throated canary or black-throated seedeater (Crithagra atrogularis), foraging in the landscaping around the visitors’ center at Etosha, is also one of them. You can just see a tiny patch of yellow peeking out from under its wingtip.
Besides the flamingos that we saw at the ocean in Walvis Bay , we also saw this quartet of greater crested terns, crested terns, swift terns, or great crested terns, (Thalasseus bergii) taking a break on the sand to rest and preen.
Finally, on our drive to the airport to catch a hop back to Johannesburg, we spotted a small troop of chacma baboons or Cape baboons (Papio ursinus) on a utility pole, and when we stopped for pictures, they were kind enough to climb down to pose on this fence. That doesn’t look like a very comfortable seat, but what do I know?
Lastly, I see that we are forecast to resume our regularly scheduled program tomorrow of cool temps, a light breeze, and partly cloudy skies, so keep your fingers crossed that I can rustle up some shiny new content for you.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 