Gotta Run

We spent this morning at the Lagoon Hide at Zimanga which was just wonderful.  The skies were overcast which gave us the lovely even light that every bird photographer loves.  The blind is at water level and requires one to walk down a fairly long tunnel to get to, which was a bit challenging for me since I'm quite claustrophobic.  But desire overcame fear and I made my way out to the hide which is sunk so that we were shooting at eye level to the water. We saw a wonderful selection of birds, including this little Black Crake, a species that I'd hoped to see.  In the rail family, they have disproportionately large feet (like coots and moorhens) and run at astonishing fast speeds.  I got to practice my panning skills with this one.  And don't you love his red legs and dressy yellow bill?  

A great morning with lots of smiles all around.  I will try to put a pic in extra of me in the hide.  The hide is right in the middle of the lagoon with windows on both sides allowing you to shoot in different light - very fun.

By 2:30 we were headed to the Tamboti overnight hide where we got ourselves settled in for our 16 hour stay.  Because it had rained during the day, I was prepared for having it be very slow at the watering hole - and I was right.  But we found some turtles who were patrolling the small watering hole hunting insects.  I named them the Ninja Murdering Turtles - I never knew that turtles could be such fearsome hunters!  

I even managed to get a 3 hour nap in the wee hours of the morning while Beth stayed watch.  

Thanks for coming along on my trip!

xo
Debbi