Quick visit to Intaka on a Winter's Afternoon.

I visited Intaka a few times during my last Cape Town trip but was mostly unsuccessful in getting any decent bird images. There is a hell of a lot of construction going on around the Island as well as it being winter so my perception is that the bird life is much reduced than on my previous visits. Even the normally abundant Ibis' which are normally like mossies are a lot fewer in numbers. 

The last day of my trip saw me doing some landscape photography and I finished a tad earlier than anticipated and also reasonably close to Intaka. I had the 500mm in the car so thought why not? I had 2 hours to kill and it couldn't be worse than it had been on my visits the previous few times.

I sat in the first hide for about 20 minutes and low and behold the Malachite showed himself for about 30 seconds. I managed to fire a shot even though the lighting was bad and the bird backlit.

The next visitor, another fleeting one, was the Red Bishop. He was in and out about the reeds and wasn't too easy to get a clear shot.

A few minutes later I had the Common Fiscal sneaking in on the side of the hide out of the main line of vision. I swung the camera around and got this quick shot.

I was getting a bit cold and quite honestly a bit bored so moved to the other hide. There is always activity here but of the more common species that I already have thousands of images of but nonetheless it was worth seeing if anything came up. The birds were in and out the water and I snapped this Cormorant drying himself in quite a stretched pose.

There were some gulls on the water doing some antics and I focused on them hoping to get some "action" shots. Then suddenly they upped and were in the air and I caught this one on his lift off.

Suddenly there was a mad flurry from all the birds and they scattered all over the place and then I heard the sound of a motor getting closer and closer... Well low and behold, look what came cruising past.. workers on their way to clear some reeds..

Now that the light was starting to fade and the birds had been chased away, I decided to go on walkies.. I have 2 other favourite spots where at times I have been lucky to get the sunbirds. I headed up this way and en route heard the sound of the Cape White Eyes in the bushes. They were in and out the deep cluttered areas so I sat patiently waiting for them to show themselves. This was not to happen but I did manage to get a nearly clear shot of this little guy.

The light was fading fast so after increasing my ISO I headed to the area where I was sure I could find the sunbirds.. I saw them flying over but were exceptionally active and once again not playing the game! I stood half inside the bushes in a small recess in the road and once again waited.. that didn't work so I slowly walked down the path. There was one particular male that was hopping from bush to bush and would pause for a couple of seconds to sing. That was my entree... 

On my way out I stopped back at the first hide and low and behold, who did I find? None other than the Night Heron.

Well with this sighting and image, Intaka was done and dusted for this visit to Cape Town.

Sunrise to Sunset and some inbetween

So I was up pretty early this morning.. 3.30am to be precise. I wanted to catch the sunrise and the sunset all in the same day whilst I am here in Cape Town. I didn't do the traditional landscape for the sunrise and I think it turned out all pretty reasonable..

Will leave it up to you to decide!

I started the day at Intaka Island..

The 2 old Train Locos outside Intakas Entrance

The Canal Around Intaka at Sunrise.

Entrance to Intaka Island

The Sea at Greenpoint looked rather Onimous

Camps Bay this Afternoon... I quite liked the reflections in the tidal pool

Sunset over the Tidal Pool

The Afterglow of Twilight

Camps Bay settling down for the night

Image Quality Test - Malachite Kingfisher

I posted this image on Facebook and it seemed to loose most of the feather detail. I am posting it here to verify that the image quality is better here.

This btw is my favourite bird of South Africa. For those of you that don't know it, a brief description from Wiki -

The Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata) is a river kingfisher which is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara. It is largely resident except for seasonal climate related movements. This is a small kingfisher, 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in length. The general colour of the upper parts of the adult bird is bright metallic blue. The head has a short crest of black and blue feathers, which gives rise to the scientific name. The face, cheeks and underparts are rufous and there are white patches on the throat and rear neck sides. The bill is black in young birds and reddish orange in adults; the legs are bright red. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are a duller version of the adult. This is a species common to reeds and aquatic vegetation near slow moving water or ponds. The flight of the Malachite Kingfisher is rapid, the short rounded wings whirring until they appear a mere blur. It usually flies low over water.The bird has regular perches or stands from which it fishes. These are usually low over the water. It sits upright, its tail pointed downwards. It drops suddenly with a splash and usually returns at once with a struggling captive.Large food items are beaten on a bough or rail; small fish and insects are promptly swallowed. A fish is usually lifted and carried by its middle, but its position is changed, sometimes by tossing it into the air, before it is swallowed head downwards.