[tmlawes]

Taking it to the water - harbor seal.

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[aslyfox]

Taking it to the water - harbor seal.

now that photo makes it looks like you got a lot of rain

whoops confusing posts:

noelcmn posted:

"Yes, we have had plenty of rains the last couple of days, some of our dams have risen from 24% to just under 60% in two weeks. We are very glad for that, as we've been suffering from the worst drought in over 100 years."

never mind

[WPRESTO]

There's been a gap since the last post of one of these, so here's another (ho-hum) Arctic tern.

[aslyfox]

If I could tern back time

You Tube

You Tube

[tmlawes]

I'll take a turn too or two terns?

[WPRESTO]

Hope that turns out well for them.

[aslyfox]

i think we have taken a tern too far and are therefore off course

as I started to wander the grounds of the Topeka Zoological Park today with my hand held K 3 + HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW, in front of me and up in the air this small flock of Canada Geese was moving on. Only had time for a snap shot as they were on their way and not taking the time to "take a gander" before flying off.

Where Did the Phrase "Take a Gander" Come From?

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Last edited by aslyfox; 01-17-2017 at 06:16 PM.

[noelcmn]

Gnu

[WPRESTO]

As I recall, this is a water monitor, a zoo specimen. It was very active when I was there. These fellows are big enough and certainly fast enough to be very intimidating were they encountered in the wild.

[aslyfox]

Looks right to me, of course, I have only seen 3 in my life

[noelcmn]

I think that's a Rock Monitor, as the Water Monitor has a sharper snout.
Rhino

[gifthorse]

Ahhhh..... nuthin' like a good mud wallow on a hot summer day!

Wild horse cooling off.

[tmlawes]

Snipe in the snow

[noelcmn]

And yet another buffalo-Rietvlei Nature Reserve

[aslyfox]

interesting curvature of the horns on that Cape Buffalo, we never saw one quite like that.

we rarely saw a solitary Cape Buffalo, most the time we would see pairs or small groups or even vast herds. We never saw the "classic" (I think) massed defensive grouping with the adults circled and the young inside.

This is part of the largest group we saw, bulls, cows, calves and adolescents, they, the buffalos leading the way, along with zebras (you can just glimpse one in the background and wildebeests were traveling roughly in a column toward a fresh water stream. The massed herds stretched back over 100's of yards. the herds were mostly segregated by species

The problem was that there were a lion and lioness in the way (the lions were resting after attempting to make a third if you know what I mean.)

There were several tourist vehicles gathered and the green vehicle contained 2 rangers with their customary AK 47s (more for protection against poachers than wild life) in the customary green land rover but the herds would have just passed us by if the lions were not there. We stayed there for quite awhile to see what would develop but had to move on before any close confrontation happened. While we were there the Cape Buffalos stayed about 50 - 100 feet away from the lions who spent the time just laying down or standing.

This is in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania and you can see in the background the wall of the crater and a cloud making its way down the wall. Note the calf, the birds on the buffalo, and how the vegetation changes as you look toward the wall. This photo reminds me of a painting actually.

K 5 II + Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 LD Macro 1:2