Wildlife we could do without...

All is not rosy in the bush. There are ticks. A lot. And they carry sickness. Even when you treat your dogs regularly, they can still be prey to these nasty things, and get infected.

Here are Taki and Smartie, twin brothers, 11+ year old; one got infected, the other didn't. It's quite visible who did...

Poor Smartie lost about 15% of his weight in a week. The vet made 4 injections one day (I couldn't even follow which was what...) and put him on a drip the next day. I tried to bribe him with interesting food for a couple more days, and he seems now to be eating normally again.

Cattle bliss

More often than not, the beauty of my environment amazes me. I've developped a liking for cows. All sorts of cows. And it's lucky too, since we are in cattle country here.

Our little installation is still in place. I would have loved to catch a cow or two coming closer to snif around the unusual display, but this is the best they had to offer today.

These animals come in all combinations of colours and patterns. This spotted one seems spray-painted (with a bag on its head to keep it white?). I love the shape of the horns, and the way it moves too.

An impressive male in a somewhat unusual posture.

I particularly like these white cows with a black muzzle and inner ears. In this season, there are a lot of calves, looking tender and almost fragile, despite their already respectable size. Again, I'm quite happy with the tail and leg movement I was able to catch.

I usually don't take pictures of people, but the herdsman looked so postcard-typical, with his stick across his shoulders, that I couldn't help following him. Again, composition, even if purely fortuitous, is what pushed me to press on the button: the bird, erect in the forefront, echoes the herdman's slender figure, and the two massive cattle in the background somehow matching/offsetting the vertical subjects... What do you think? 

Details that make you wonder

Some time ago I took a series of pictures of baobab trees (some of which are here). There were meant to show how impressive these savannah giants were, and I didn't go into too much detail, but something puzzled me at the time, and I still find it quite extraordinary.

On the trunk of this tree:

I saw what looked like warts, and looking closer, realised that a branch seemed to be growing out of each of these nodules. 

Strange and intriguing, don't you think?

Art in the bush

It all started with a few chairs left outside that looked like a deliberate installation.

Then, the installation idea grew on us to include stretchers...

... and fully fledged works.

This one is a "cloth on cloth" work by Ghanaian visual artist Tei Huagie.

A golf course at Baboonland?

You would think so. But you would be wrong.

These are mushrooms. Perfect, spherical, mushrooms.

These ones are more "conventional" in shape, but come as a surprise too, because of their colour which makes them almost invisible until you've almost stepped on them.

Wonderful nature...

Did you say dull?

Whoever said (or thought) that living in the bush is dull should give it a second look. Really.

After publishing pictures of yellow, then blue, birds, I'm completing the primary colours series with red.

It took me about 2 weeks to have a camera handy when these beautiful little creatures came to grace my property (usually early in the morning, at breakfast), and another two days to get decent pictures.

But my patience and persistence were rewarded with what I think is both the male (colourful) and the female (yellowish/greenish brown with a black tipped red tail) of the species.

Again, I'll need help to identify them, and will add the name when I have it.

I'm still undecided. It may be a bar-breasted firefinch (Lagonosticta rufopicta, Amarante pointé) like the ones I saw when I was living in town (http://ghana-outdoors.blogspot.com/2008/12/red-throated-visitor.html), but it may also be any of the other reddish Lagonosticta varieties. Maybe they'll oblige tomorrow or later and allow me to see them up close. In the meantime, I'll go with probabilities and say it is the same as those I identified a few years ago.

Almost a month later... I'm still undecided, and haven't seen the "bar" on the breast, so I'd lean towards an African Firefinch / Lagonosticta rubricata / Amarante foncé. But... it doesn't have a blue bill, which is said to be characteristic. But then again, not all the African Firefinches I've seen on the Internet did. So... Let's keep trying to get a better sighting.

Astonishingly blue bird...

I've seen this bird before around the places where I lived pre-Baboonland, but I'd never been able to take pictures of it. The metallic blue-green feathers are quite extraordinary!

A couple of days ago, we were visited by two of these outstanding animals:

The yellow inquisitive eye is almost a bit unsettling... And here the beast seems almost menacing!

I'll ask for help identifying this extraordinary bird and will add the information as soon as I get it. (my connection is quite slow and whimsical, so I need friends to do research for me at times. Living in the bush is not 100% perfect, but what is, in our world?)

After consulting a knowledgeable friend and a few online resources, I've come to the conclusion that it is probably a Greater Blue-eared Starling / Lamprotornis chalybaeus / Choucador à oreillons bleus.

Another source, much closer to home since it was birding notes from scholars (?) visiting Shai Hills Nature Reserve a stone throw from our place, identify this as a Purple (glossy) Starling / Lamprotornis purpureus / Choucador pourpré.

I tend to be willing to agree with them. 30/05/2014: After checking with my new bedside book (Les Oiseaux de l'Ouest Africain, Delachaux & Niestlé), I think I can confidently confirm it's indeed a Purple glossy starling / Lamprotornis purpureus / Merle métallique pourpré.