Flying pink whales
At the risk of being boring, I must mention once again that I live in an incredibly beautiful part of the world. This picture of a flock of Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) was taken just a few minutes away from my house. These elegant birds feed on tiny insects, crustaceans and diatoms, which they obtain by filtering the water through fine bristles in their bill. This is precisely the same technique used by Baleen Whales to extract their tiny food species from the water. In fact many fish species as well...
At the movies
I've just returned from a wonderful safari with a very small, super-talented film crew consisting of Jan Stevens, Stijn van der Veken & Patrick Verbraecken who were working on a documentary on the life & times of Steve Bolnick. We started in my coastal fynbos home . . . . . . and proceeded to my bush home Amazingly the very first animals we saw on this safari were three Cheetah. This photograph clearly illustrates how well camouflaged these regal animals are when in their natural habitat. We worked hard and had some...
Cape Fur Seals and Great White Sharks
In False Bay, not far from Cape Town city lies a small island called Seal Island, which is home to about 64,000 Cape Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus). The pups are born in early November and are dependent on their mother's milk for 9 months, during which time they build up enormous fat reserves to sustain them when they take to the sea and have to learn to feed for themselves. Around about now is the time that theses young inexperienced seals begin to leave the island on feeding forays. And this...
Into the Big Blue
I promised not to post any more about Great White Sharks, but I didn't say anything about Mako Sharks. Earlier this week I was privileged to do another ocean trip with my friends Chris & Monique Fallows, and it turned-out to be an absolutely incredible experience. It's impossible to decide what was the highlight of the trip. How does one choose between seeing albatrosses, Shearwaters, Storm Petrels, Common Dolphins or diving with Bottlenose Dolphins, False Killer Whales, Mako Shark or Blue Shark? Since I didn't have my camera with me, Chris kindly provided...
Dental Floss for Great White Sharks
Normally I try to avoid posting two consecutive posts about the same subject, but Pat Verbraecken sent me this incredible photograph that he took on our recent trip with Chris Fallows and I couldn't resist but show it to everyone. I've seen some wonderful photos of Great White Sharks and I've even taken some pretty mediocre photos of them myself, but I've never seen a picture like this. Great White Sharks amaze some people and they instill fear in others but no-one is neutral about them. The sentiments all revolve around...