Friends and fun

The beautiful fynbos walk that Mandla has been doing during his training saw a few more human visitors lately. Shane is here for a visit and I wanted to show him everything I keep talking about, and Mark wanted to look at a potential ringing site. And so Shane and I, Mark and Jesse, and Bettina and Michiel went for a walk. What a stunning walk it is! The fynbos is all in flower and smells amazing and fresh, butterflies of all sorts are floating around, birds are singing and dashing by, more than enough to keep us well entertained for a few hours! We walked further than I have been with Mandla, finally stopping on a kopje that ended in a cliff plunging down to the sea. There we spent some time admiring the view and enjoying all the plants and flowers. Finally we made our way back to the house for an amazing brunch that Bettina had prepared, and of course, to do some horse riding. Jesse was very keen to have some alone time to spend with the horses without his sister, and after saddling Weeky up we went for a walk around the paddock, and again and again. I think the budding ornithologist is also a budding horse rider!

Enjoying the view with my man!

A kopje with a view!

Jesse and I investigating the plant life.

Gota love the colours!

Some of the flowers on the walk.

Cape Sugarbird.

At the pond.

Dragonfly.

Hanging with the horses.

Doing the rounds.

Sea savvy

The latest trip to sea was a special one, we released a rehabilitated Cape Gannet. This was the Gannet that I ringed at Tenikwa over a week ago. After a smooth launch, we cruised away from the beach towards open water, and it was time! The bird was taken out of the transport box, which by this time stank of gannet, and was thrown overboard, which meant Mark leant over the pontoon and plopped the bird into the water. It had a good washing (ugh covered in human!) and then successfully had a water take-off and flew off into the horizon. The rest of the day was good, we chased down two whales and managed to get all the data needed from them, and I was able to spend some time taking photos of the whales from the chair. This was the last time I will be going out with Gwen and Meredith on the boat, as they now move down to False Bay to chase whales while I start work on the commercial whale watching boats. Let the work begin!

Cheers bird!

Freedom!

Flying off to the horizon.

Whale!

Whale with an arrow flying true.

A blow hanging in the air.

A view of Nature's Valley from the sea.

Me up in the lookout seat! Photo by Mark Brown.

Cape Town trip

At long last I made my first trip to the University of Cape Town. A six and a half hour drive is rather taxing, although I had company until Somerset West. The traffic in Cape Town is crazy. I am through and through a small town girl, all the craft shops and pumping restaurants in the world can’t convince me that it is worth staying in Cape Town, although the squirrels (!) are pretty cool. However, besides the traffic, all in all I think it was a worthwhile trip. I was able to meet my supervisor Peter Ryan, and have a good chat about the project which left my brain full and buzzing. And as a huge treat I was also able to catch up with some lovely ladies who I haven't seen in what felt like years!

The UCT campus really is beautiful, and a hub of student activities.

The Fitz'titute.

A bad picture of a cool squirrel!

Sea legs

I have survived my second almost full day at sea! With much more grace than the first! It dawned a beautiful cold day, with a max of 25°C and partly cloudy forecast. I packed my newly acquired dry bag with a light cotton jacket, food and my camera. Once out the gate I decided to run back for a second jacket and my beanie, how glad I am for that!! We met at the ski boat club at 07h15 to pack the boat and warm up the engines and all the other important stuff that needs to be done before we launch. I admit I spent some time gawking at the most amazing sunrise, clouds and colours. The launch went smoothly and before we started any work, we accepted a rescue mission. A little paddle boat had come loose from its mooring and was floating around the big blue sea unattended. We sidled up and roped her in, and then towed her to the beach where firstly the waves, and then the lifeguards, brought her back to shore, mission accomplished!

Then we started looking for whales, I had the dubious honour of being the first up in the lookout seat. Again we started by going along the beach and around Robberg and then out to sea, but once out of the bay the wind was harsh and the sea rough. I was so grateful I ran back to get the extra jacket, and regretted not getting long pants and a blanket too! It is COLD out there! So it was decided to turn and head back to the relative shelter of the bay. This turned out to be a wise decision as we found 3 whales in the bay, and were able to get photos of all three but only had a chance to get close enough for a biopsy sample from one. The sea within the bay had become rather rough at this stage, caused by the increasing wind, and the trip was cut short. It was an interesting journey back to the launch at the ski boat club, very bumpy and rather wet. Back on the beach, looking out to sea, you could wonder why we came back so early, the conditions look good. How deceptive! But we accomplished much in a short time and I survived the rough seas with minimal nausea! I may have found my sea legs!

Getting the boat into position for the launch.

A seat with a view.

The boat from above!

The team, before the weather got nasty!

Stopped for a snack break. Photo by Gwen Penry.

Tenikwa

Tenikwa is a wildlife rehabilitation and awareness centre, and Mark has agreed to ring any of the rehab birds that are ready to be released, and so after ringing in Nature’s Valley with the kids on the holiday program we headed off to Tenikwa. I have been at Tenikwa once before and ringed 2 Kelp Gulls that were ready for release. On that occasion they also had a kitten in the surgery/work room that was being helped. On this occasion they had a baby Vervet Monkey that had been confiscated from the illegal pet trade, poor lil guy. But as far as ringing went, I ringed a Cape Gannet, a Burchell’s Coucal (both new species for me), a Kelp Gull and a Laughing Dove, all in for a variety of reasons. And then I enquired after the kitten. The kitten had grown into a big beautiful Serval, surprise surprise! We had a quick look at some of the centre, definitely somewhere I would love to go for the full guided tour!

Ringing my first Cape Gannet. Photo by Mark Brown.

How cool are those feet!

A beautiful bird.

Burchell's Coucal.

The all grown up kitten, the Serval.

A Cheetah that is part of the awareness program.

A Leopard that is part of the awareness program.

Nature's Valley ringing

As it is school holidays, Nature’s Valley Trust offered a holiday program, and Friday was the bird ringing day. So about 10 kids and a variety of parents, interns and volunteers met at Nature’s Valley for some avian education! We caught a total of 12 birds, and it was such a wonderfully enjoyable and relaxed morning. There was no pressure, no time limit, and we had a keen audience. First bird in the net was a Knysna Woodpecker, a new species for Mark (!) and I, super stoked! And we got some beautiful male Greater Double-collared Sunbirds which was a new species for me. All in all it was a stunning morning and the budding ornithologists went home, brimming with knowledge and news!

Mark talking about the woodpecker.

Beautiful Knysna Woodpecker!

Greater Double-collared Sunbird.

Colour ringed Cape Robin-Chat. Photo by Mark Brown.

Horse happiness

Horses seem to be making a rather regular appearance at the moment, and I love it! Mandla has been making huge progress with his training to eventually pull the ossewa, the ossewa is well on its way to being roadworthy and is absolutely stunning, and the drivers are making good progress with their training too; not as easy as you think I assure you! Michiel has done some maintenance on a track through the fynbos to a beautiful spot overlooking the sea, and this is the track that we have been using with Mandla, who is now pulling a big tyre that we take turns riding in!

And we’re spreading the love! Kel and the kids came to do some horse riding, and to see what Mandla does. It was a wonderful morning but Jesse and Kate were most excited about going for a ride! Each had a turn to help groom a grubby Weeky who had just rolled in the sand, and ride around the paddock. It was a really wonderful morning, with Jesse making plans for his mom to leave him there next time so he can hang out with the horses and Aunty Bettina!

A beautiful fynbos walk overlooking the sea.

Mandla posing for a photo.

Cool down walk for the special boy.

Jesse and Kate in the nearly completed ossewa!

Horse happiness! Photo by Kelly Brown.

Going to see Mandla get 'dressed' into his gear.

Decals

So at long last I cleaned the car! And when I say I, I mean that I took it to the Market Square car wash and shopped while some other wonderful people scrubbed her clean, inside and out! So with that done I put my new Kelp Gull Research decals on. And they look awesome!

A day at sea

I have spent my first full day at sea, and I survived! We launched the boat at about 09h10 and beached at 16h30 or so.. What an eventful day!

Gwen is here with her team looking for Bryde’s whales and as part of my training for when they move down the coast and leave me to do some solo work I spent the day with them out on their boat. Wow. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine, a high of 29°C and flat sea, perfect for my first full day out at sea! Once we had launched we headed towards Robberg, and then around Robberg and towards Knysna. We were on the lookout for ‘blows’. When a whale comes to surface, roughly every 10 minutes I now know, it blows out before in and there is a big plume of water droplets that on a good day will hang in the air as a haze and this is a big arrow announcing whale here! And so we stalked the waters looking for blows, as well as fins, and high bird activity which may also indicate whale presence. It was over an hour of searching before we spotted our first blow. And then the chase was on! Literally. You hold on and race towards the spot you the blow was seen, and you wait. These Bryde’s whales conventionally surface every 10 minutes, and will come up twice in a row, occasionally thrice. So if you are lucky you can get close enough by the second blow to get some good photos and hopefully a blubber sample. If not, you wait for the next blow, some 10 minutes later and race over to where it is. At times we were closer to where the whale surfaced, other times not so close and we had to go zooming over the water to catch up with it. All in all I think we saw 3 different whales, and got blubber samples of 2 of them. Whales were not the only animals to be seen, we also saw seals, dolphins, my first penguin at sea (!) and a variety of birds that made me wish my ID was better! I was seriously washed out by the time I arrived home, what a day, and all but collapsed into bed that night amidst moving, rocking floors. Unfavourable weather has kept the boat grounded but hopefully I can go out with Gwen again before she moves on with her team, and I hang out with the commercial whale watching guys.

Beautiful day at the beach.

The faithful steed.

Team at the ready!

Bryde's whale surfacing, haze of the blow still in the air.

A fin profile.