Thursday 9/7/17 Part B

So on this morning's game drive our first sighting was of some giraffes.  They really are beautiful creatures.  They can look in any direction and never have to lie down or sleep.  Lions have two basic methods of taking down a giraffe,  The herd it towards a rocky place and get it running and wait for it to slip and fall or they surround it.  A lion or two will go in every few minutes to nip at it, the giraffe gets stressed and when it is exhausted, it will eventually fall and then the lions will attack it.  The lions have adapted their hunting for different animals.  We then saw a lilac-breasted roller.  Around the corner, we saw a zebra with a bird on its back - a red-billed oxpecker.  They are found on most of the big animals as they eat the ticks and parasites off of the host.  We saw a pearl-spotted owl - just a tiny one - sleeping on a branch of a brown ivory tree with a very twisted trunk.  Next to it was a weeping Boerbean tree.  We were driving along a grassy area and Conright spotted a small herd of white rhino - super cool!  Chewie said you don't say a herd of rhino, but a crash of rhino.  The other thing I learned is that is a parliament of owls if there is more than one.  We saw a Wahberg's eagle at the top of a tree and then a few wildebeest . We drove by a water hole and spotted the head of a hippo, who was trying to stay cool.  We also saw a Swainson's spurfowl.  There were a bunch of crested Frankolins near by and Chewie said that Monica calls them stupid chickens as they make quite a bit of noise and they are always waking her up in the morning.  We saw a magpie shrike and a red-crested cuckoo.  They make a clicking sound and then try to impress the female by soaring up into the air and diving straight down head first - he turns and flies up just before his head touches the ground.  His nickname is the suicide bird.  We saw more giraffes, including a baby.  Their skin is tight around their ankles - kind of like pressure socks - prevents the blood from pooling around their ankles.  We passed a site with a bunch of scattered bones.  A Cape buffalo died last year due to the awful drought and was eaten by a lion.  We saw a black Burchell's starling, which looks like it has a lovely blue area at the top of his wing, but it was caused by the sun shining on his feathers - quite beautiful.  We stopped to see a huge bunch of helmeted guinea fowl.  They had lovely turquoise heads - they reminded me of a mini cassowary (from Australia).  We stopped at another water hole to watch 5 Cape buffalo come for a drink.  Another one came from a different direction, but obviously he was not welcome to share the water hole by the older five males.  At one point the leader of the group came to chase the interloper away.  At first it was a stand-off, but then they clashed horns and the younger one backed off.  It was quite exciting to watch.  We saw another Cape turtle dove and it was calling.  Chewie said the call is "work harder, work harder", but he prefers to think it is singing, "drink lager, drink lager".  We also saw an emerald spotted wood dove - the song is "my mother died, my father died, everybody's dead, dead, dead".  I guess that is a mournful enough song for a dove.  We spotted another tree squirrel.  The first time we saw one, Juanita misheard what Chewie said and thought she heard cheese curl.  Now every time we spot one, some shouts out - "cheese curl!"  It is quite funny.  We saw another magpie shrike and then a baby and mom giraffe.  The baby was only 7-8 weeks old.  Our last stop this morning was to see the male lion that is the father of the 3 male cubs we saw last night.  He was magnificent - only 7 years old, but in his prime.  The average age is 11 years.  I'm not sure if I told about last night's sighting of 3 18 month old lions - all brothers.  We were watching them in the dark and all of a sudden, we heard the mother call from a distance.  We tracked them for a while and saw the reunion with their mother.  They nuzzled each other and then walked right by the truck to go into the bush.  As they walked by, the mom stopped and looked right at me.  She was 3 to 4 feet away.  I stayed very still and averted my eyes and eventually she walked on.  It was a bit unnerving, but quite exciting at the same time!