Rose, I just saw the beautiful mother cheetah and her adorable cubs! The barn owl cam has been down for what seems like a couple of days.... wonder what those little gremlins have been up to?
Rose, I just saw the beautiful mother cheetah and her adorable cubs! The barn owl cam has been down for what seems like a couple of days.... wonder what those little gremlins have been up to?
Anne, dx'ed April 2011
Late evening on the west coast of the USA would be a good time to view the waterholes. South Africa is 9 hours ahead and sun rise is about 6.30am at the moment as we are going into winter. There were some lions at one of the waterholes about 10pm last night and you could see them quite well with the night vision cameras.
Last edited by Rose; 05-08-2012 at 06:17 AM.
I have 2 hypotheses for the barn owl cam being broken for several days. Either the ghastliness of the babies actually broke it or the babies themselves took it out of commission because they got tired of me calling them ghastly. LOL My friends and I on Twitter have had some pretty hilarious conversations about the babies.
Since we are talking about predators and prey, here's a pretty good video I was just emailed of an osprey catching fish, preceded by an explanation of their technique and why they are so good at it. I noticed the fish in the second sequence is a flounder.
Subject: INCREDIBLE PREDATOR * THE OSPREY!
You might wonder why the Osprey never drops a slippery or heavy fish. (Unless threated by an eagle) They have four toes, but one is reversible so two can be forward and two backward. They also have small protrusions on the talons that function almost like fish hooks. Ospreys will always change the position of the fish caught so it is facing forward and more aerodynamic. Quite a bird. Uniquely designed for catching fish. When they dive into deep water their eyelids automatically close a clear membrane and they can see underwater.I've never seen a bird shake water off like a dog does - wouldn't want to get in the way of him when he's got his eyes locked and his talons in the "load" position!
There are 3 sequences in this one video:
1st sequence he catches half a dozen fish in one strike.
2nd sequence he plunges talons into deep water right to the bottom to
grab his prey.
3rd sequence he captures a big old fat fish that looks as if it weighs
more than he does! And he looks like he is surfing on it.
This is incredible to watch (best viewed in full screen mode)...enjoy!
Osprey -- the ultimate fisher - YouTube
Anne, dx'ed April 2011
I was thinking of similar hypotheses, and that maybe they did something so ghastly that the camera people didn't want us to see it! But last time I was there, I noticed a message above the screen that said the camera is undergoing maintenance and we should check back tomorrow, Tues. May 8th.
Anne, dx'ed April 2011
Wow! That osprey footage is incredible. I've never seen a bird shake off water in flight like that.
I see that the owlets are back on, in all their ghastly glory! I see the beginnings of tail feathers, which I also noticed, more prominently, in the baby eagles.
Anne, dx'ed April 2011
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