Last Collection From The Quarry

I've moved all my camera traps from the quarry. In the end I only photographed Dassies and a Small Grey Mongoose at the quarry. I was hoping for signs of other mammals, but I couldn't find anything to convince me to leave the cameras another week. It has been over a month since I started camera trapping at Tygerberg's quarry and I never expected much more than the Dassies in the first place.

So, to wrap things up, here are some more Dassie photographs and a few birds.


Dassie/Rock Hyrax (Klipdassie - Procavia capensis) fattening up some more


I'm sure a Caracal will drop by every now and again, but I've got bigger/smaller fish to fry and don't feel like waiting around for a Caracal to come pussyfooting around.


Dassies going about doing Dassie things


Some, rather common, feathered friends also visited. There are a few Egyptian Geese living in the quarry and I'm surprised I didn't get any photographs of them. They hang around close to where the cameras were set out and always shout at me.


Hadeda Ibis (Hadeda - Bostrychia hagedash) coming for a closer look



The local Helmeted Guineafowl (Tarentaal - Numida meleagris) making sure everything is in order (the Dassies might have lodged a complaint)



The local pair of Red-winged Starlings (Rooivlerkspreeu - Onychognathus morio)

"Anonymous" commented on a recently post that there used to be a pair of Peregrine Falcons in the quarry long ago. Well, I think everybody will be happy to know that there are still falcons breeding there.

I was peacefully standing around inspecting the boulders for camera trap locations when suddenly I got dive-bombed out of nowhere by one of the falcons. As it turned out I was to close to the nest, so I moved away. The falcon then landed in a tree on the opposite side of the quarry.


Peregrine Falcon (Swerfvalk - Falco peregrine Falcon)  not happy with me hanging around to close so the nest


Sorry for the bad photograph. I couldn't even see it with the naked eye, but I had some idea of where it landed and took a blind shot at it.