two golden-tailed woodpecker (Campethera abingoni) fighting - taken during a conservation project in South Africa - taken by Thomas Fuhrmann, SnowmanStudios - see more pictures on / mehr Aufnahmen auf www.snowmanstudios.de #africanimpact

Very interesting behavior by the GDC Sunbirds. These 2 males were chasing each other around my garden for weeks until, on this day, it reached boiling point. The most interesting was watching the female diving down from my Plum tree to break up the fight.

"On Friday 7th May we were alerted to an extraordinary visitor on Wilderness beach!
The first SMART volunteer to assess the situation sent photographs of a pale-white seal resting on the sand. Within minutes of forwarding the photos to Dr Greg Hofmeyr, Curator of Marine Mammals at Bayworld in Qgeberha (PE), he called to say it was a female crabeater seal from the Southern Antarctic region!
Rarely seen in our waters, this seal would not be able to survive and would have to be rescued. Crabeater seals (Lobobon carcinophagia) are mainly krill eaters (despite their name!) and only about 32 have been seen along our coast in 65 years. The SMART wheels started turning rapidly and a safety perimeter was erected to prevent onlookers from harassing the seal. Dr Hofmeyr packed the necessary crate and gear into his vehicle and hit the road to Wilderness; a more than 4-hour journey. During his trip down dedicated SMART volunteers from George and Mossel Bay kept watch over this beautiful creature, named Pearl by one of the onlookers. It was a labour of love in miserably cold, windy and drizzly weather. Proof once more that our volunteers are dedicated, caring and loyal.

Dr Hofmeyr arrived at about 17h00 and it took 8 people about 12 min of manoeuvring to gently coax Pearl into the crate. Understandably she was reluctant to swap her wide beach for a box, no matter how well-intended it was. She was safely introduced to her new ‘accommodation’ at Bayworld by 22:30. ‘Our’ Pearl of the Ocean is somewhat underweight, probably not surprising how far she’s travelled, and if all goes well will spend a few months at Bayworld being rehabilitated. Once healthy and strong enough she will be released to her natural habitat, the ocean.
This beautiful animal has once again given us at SMART the opportunity to inform and educate the public while they ooh-ed! and ah-ed at her presence on our shores!"

Hannibal strikes again

True cannibalism - the larger ate the smaller - same species - then dragged off the empty shell on its tail to absorb the calcium at leisure.

See predator: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/11209847

Part 1: The catching process.
The bird was noted high up in a tree, flew down into low shrubby growth, perched for a few seconds then flew up and got hold of a large caterpillar. After much flapping and tugging, freed the caterpillar for the shrub and flew off with it's catch.

A 2.4m long Green Mamba caught this Village Weaver then dropped the prey onto the ground below. Within 30 seconds it went down onto the ground and positioned itself to ingest the bird and once the bird was partially swallowed it pulled itself back into the undergrowth and later was seen in the tree with a lump in its body. There is a resident pair of these snakes in my garden that I see regularly. I have posted this same snake earlier this year with a Grey-headed Sparrow. Has a yellow scale above its right eye. It hunts over my bird table in the garden.

Nymph collected from water trough in garden 27 March 2020 (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/40874462)
22 July two more nymphs added.
20 August - nymph positions itself on the side of the container above the water line.
24 August - adult emerges. First photos 07:00.
25 August - final photos 08:30 when it had to be encouraged to leave.
26 August - second adult emerges.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/57716400

I went down to my swimming spot with the aim of removing some branches from a tree which had fallen across the river. As I arrived I disturbed a young Fish Eagle who was sitting on this tree. Rustling in the undergrowth on the opposite bank alerted Dog and me that we were not alone and soon an otter popped up its head, sending the dog into a fit (she probably thought it was a swimming honey badger). Another otter also started popping up and down and doing a sort of long moan-growl. To my surprise the closer otter started making a bee-line for us and was probably only 3m away from the dog when I called her back. After a while they settled down so I entered the water to commence my pruning task, keeping a close eye on the nearest otter. Dog was sensibly sticking to the bank. After a few minutes I noticed the otter had moved closer, was staring at me intently and again moan-growling. Being waist-deep in water with nothing for protection but a swimming costume and a folding saw, I decided to calmly retreat and the otter immediately snaked over and claimed the territory I had just vacated. Video here:

https://youtu.be/GHbui1YX31k

A female Giant Ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) oviposits into the side of a tree.

I was honored to have this observation selected as observation of the day for June 11, 2020, and again as observation of the week (week of June 21, 2020). It is covered in this blog post: A Trip to Texas Provides a Long Sought Photographic Opportunity - Observation of the Week, 6/21/20.