We have a new contributor (I love new contributors!): Benjamin Taylor, who sent in a huge pile of photos (I’ll dole them out over time) with the note:
Last month I went on a camping trip around southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia) and took quite a few photographs.
Sociable weaver (Philetairus socius) nest:
JAC: Here’s a photo of a sociable weaver (what a great bird name!) from Wikipedia:
Desert plant inflorescence (species unknown)
View from the Elim Dune (Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia):
Wonderful photographs, and the Wikipedia entry about the sociable weaver was so fascinating!
oops! I missed the link… so they breed throught the year & nests are permanent. I would think that makes them a good place for bird parasites to live – I suppose there is a trade off?
For a quick insight into the fascinating world of sociable weavers check this 10 min piece from a weekly South African TV program on the environment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUnadxTA8iE
It is a cooperative breeding bird (some adults do not breed and help a breeding pair raising their chicks – almost always the helpers are offsprings of the breeding pair from previous breeding events) and nest building also entails cooperation.
Nests are reused and keep on growing until sometimes the tree or part of it breaks.
It has huge thermoregulation benefits (temperatures in winter nights are often below freezing, whereas days are hot to extremely hot in summer – 35 to 40ºC) allowing great savings in energy for the birds. But it does have its inconvenients: for snakes it is paradise. During the breeding season they go from chamber to chamber cleaning up the eggs and chicks. They often use a nest chamber to live for the time they are ‘cleaning’ the nest.
That was so interesting, thank you!
The nest is amazing. Presumably they get reused – or do they build anew each year? Or do they breed all year???
The flower look like some Aloe…? or a kniphofia? We need to see leaves!
Aloe…
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=aloe+flowers&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIsvSoz8nOyAIVY3VyCh1Efw2v&biw=1920&bih=910
Wow. I think the panoramic photo might be a 1st for WEIT.
Wow! Africa is so photogenic and these are great shots. Looking forward to more. Thanks.
Wonderful photographs! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful photos. I love the bird nest.
The infloresences look similar to those on my red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) – it’s a native of Texan and Mexican deserts (and also not a true yucca), so the pictured plants wouldn’t be that species, but perhaps related? Many native plants from arid regions of southern Africa do quite well here as drought-tolerant ornamentals.
The similarity between African succulents and the cactus and other plants of the Americas is due to convergent evolution. They are not really related.
Interesting! I hadn’t realized that the yuccas were native only to the Americas and Caribbean. One of the southern African succulents I have in my yard is Bulbine, and I see now that it’s one of the Asphodeloideae, along with the aloes (several of which I also have in my yard). I learn something new every … hour or so.
😉
” I learn something new every … hour or so.
;-)”
Sounds like a good way to live, to me. 🙂
Beautiful vast spaces of semi-emptiness. Gorgeous colors too. That must have been a fun camping trip.
Gorgeous photos. An African safari (well, multiple to several countries) is another for the bucket list.
Lovely photos. Thanks (both of youse) for sharing them.
Wow, the landscape shots are stunning!
Makes me homesick!!
Beautiful shots of such exotic country! Thanks so much for sending these in!
What a wonderful trip that must have been! Thanks for sharing your photos, Benjamin.