Sparrowhawks At The Puddle

A while ago I wrote about placing my Cuddeback Capture trail camera at a beautiful puddle I discovered forming in a stream at Tygerberg. The camera only captured one photograph of a Black Sparrowhawk and Helmeted Guineafowl each. I decided to try a Bushnell Trophy Cam at the same location because of its wider detection zone.

The good news was that I got a lot more photos. The bad news is that no other species made an appearance.

A juvenile Black Sparrowhawk (Swartsperwer - Accipiter melanoleucus) getting his feet wet

Thanks to the wider detection zone of the Bushnell, it was able to capture visits to the puddle even when the bird remained off-center.

There are two colour forms for the adult birds - this is the light form



This is the dark form (no white on the breast)

 Black Sparrowhawks mainly prey on other birds and won't find any food to their liking in the puddle.


Taking a dip

After seeing these images of the birds close to or in the water I wanted to find out exactly what they were doing here. So, I decided to switch the camera to video mode.

Video: Youngster eating something in front of the camera

Video: Washing up afterwards

As it turns out they use the puddle to bath and drink from.

 Video: Having a drink

The only other visitors were a couple of Helmeted Guineafowl that came by for a drink.

Video: Officer drinking on the job - he seems to be a bit tipsy already...

Puddle Of Dreams

Sometimes I find a location for a camera trap that really gets me excited, but then fails to deliver...


The puddle... (I don't know what the proper word/name for this sort of thing is)

I stumbled upon this little natural puddle. It forms in one of the small streams that runs down the hill towards the dam near the main entrance at Tygerberg. I think it makes a very pretty backdrop. I have camera trapped Water Mongoose and Cape Clawless Otter higher up on this stream. I even found some freshwater crabs living in the puddle.


This crab was walking along the bottom of the puddle


My hopes where running high. I decided to leave the Cuddeback behind to monitor the puddle. I knew that the Cuddeback wasn't the perfect camera for this sort of location. It has a very narrow detection zone, but compensates for it by having a fast trigger time. It works best when pointed across a trail. The factor that made me choose the Cuddeback was its natural/white flash. With the Moultrie out of action I only have one white flash camera. I was hoping for some awesome nighttime photos of otters, etc.

You might have noticed by now that none of my hopes or dreams materialized. But it was not a total loss. At least I got some photographs. Two birds a Helmeted Guineafowl and a Black Sparrowhawk (new).


Black Sparrowhawk (Swartsperwer - Accipiter melanoleucus) visiting the puddle


Yet, despite the bad luck with the Cuddeback a very observant reader might have noticed that the first photograph shows a Bushnell Trophy Cam pointing towards the puddle. Well, I'm just not ready to give up on the spot yet. I'm hoping the Bushnell's wider detection zone will stand a better chance recording the action that might, or might not, be happening at the puddle. Beggars can't be choosers and IR images will have to do :)

On a slightly different note: A few posts ago I mentioned having never seen a baby Leopard Tortoise at Tygerberg. Well, I stand corrected. This little fellow rocketed off into the roadside cover when I started pointing a huge lens in its face. I prefer not to interfere to much with the animals for the sake of a simple photograph and I almost never pickup tortoises. The result is that on a warm day these guys move quite fast and I only got a few shots at it before it was gone.


A baby Leopard Tortoise (Bergskilpad - Stigmochelys pardalis) at Tygerberg Nature Reserve in Cape Town

 

Bulldozing his way to peace and quiet