This is an African Darter, a guy that spears fish with his beak!
I want to show you some recent natural scenes in our country, South Africa.
A hospital visit today, but we were early so we stopped off at a dam in the town to while away some time.
My camera goes everywhere I go and we were shocked to see the condition of the dam. A few restaurants are at the dam and we ordered some coffee. Then I took my camera and strolled around to look at the life in the dam.
Join me on the walk!
This is one of the hospitals in our town.
The KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) restaurant that you see here was founded by Colonel Sanders in Kentucky and there are many branches here in South Africa. It was at this dam that we stopped.
This red knobbed-coot ran across the green algae that almost covered the dam!
He was attending a territorial squabble here!
A lone figure was trying his best to clean in a lost battle against the algae!
Here I got lucky to snap a Blue Emperor dragonfly laying eggs in the algae!
A mother Moorhen was cleaning herself!
While her youngster struggled through the green stuff!
This is a Moorhen family at the opposite side of the dam!
Don't they look familiar?
Yes they are Egyptian Goose goslings!
Dad and mom patrolled at the front of their den!
Now what do you think this is?
Yes, it is the famous African Darter that emerged from the water!
The biggest bird at the dam looks like the smallest when he swims, as he submerges his whole body in the water!
Sitting in the sun now to dry himself and I knew what was going to happen after time when he was dry!
Finally, I was right, as after he dried, he took off and flew away!
The last time that we were here, there was also some algae about, but it was minimal and now it almost covers the dam. Algae is a green fungi that thrives in damp and hot conditions. In my young days we never saw this, but someone imported some for their home ponds and somehow the stuff ended up in our rivers.
Of course I got one of my favorites also here for you to enjoy!
But our animals clearly cope with this strenuous situation. Which brings me to us as human beings and how we cope with dire situations in our lives.
How do we react when a sudden dark cloud arrives in our life? Something so severe that we sit with our heads in our hands? A death, bankruptcy, murder, illness, unemployment, how do we react?
Look at what mother nature teaches us here!
How do these animals manage in a terrible situation?
They accept it, embrace it and carry on with their normal lives.
Think about it!
We hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and thank you for visiting a post by 
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Connecting the people of #STEEM across South Africa. #steemsa
