Buffalo Bonanza!

I have to confess a warm feeling towards our African Buffalo (Cyncerus caffer). That's probably because I've never been chased by one. I've tended to see them from the safety of a vehicle or, if on foot, from a sufficiently comfortable distance (with plenty of climeable trees close by). So I enjoyed the last few weeks where I saw them on a few occasions and recorded them on my camera-traps.

The above photo was taken from our car as we drove through the Kruger Park. The late afternoon sun gave us some great photo opportunities - but I was happy just to soak up the peaceful mood. It was hard to believe that these peaceful bovids could be classified as part of Africa's "Big 5" - and believed by many to be the most dangerous mammal in Africa.

The mood was slightly different the following morning when we went for a walk with armed rangers. A  couple of old bulls suddenly crashed through the undergrowth giving us something of an adrenaline moment. But they soon ran off and we were reminded that the African bush is not the place to be too complacent.

I picked up buffalo on a camera-trap a few days later at a water-hole. I'd set the camera low down to hopefully catch some small carnivores and, as luck would have it, recorded mostly legs of herbivores. I just like the feel of this one...

And then a few days later where the bufalo seemed  to be a little possessive about the water resource:

And lastly, just a couple of days ago, where a small herd peacefully wandered past one of my cameras:

So, its been a couple of good weeks for me and buffs - and I still like them.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust

The lyrics from the chorus of Queen's famous song rattled around my  head as I searched in vain for my camera. I'd set it up at a well used water-hole near South Africa's famous Kruger Park recently. My companions watched my back as I stomped around, but I knew the chances of finding it in one piece were slim. We'd seen 3 of the 'big 5' in the area and knew that leopards were only a few hundred meters away so I didn't venture far into the thick bush. I'd attached it to a decent sized rock, sprayed it with pepper spray and disguised it as best I could, but it was now gone.


I'd swopped the memory card out the day before and had found these images, but who was the likely culprit?

An African Civet (Civettictis civetta) had wandered past the evening before. These civets are certainly large enough to damage a camera but I really doubt this was the perpetrator.

Our baboons (Papio ursinus), love tampering with camera-traps but, in my experience, haven't ever stolen one. They'd walked past this one repeatedly the day before without showing any interest. With a leopard around I guess they had bigger issues to think about.

This Spotted Hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) had shown a lot of interest the day before but had seemed strangely wary. I guess it was the pepper spray that had kept him at bay.


However, my gut feel tells me it was these guys:

This image was from another camera in the area since they hadn't drunk at this spot the day before. The area around the water-hole was still wet from all the splashing. This was a large breeding herd with a number of young testosterone-filled bulls pushing each other around. What makes me think ellies were involved was that the rock and disguising logs appeared to have been flung around. That's not usually trademark hyaena behaviour - especially with pepper spray on them. Elephants are known to have been responsible for the demise of many a camera-trap.


So if you're ever in the area and see a Bushnell Trophy cam hanging in a tree, please get it down and phone me. My number is on the camera and the pepper spray should have worn off by then. The last few images should make for interesting viewing!

New Ticks and Old Friends

I've enjoyed watching birds for as long as I can remember but have never considered myself a real 'birder'. I guess one of the reasons for this is that I've never been good at keeping lists of birds that I've seen. So I've surprised myself by becoming a bit obsessed with getting camera-trap images of species that I've never captured before.

I've recently spent some time in great wildlife areas of South Africa and have picked up some new 'ticks' as well as recording images of old friends.

A Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo). These little carnivores are pretty common in the northern parts of South Africa, but since I live in the southern parts, I don't see them often. I'd set up the camera here to attempt to photograph a large python that apparently lived in the hole behind the mongoose. I had no luck with the python but was happy to get some images of these little guys. Mongoose are not averse to attacking snakes but I guess a python is way out of the Banded Mongoose league.

A cropped image of another mongoose, but I'm embarrassed to say I'm not sure whether its a Large Grey Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) or a Slender Mongoose (Galerella sanguinea). They are both  slender with a black tipped tail and if I had a good sense of scale it should be easy - since the former is much larger. However I'd guess its a Slender even though my references suggest that this species has a 'bushy' tail.

A Mountain Reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula). Also, not a rare buck but one that doesn't live near me.

Elephants are difficult to miss but I've never actually got a camera-trap photo of a youngster like this.

Ant then a few shots of mammals that I've often encountered:

A Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas). I doubt there is anything wrong with his leg. I think I just caught him in mid-stride. I think these guys are pretty cool but then I'm not a stock farmer. They are responsible for massive stock losses and are the subject of some intense debate and research at the moment.

A Kudu cow (Tragelaphus strepsiceros). They always look so gentle - I'm amazed they survive against all Africa's large predators.

This Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis), also known locally as a Ratel, appears to have caught something. The preceeding five photos on the camera showed him dashing around in a cloud of dust.

African Penguins

The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is endemic to Southern Africa and the only penguin species to nest on our mainland. Vagrants of other species are occasionally seen off our coast but are very rare. Once abundant in the region, African Penguin numbers have declined dramatically and the IUCN now lists the species as Endangered.

The University of Cape Town is very involved with penguin research on Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for years). The island hosts the second largest African Penguin breeding colony and is also an important breeding site for other seabird species. So it was a treat for me to be invited to set up camera-traps on the island. The birds are nesting currently and the aim was to get some insights into their nocturnal movements.

On Robben Island the penguin nests are either shallow depressions under low-hanging vegetation or in artificial nest boxes.

I think penguins are pretty cute.  It's fortunate, for research purposes, that no two individuals are exactly alike. They all have unique spot patterns and many have been fitted with numbered flipper bands over the years.They are curious but nervous of anything unusual in their surroundings which makes for easy camera-trapping opportunities.

Their breeding success is improved if they use the artificial nest boxes but it was pleasing to see both eggs and chicks at many nesting sites.

I'm pleased that I don't have to analyze the many thousands of images that the cameras obtained (Good luck Kate, and thanks!). Instead I'm happy just to smile at these photos of penguins going about their normal business.

For more info on the penguin research being done on Robben Island look at:

 www.penguins.adu.org.za

Our Rarest Rabbit

I was privileged  to spend a few days last week with members of the Endangered Wildlife Trust's  Riverine Rabbit Programme. For those of you that don't know, the Riverine Rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) is one of our rarest mammals and is listed in the Red Data book as "critically endangered". The number of remaining rabbits is not known but is no more than a few thousand, and possibly less. I won't attempt to describe what great work both the Endangered Wildlife Trust and their Riverine Rabbit Programme do, but would urge you to look at their website or the Riverine Rabbit Programme page.

With the rabbits being nocturnal the researchers don't see these rabbits often so I offered to take some cameras into likely riverine habitats to see what we could find. I wasn't encouraged by what I initially saw: thick chest-high scrub with very few clearings. Not the easiest place to set up cameras. Nevertheless we used the few small clearings that we could find and also set some up some cameras along the farm road. The first night didn't produce anything interesting but then.......

Success! The distinguishing line on the jaw, white ring around the eyes and and a lack of any white on the tail left no doubt that we had a Riverine Rabbit. And over the next few days we got more...............

Everyone was hugely excited. Not only that we'd obtained these rare images but also that many of them were obtained at dawn - indicating that that these guys were also crepuscular.

The cameras also picked up the following carnivores:

A caracal (Caracal caracal), likely to be one of the major predators of the rabbit.

African Wild Cat (Felis silvestris lybica). Its not known whether this cat would take an adult rabbit but presumably the young rabbits would be very vulnerable.

So, a succesful few days!
Many thanks to Christy Bragg and the other EWT staff for allowing me to be part of this great project.

In Search of Elephants

A friend and I recently spent some time in the Knysna forest with the aim of getting a camera-trap photo of an elusive forest elephant.  The managers of the area, Sanparks (South African National Parks) admit that there is at least one elephant in these forests but are reluctant to say much more. Gareth Patterson in his book The Secret Elephants believes there to be at least a handful of individuals, including some youngsters. However many people believe that elephants no longer inhabit these forests and that the occasional sightings are some kind of elaborate hoax.
These forests, better described as our Southern Afrotemperate forests, are vast and magical - and so different to most of Southern Africa. They're inhabited by reclusive animals and filled with strange (to me anyway) plants and trees.

So, in between hiking through the area we put out a few cameras, hoping for the best.
 Herewith some results:

A Bushbuck ewe (Tragelaphus scriptus)

Some Bushpigs (Potamochoerus larvatus)

A Large-Spotted Genet (Genetta tigrina)

But did we, or the cameras, see any elephants? Sadly not. We saw some signs of recent activity and a ranger we met on the trail warned us of a bull in musth that was in the area.
Perhaps its better that we didn't get any photos, although I was secretly hoping that some good shots might make me famous! However the Knysna forests are such a special place that it would be tragic if they were overrun by humans  intent only on seeing an elephant here. These wonderful creatures deserve to be left in peace.

Following a Wallowing

I had a camera set up at a water-hole recently and returned to find it covered in mud. Not just a little muddy, but plastered with mud! The sensor and flash cover were caked with the stuff but, luckily, the lens appeared clear. I was pretty sure that a warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) had done the dirty deed since the camera was mounted at a height of about 40cm. Warthogs are great wallowers and love to rub off the mud on a convenient tree or stump.

However, when I saw these images I soon realized that one shouldn't presume anything too quickly!

It was a youngish black rhino (Diceros bicornis) and they're usually not very respectful of human property. I'm grateful that I still have a camera in good working order.