A first time for me to see spoon bill birds and flamingos together.
The five white birds at the front are African Spoonbills (Plataled alba), and the six white birds at the back are Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus).
We visited our local lake, and I have some good news to share. 75 hectares of this site will be declared as a nature reserve. It has already been endorsed, but there are still some processes that have to take place. No one is allowed to build anything in a nature reserve, and it was a great relief that I heard about this. We signed a petition some time back to prevent developers from turning the place into a residential and commercial space. Now, at last, the perfect solution has been found as a nature reserve with free nature lover's entry, will be great to visit.
We know that the place would be a goldmine for developers, but sanity has prevailed as nature is more important, in our book at least, and there are many that think the same way like us. Especially the early morning runners around the lake, and the birders like us. So, a big fight has at last been won and I also heard that the Park's Board is going to install some bird hides and will also organise guided tours of the property. There is much to see there.
This picture above shows where I was standing to take the shots, and my zoom did the work to get the birds as they were far away you can see the white lines on the water below the reeds.
Right, let's take a closer look at the birds, and this was the first one.
And then there were three flamingos.
Just a break to show you what was sitting close to me on this side of the water.
Hello, Mister Spotted Thick-knee (Burhinus capensis), and look what was passing underneath the big bird. A little Charadrius Plover.
Just look at the difference of their sizes.
Right, now we are back with the flamingos.
If you think that they were only with a few birds here, have a look at the photos below. Too many species to mention, as we could see Yellow-billed ducks, a lot of Coots and Cormorants, and also some Black Swans, Stilts, and Lapwings.
I will show you the bird species charts that are present here, in another post.
I hope that you are also happy about the successful outcome of the fight to keep this area protected for future enjoyment by the public. I think that the birds are also clapping their hands (wings) about the outcome. It is indeed a very nice area of peace and quiet. A place for meditation for some souls, and the big space around the lake is currently used for runners to exercise. I did, once before, get some shots of Springboks (South African buck) here at the lake, but this time around they were not here. Maybe next time.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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