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Tag Search Results For 'birds (general)' (38)
13th October 2008 : Blooming Lovely
Wilderness Diary | October 13th 2008 by Tanya
The fact that we water the flowers and plants around our house sends them slightly out of kilter, and some (like the commiphora tree up behind the kitchen, which has been a magnet for a whole swarm of bees these past few days) are flowering out of read more
6th September 2008 : Big Game Bonanza
Wilderness Diary | September 6th 2008 by Tanya
Weather-wise, July and August were dull, grey months, but extremely windy and very dry. The land is already like parchment and now with the intense September heat settling in for the duration, it's getting drier by the minute. In a normal year (but w read more
5th September 2008 : "12,11,10...13...What?" : The Gosling Enigma
Wilderness Diary | September 5th 2008 by Tanya
Are you ready for a marathon? Be prepared, for you'll need some staying power to see yourself through to the end of this story, with its twists and turns... I think there is only one way to tell this tale, and that is from the beginning, in chrono read more
1st September 2008 : E R - Kulafumbi style
Wilderness Diary | September 1st 2008 by Tanya
Two little dickie birds sitting on the wall, One named Peter, one named Paul. Fly away Peter, fly away Paul, No little dickie birds sitting on the wall... Well, truth be told, it wasn't quite as simple as that. Back in July (I know, I'm way behi read more
4th August 2008 : Home again, but never a dull moment...
Wilderness Diary | August 4th 2008 by Tanya
Back on the river again, and HOPEFULLY we’ll be able to stay put here for a couple of weeks at least, before we have to rush off again…work is just so hectic at the moment, and we are finding ourselves spending far too much time away from both ho read more
28th July 2008 : Briefly in & out...
Wilderness Diary | July 28th 2008 by Tanya
I’ve been away more than I’ve been at home recently (more tales from my adventures shortly!), but thought while I have the chance, I’d check in quickly before disappearing from your screens again for a while. The geese are faring fairly we read more
16th July 2008 : Guineafowl Alley
Wilderness Diary | July 16th 2008 by Tanya
There is a stretch of road on our way home through the bush where we inevitably see flocks of guineafowl. I think they like the open grassy stretches on either side of the road, a welcome relief from the thick surrounding bush. Here, we are almos read more
15th July 2008 : Winners & Losers
Wilderness Diary | July 15th 2008 by Tanya
OK, shout and scream and tell me I’m hopeless…I apologize for my silence, but work has been far too hectic and I haven’t had a chance to get writing. Now a lot of catching up is [once again] overdue… Today’s is a tale of tragedy and tr read more
30th June 2008 : A Glorious Morning...
Wilderness Diary | June 30th 2008 by Tanya
Even though it’s already a couple of weeks ago, I have to tell you about the hour we spent down on the beach between seven thirty and eight thirty on the morning of June 17th. It was one of those perfect mornings, preceding the only clear warm d read more
18th June 2008 : Love is in the Air
Wilderness Diary | June 20th 2008 by Tanya
It must be! For it’s not just the geese who are breeding – it’s the Plovers too, and the Hornbills, and even the Squirrels! Yesterday's moon, one day from full Do you remember our Spur-winged Plover Stories from last year? There was the read more
18th June 2008 : Wild Goose Chase
Wilderness Diary | June 20th 2008 by Tanya
Not long before we went to Nairobi (on the 31st May, to be exact) I was happily photographing the female Egyptian Goose taking a wash in one of the pools by the river’s edge, when the male goose suddenly approached her, making a real racket and loo read more
18th June 2008 : Oldies & Newbies
Wilderness Diary | June 19th 2008 by Tanya
Our internet has been down for two days, and now is coming on and off sporadically...this is NOT helping with my intention to catch up on a whole range of stories. For the same reason, I apologise for not responding to all the comments you have been read more
29th May 2008 : A Wild Variety Show
Wilderness Diary | May 29th 2008 by Tanya
There’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of wild things over the past few days so I’m going to have to tell you about it all in fits and starts, as I find the time…one thing which is extraordinary is how much the big beach down at Hippo Bend ha read more
22nd May 2008 : Fish Eagles by day; Lions by night
Wilderness Diary | May 23rd 2008 by Tanya
Yesterday, while we were having lunch, one of the African Fish Eagles that frequents this stretch of river landed in a tall acacia tree just near the house, and studiously started eying up the fish trapped in a dwindling pool on the river's edge. Ove read more
21st May 2008 : Homecoming
Wilderness Diary | May 21st 2008 by Tanya
How changed is our river: the view upstreamClick any image to enlarge Looking downstream from the house What a feeling it was, having arrived home after dark on Saturday (to the nighttime sounds of elephants, lion and buffalo all around read more
21st May 2008 : A Jolly Good Bath!
Wilderness Diary | May 21st 2008 by Tanya
I thought this sweet little Yellow-vented Bulbul deserved an entry all to itself, for it was so comical and cute splashing around in the birdbath yesterday. It would hop into the water, frantically splash around for a couple of seconds, hop out abso read more
20th May 2008 : Playing Catch-Up
Wilderness Diary | May 20th 2008 by Tanya
Via Nairobi, London, New York, Nova Scotia, New York (again), London (again), Birmingham, Leeds, Scotland, London (yet again) and Nairobi (again), Ian and I are finally back home at Kulafumbi, overlooking “our” familiar yet oh-so-changed river read more
29th March 2008 : Of Hippos and Thieves...
Wilderness Diary | March 29th 2008 by Tanya
Raided beehivesClick any image to enlarge Completely destroyed... Wasted honeycomb... I’ll start with the bad news. Over the full moon, which fell on the Easter weekend, our beehives were raided. Eleven hives were destroyed and the h read more
25th March 2008 : And with a mighty roar, down came the flood...
Wilderness Diary | March 25th 2008 by Tanya
Hippos are strange, unpredictable creatures. It was 8.15 last Thursday morning, and just as we were finishing breakfast, already sweating in the wake of another stiflingly hot day, a hippo emerged from the river. In the bright, scorching sunlight it read more
19th March 2008 : Honey and Big Skies
Wilderness Diary | March 19th 2008 by Tanya
Written last night but was too tired to post, so here we go now... Look at this feast! Today our trusty beehives delivered this bounty, despite there being rather a shortage of bees around this year…obviously enough to make enough honey to go read more
13th March 2008 : Cole Porter got it right...
Wilderness Diary | March 13th 2008 by Tanya
Ella Fitzgerald springs to mind...it's too darn hot...Today has been absolutely stifling. Unlike yesterday when at least we had a breeze up on the balcony, today it has been still, still, still: unrelenting and scorching. The wind is only just start read more
12th March 2008 : Big Game, Tiny Chicks & Wind Storms
Wilderness Diary | March 12th 2008 by Tanya
It is unbelievably HOT here at the moment. Yesterday we had a freak rain storm in the afternoon. There’s no accounting for the weather these days. This evening we had the most incredible winds you can imagine, blowing our chairs across the balcony read more
10th March 2008 : Morphs & more early birds of 2008
Wilderness Diary | March 9th 2008 by Tanya
Pumping water is a palaver...here are Ian and Pius on our well...Click any image to enlarge Sometimes it all gets a bit too much! The irony of us living by a river is that water is our greatest challenge. We are 15 miles from t read more
15th February 2008 : Pelicans Briefly...
Wilderness Diary | February 15th 2008 by Tanya
Yesterday morning, I arose somewhat bleary eyed (as per usual) and wandered out onto our balcony overlooking the river. My attention was caught by some large white birds further upstream, which looked like Pelicans. Surely not? I reached for the read more
13th February 2008 : Time flies, alongside pilots counting elepha…
Wilderness Diary | February 13th 2008 by Tanya
Where has all the time gone? I can’t believe that it’s already more than two weeks since I last updated this journal, and now I have an overwhelming amount to catch up on, not least to record the successful conduct and conclusion of the Tsavo Aer read more
27th January 2008 : Birds, Planes & Pachyderms
Wilderness Diary | January 29th 2008 by Tanya
Juvenile Green-backed Heron seeming unsure of itself out in the openclick any image to enlarge This is more like it...staying close to the reeds... Hang on a minute...what on earth is it doing crawling up a tree? Talking of strange read more
26th January 2008 : Leopards, Falcons & Flowers
Wilderness Diary | January 28th 2008 by Tanya
OK, you guessed it, we had the most fabulous sighting of a leopard today. It was truly amazing, completely unconcerned, not minding at all about us or our car. We were over in Tsavo West National Park, visiting our friends, Danny who is the Seni read more
23rd January 2008 : Birds, Skinks & Politics
Wilderness Diary | January 28th 2008 by Tanya
New bird alert! After the initial bird-listing frenzy when I first began this journal, and was able to record ten or more new species every day, things have slowed down a bit, as most of the avian residents have now been spotted…but today, I was ab read more
21st January 2008
Wilderness Diary | January 23rd 2008 by Tanya
Today was the most extraordinary day: perfect temperature, cool (for this part of the world anyway) but sunny, clear and dry, with a freshness in the air. The river was already fairly high at midday... ...and kept rising during the afternoon... .. read more
20th January 2008
Wilderness Diary | January 20th 2008 by Tanya
We returned last night from an extended trip to Nairobi, and were greeted by a blanket of heavy rain this morning – the heaviest rain we’ve seen here at Kulafumbi since I can remember. I think we are catching the tail end of the cyclone, which ha read more
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