Tag Archive for 'bird'

Concerned Observer: Video

Published

on April 18, 2009

. 0 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, bird, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, duck, ecotraining, education, elephant, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, mist, mud, narrowcasting, nature, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, sandstone, scenic, teach, video, wallow, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

I’m flying again today, but this time I have the luck of the helicopter that helped with the Sable darting. I’m lucky to be scoring a lift all the way to Johannesburg. Can’t complain about that. Probably 4 hours in the saddle.

It’s the Wildtalk film festival in Durban that Mark and I are attending and Safari Sisters has been nominated for an award.
We’ll be away for the week but will keep you posted with clips shot recently.

Hopefully when we get back the wild dogs will be back. Maybe they’re just needing a good break from me. I hope this one’s long enough!

Airstrip Migration: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on April 17, 2009

in videopost

. 1 Comment Tags:adventure, africa, airstrip, animal-kingdom, bird, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, croc, documentary, ecotraining, education, egret, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, fly, GLTP, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, Impala, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, micorlight, migration, narrowcasting, nature, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, ultralight, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zebra, zimbabwe

Now that was a marathon day of flying.
I was up early to see the misty dawn from on high. It was stunning out there as the mist lay low over the bushveld. But it didn’t last as the African sun soon toasted it.

I was up in search of Sable to be collared for a research project. The Sable antelope are managing to keep their own on Malilangwe but their numbers just aren’t increasing and there seems to be a relatively high mortality in calves. This is suspected to be caused by a high tick load. The research is aimed to find out what this is all about and to find ways to assist calf survival in those early months.

Heading south to the first area we would be working in, I picked up the wild dogs signal again near the confluence of the Chiredzi and Runde Rivers. Still west of the river!

Having located them I put the receiver on for the leopard’s transmitter just out of pure chance that he might still be around. Instantly I got a signal but was convinced it was still the dog signal. Careful examination of the receiver confirmed it was Tanga, the leopard. But it was a back signal. So all the way back north I went and just as I flew over him his transmitter packed in. Very weird.
Alan was sent in on the ground and found the dude. He also discovered the transmitter had shifted frequency. This sometimes happens when the battery is going flat. Anyway the good news is Tanga is still around and well.

I went on to find the herd of sable in the south. The helicopter was called in and a cow was darted and fitted with a radio collar.
One down, 3 to go. Another herd was located and a second cow fitted with a collar.
Then the long hall of another 3 hours flying and not a sign of the herd around Manyoka.

The sun was now setting and I was desperate to get my feet on the ground having been windswept and in the sky for 6hours today. But I still wanted to get a final bead on the dogs. There was no change there, still west of the river.
I landed long after sunset with just enough light to be safely on the ground.

Birds a plenty! Video

Published

Wildcaster

on April 13, 2009

in videopost

. 2 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, bird, birds, blog, blogumentary, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, flock, giraffe, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, nature, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, quelea, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Another day with my cameras not venturing out their boxes! (And so the video and photos come from my archives)
I was in the sky at dawn on this crisp morning, the very best time to fly. The air is dense and stable and my plane just seems to hang there. And of course with my camera being on the other side of the river, the mist lay dense across the bushveld and with the sun rays bouncing off it, just stunning but nothing to show for it.

I was up there in search of Allan’s leopard. For several hours I criss crossed the reserve. But no sign. And just when I had plans to pick up on the dogs the receiver battery died on me. No problem, I’d follow up on them by car.
It was already midday when I ventured down to the river in search of pretty Belinda! Damn she wasn’t there.

Just 10m before parking the vehicle on the river bank my front tyre nicked a tree stump and pop! Another tyre totally ruined.
So, about these new tyres. “Coopers STT”. Google them. Must be the STT as they are designed for 80% off road. Not much design going right here. AND they profess to have a specially designed side-wall for off road. Well the side-walls are like bubble gum. So soft that just about anything pierces them and once they go that’s it.
I still swear by the standard old road tyres. No special trims, just a thick side-wall. I think I’ve blown 4 of them in 20 years. And my Coopers STT, I’ve blown 6 in 2months! AND they’re more than double the price.
So yes how can I complain? I was caught hook, line and sinker and now I’m sunk!

It was no big deal crossing the river to my vehicle and off I went in search for the dogs. This was all new country to me, and big country. So I wasn’t impressed when my engine started developing problems, and they got worse. Eventually it was just a battle to keep the engine running. In the meantime I tried to search for the dogs too but was without luck. They could be anywhere, so I gave up and stumbled along back to the river.

At the rate I’m going any ventures west of the river just aren’t working for me. I really seem to be wasting my time. Tomorrow I’m probably going to have to get a tractor to pull me back across the river so I can take a serious look at my vehicle problems. And then I’ll have to fly again for the dogs. I’m secretly hoping I couldn’t find them cos they’re back east of the river.
And so my Easter weekend came to an end. Not the happiest one I’ve had!

Cooling off before the hunt: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on February 20, 2009

in videopost

. 8 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, bird, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, conservation, documentary, dove, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, Impala, IUCN-Red-List, kill, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, nature, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, pan, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, water, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Much better day. I was able to stay with the dogs most of the time today.

At dawn they were hunting around the base of Sosigi hill and after only one chase that was them done for the day as they rested up at a pan in the mopanie.

That allowed me a bunch of time to catch up with stuff in the office.
Back with the dogs at the pan in the afternoon and they were still resting. The Emerald-spotted Doves in the surrounding woodland called their mournful cries going on and on. “My mother is dead, my father is dead, all my relations are dead, and my heart goes koo-koo-koo-koo”. And trying to out compete them were the Cape-turtle Doves “work harder, work harder.”

The dogs made up for their lazy start this morning with an early start this afternoon they circled Sosigi hill and then headed north. The terrain was pretty easy going initially but then they hit those impenetrable thickets.

When I caught up with the pups they were milling around looking for the folks. And it turned out they weren’t even a hundred metres away feeding on a young impala they’d caught. When the pups eventually did hear a bone being crunched they screamed with delight while in full flight to get there first for the scraps, of which there weren’t many.

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Tag Archive for 'bird'

Concerned Observer: Video

Airstrip Migration: Video

Birds a plenty! Video

Cooling off before the hunt: Video

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