This morning in my garden...

I love hibiscus. These ones are ornamental only, as far as I know, but I fully intend to add Hibiscus sabdariffa (Bissap, Karkade, Roselle, etc.). In the meantime, enjoy!

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African grey woodpecker, male and female

Looking up from the breakfast table, you can see pretty fantastic things. This time, my 7-year old daughter spotted it before I could. She had told me before that she saw this African grey woodpecker/ Dentropicos goertae / Pic goertan, but I had seen it only once, rather long ago, so I was not sure. This time, I made up for doubting her by taking numerous pictures. They were actually several individuals, at least three, we couldn't quite decide.

I particularly like the way they use their tails to balance themselves on the coconut tree trunk, fanned out and pushed against the trunk.

 
This one doesn't have the typical red cap and is therefore probably a female.

 

As always with my early morning shots, they are a bit blurry because I take them through the (fixed) mosquito net.

A friendly reminder: I'm always thrilled when people appreciate my pictures, but if you want to use them elsewhere, please ask for my permission first. It's nice, and it's the law! Thank you.

Birdwatching from my kitchen window

My 7-year old daughter described a bird that she had seen. Unlike the previous time she played that game with me, I wasn't able to identify the said bird, but her description was detailed enough for me to figure it out when I saw it through the kitchen window this morning.

The only time I had seen it before was from afar and I wasn't even sure I identified it correctly, which explains why I didn't immediately visualise it based on its (slightly flawed) description. Today, it was quite close (less than 10 meters from my window) and despite the fixed mosquito net that makes the pictures a lot more grainy than I would like them to be, it was clear enough to get a good view of them. Let me introduce the Green Wood hoopoe / Phoeniculus purpureus / Irrisor moqueur.

The dots on the wings develop into two very distinctive white bars under the wing when it flies away. Unfortunately, birdwatching while holding a wriggling 2-year old in one arm and the camera in the other hand is not conducive to extraordinary in-flight bird pictures. Maybe another time!

Meanwhile, we researched the Green Wood hoopoe and discovered it was quite common in sub-Saharan Africa all the way to southern Africa (except in the very wet deep forests of Central Africa and the Namib desert). All in all, a very good way to start one's day!

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A strange tuber

My daughter found this growing in a corner of our garden. She pulled it from the ground and I don't know how much damage she did to the roots. 

I tried to put it back in the soil hoping it will survive the rough handling.

Can anyone help me identify it? Thanks!

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Sunday morning visitor

Working in the garden on a Sunday morning can be a lesson in delayed gratification. Or not! Today our humble work-in-progress of a garden was graced by a Woodland kingfisher / Halcyon senegalensis / Martin-chasseur du Sénégal, which remained long enough for me to take dozens of pictures. I'm afraid it's a bit obvious how enthusiastic I got.

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Ground cover

This is what my ground cover (Purslane / Portulaca grandiflora / Pourpier à grandes fleurs) looks like in the morning. The flowers don't remain open all day but the magic repeats itself every day!

I only planted about 50 out of the 200+ I bought, to check spacing since the information I found varied greatly from one source to another. After a month or so, it looks like they spread just fine when planted about one foot apart. I can now work at putting the rest of them in place. They came in several colours, 

but somehow the hot pink ones seem to be stealing the show.

A friendly reminder: please contact me if you intend using any materials posted on this blog. It's nice, and it's the law. Thanks!