A beautiful Cotyledon succulent greeted us upon arrival.
It's that mountain backdrop that I love!
We are told that temperatures will drop to 12 degrees Celsius tomorrow and that we can expect gale force winds, rain storms and also snow on the mountains. As we saw this lot coming in today, we decided to pop out to the mountains and to go and see what shots I can get!
Come with for a quick drive!
Clouds being whipped across the mountains by very strong winds!
I came for the clouds and this one above is a continuation of the first picture. The view is towards the North!
This is what the view towards the South looked like!
This Cotyledon succulent greeted us on the way out!
And then something amazing happened!
Whilst driving, I slammed on the brakes, as I saw a movement in this farmland next to the road!
Have a careful look at the picture above and see if you can see something in the first row passage at the right.
About 10 vine stems in from the first one!
Bang! This is a "Spotted Thick Knee. A very secretive bird that is seldom seen!
The thing is that these birds sleep in the day and they hunt for food at night. I think that they know that the rain is coming and they have to find a daytime shelter!
Bonus! Here is another one and in total there was 3 of them, but I was standing with the car in the road and there was no time to get a shot of the third one!
"Burhinus capensis"
"A tall, tawny-brown, terrestrial, plover-like bird with bold, blackish spots on the upperparts and without wing bars. It prefers a variety of drier country habitats up to 2500 m; avoids wetlands. Its huge yellow eyes hint at its mainly nocturnal habits. By day this odd species uses its cryptic plumage to conceal itself under cover. After dark, it emerges to run around feeding on insects. Spotted Thick-knee has a loud, distinctive “ti-ti-ti teeeteeeteeee-ti ti ti” call.
Source
Oh! And of course when we got home we opened the door and someone rushed in behind us to come and greet us!
They say that I am a strange kettle of fish hahaha.
People are wrapping up and the talk of the town is hot fires, hot chocolate drinks and other hot stuff.
But here we are out every day regardless of the temperatures and we just go about doing our thing.
Sadly people are people and some have reported us for feeding the Egyptian geese and the squirrels, but no action can be taken as we own the property and we are not renting. Why anyone would complain about it, only heaven knows. We have even received complaints about feeding the street people and we know that the world is a very dour place for some complainants.
But such is life and we simply go along our merry way, casting no stones at others and simply minding our own business.
And That's All Folks!
Note: All photos are my own and unedited, only cropped for uploading.
Camera used: Canon Powershot SX60HS
We hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and thank you for visiting a post by @papilloncharity
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...and the Cape stormy weather is sure to creep all the way up to Durbs and bring us some colder weather by the weekend I hear! Beautiful photography Mr Papillon!
Well I am glad that we can send you guys some rain my friend.
Thank you for the nice words about the photos.
I presume that you have a lot of winter recipes waiting for showtime?
Take care and stay warm.
#posh share:
I wanted to say that these storm clouds look great and I wondered if you really get some snow, but then I saw the eyes of this beautiful bird: it's not very colorful and yet beautiful. You got very sharp photos and I love these big eyes ... beautiful photos, my friend 👍🙂
!tip
Cheers and !BEER
Thank you for the kind words and I was very lucky to get those birds in daylight. As you know they are nocturnal and not often seen in the day.
So I had to decide between the storm and the birds and it wasn't a very wise decision to post both. I should rather have made two separate posts.
But it was done and life goes on.🙂
You're very welcome, @papilloncharity 🙂
Two posts might have been a good idea, but I think it is one story, or you could have made a sequel story: first the clouds and then the second part of the story with the bird photos.
But as you said, it was done and these eyes of the bird are amazing and you were really lucky to spot them in daylight 👍🙂
Cheers and !BEER
That's how we learn Sir @johannpiber 🙂
I still have 9 points to go to get to the (80) rep.
Maybe by that time I will know what I am doing hahaha.
Blessings!
I think when I will reach rep 80 I will celebrate my 80th birthday too 👨🦳. Since rep 70 it goes so very slow, but at the time I'm also posting less, so this might also be a reason ;)
It's like falling with your bike - on the Hive we also learn from our mistakes, but mostly they don't hurt very much 😉
Cheers and !BEER
Hahaha, I can imagine when we are in our wheelchairs throwing a party for hitting the 80 rep mark lol.
You are right, life is full of "mistakes" that we should see as lessons :)
Yeah, this will be a big party with lots of virtual !BEER 🍺😂
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It sure looks like the heavens offered some angry weather! I hope you are safe from the bad storms and there is no damage left behind. Lovely pictures too, the clouds and also the Spotted Thick Knee. Thank you for sharing.
Unfortunately much flooding damage in the low lying areas, but this has become the norm.
Thanks for the visit and glad that you liked the pictures!
We have flooding here also, most years, and it's always quite devastating to the locals and obviously the environment too. If only they could capture that water and use it more inland. It would make more of the continent suitable for habitation.
Agreed, as we live close to the ocean here and to see the tons of water draining from the rivers into the sea is so sad. The province is water scarce, but somehow they just cannot get it into their heads that more dams means more drinking water!
How beautiful it is there!
You are lucky to meet this nightly bird.
What? If I understood correctly? Did the squirrel enter the house and start hosting there? :) haha
Hahaha, that madam is a real funny character and she climbs all over us. Her nickname is "Squirry" and her 5 children are also hanging around here, but she doesn't allow them to approach us.
I was indeed very lucky to get the birds.
Lovely photos, you area is very beautiful. Great shots of the Spotted Thick Knee... kind of an unusual name too :-) It looks similar to some of our sandpiper shore-birds.
Thank you Sir @keithboone and yeah, I don't know why they selected such a strange name for these little wonders.
Just glad that I could get them in daylight and I think that the weather had a lot to do with it!
A Spotted thick Kneew! I've never even heard of it! Rarely seen, indeed! Fabulous photos.
There are far too many people who think that their way is the right way. You can only feel sorry for closed minded people like that!
I've only realized that I must put on shoes to go out on the deck. The poor eye sight that chipmunks have causes them to think my toes are peanuts! It doesn't hurt but it is startling when you feel one of the furry little creatures tugging at your toe. And I am not showing my daughter the photo of your squirrel inside your house. I have told her it is not allowed!
Thanks for posting this to Feathered Friends! !tip
What a silly name for these special birds my friend. So glad that I could get them, as we can hear their calls at night, but never saw them.
Hahaha, so the squirrels think your toes are peanuts. So funny.
I fed "squirry" here at the window a bit earlier, as they are all sopping wet and full of mud. The weather here is going crazy as tons of water are coming down.
Squirry has her ways of slipping into the house and she is so clever that little "Troy" doesn't even notice her.
Good that you keep them out as can certainly become a handful.
Blessings to you guys and thank you for the tip!
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Beautiful shots of the up coming storm!
Boy you have good eyes to spot that Spotted Thick Knee! It took me forever to find something in your first photo with the vines. Good capture of that rare sighting!
That is so funny that the squirrel comes right into your house! Do you have any trouble getting him out?
I can't believe people would complain about you feeding the geese and squirrels AND street people!
Glad you still continue on despite the complaints!
Thank you and I was so glad to get those furtive birds my friend.
"Squirry" comes and goes as she pleases and if there's a problem Marian goes to her with some nuts in he hands. Squirry then jumps up on her and Marian then walks outside with her. The two of them have become bosom buddies Lol.
People are people my dear and we all don't view life the same way.
Some live to complain and others live to do.