WILDLIFE BLOG

African Skimmers are a relative of the Terns, and they hunt by dragging the lower part of their beak in the water, and snapping shut when they feel a fish. In the Luangwa, they're most visible when there are exposed sandbars which provide good breeding grounds, and since the water levels haven't yet risen, there are still many Skimmers around. I watched this pair and their chick hunting up and down the river at last light.

The Carmine Bee-eaters are still in the Luangwa in huge numbers. Most of them are concentrated along the sandy rivers where they are rearing chicks in nest holes excavated into the banks. Trying to photograph them is a frustrating business as they are very agile and change direction in the blink of an eye. I found that if you followed the movements of an individual bird, you could tell which group of nest holes it was [...]

Night drives often throw up something a bit unusual. Wood Owls are not rare, and in fact, you'll hear them almost anywhere if you listen for them, but they don't often sit still for very long! We found this one in an Ebony grove with lots of mature trees, a perfect habitat for a pair of owls. Although we only saw one, we could hear its mate calling nearby.

I wrote a while back about a female leopard who was rearing two cubs near to camp. The family haven't been seen for quite a while and we've been wondering about their progress. We knew that the male cub was showing much more signs of independence than the female, so we were expecting that we might find him on his own somewhere, but even he didn't show up. The other night, I spotted some very bright [...]

Hawk Eagles are one of my favourites - they're a beautiful, intelligent bird which use highly developed co-operative techniques to catch their prey. Together with their mate, they hunt ground birds, such as Guinea Fowl and Francolin, which make up the majority of their prey. We watched as a pair of African Hawk Eagles worked together to catch a Guinea Fowl. The female flew round in front of the birds, in an intentionally slow and visible [...]

...but I haven't been out with my camera much! I only managed to take a couple of photos of this Fork-tailed Drongo on her (very exposed) nest in a bush by the road. Since the time I took this photo, the bush has grown many more leaves....just as well since many of the cuckoos have arrived and they would certainly target such an unprotected nest!

We are lucky to have regular sightings of these beautiful cats. During the last few days of the dry season, when water is in really short supply, a bit of time spent at a popular lagoon will usually result in a visit from one of the locals! This big male is well-known to us and usually announces his presence with a throaty call which carries for several kilometers.

Nightjars are a group of birds which feed on insects during the hours of darkness. In the Luangwa, we have several species most of which are mottled brown to provide camouflage during the day. Male Pennant-winged Nightjars grow extra long primary feathers during their breeding season as a way of attracting a mate. I have yet to catch an image of one of these ghostly kite-like birds in flight, but I found one sitting on the [...]

I had a very interesting encounter with a pack of 18 Wild Dogs recently. By this time of year, this pack's activities are often centred around a salt spring in the back country away from the river. Whenever dogs can find a water source in a marginal area away from areas of high prey density, they choose to live and hunt around there to avoid confrontations with lions. Death by lions is the single largest cause [...]

We recently found this hyaena while out on a morning safari. It was a hot morning even though it was still early (it's always hot in October!) so he was lying in the shade. When we approached, he got up and posed for a while before skulking off as if he had done something wrong!

I was watching a hyaena early in the morning yesterday, and when I lowered my binos, I found that a group of Kudu had emerged silently from the Leadwood trees nearby. When I turned to look at them, most fled, but one female remained for a few seconds before following the rest.

Some days, you can vainly scour the skies in search of Vultures and other large birds of prey, and other days it's as if there's a raptor in every tree. Yesterday, I was out with some guests and there wasn't much going on on the ground, so we started to look up and into the trees. On an open area of dead mopane woodland, we found this Yellow-billed Kite and nearby a Tawny Eagle which has [...]