July 13, 2018

Starlings not that Common

If there were a lion behind every second bush, or a leopard in every tree, would they be so special? Would photographers want to shoot them (to protect them), would photographers drive off-road or into a no-entry road to get a better angle on their million dollar picture? I have in fact seen people drive all over each other to get a closer look at a lion, to get to the front of the scene of the crime. Imagine, for a lion! Luckily no photographer will ever do that. The point I want to make about starlings is that they are too common. Most of the starlings have a metallic sheen flashing back when the sun touches their feathers, but unfortunately they are not so special because they are just too common. This might be where this terrible word is coming from: ‘common’, like too many seen too often. Possibly it is also because they are robust and gregarious. Let’s rather call them plebeian.
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March 9, 2022

The story of a dove-hunting black- backed jackal at Chudop

Early one morning at the end of November 2021 at the Chudop waterhole in Etosha National Park, a black-backed jackal bitch appears. Hundreds of Cape Turtle Doves and a few Laughing Doves, now called Palm Doves, come to drink at the water’s edge. In the usual jackal trot the female moves around the waterhole watching the thirsty doves while keeping a distance of two to four metres from the water. The moment a dove starts to drink, with its back turned towards the prowling jackal, the small predator lowers its head and body and tries to sneak up close to the dove. Most potential victims are too wary or warned by nearby doves taking off. Several attacks end with a splash of water and feathers in the mouth while the prey gets away with a big fright and sometimes the loss of a few feathers.
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