Monthly Archives: February 2025

Oribi Mom

Oribi Mom: Falcon Power From the Wild, Wild, Wild Boys

It’s always a good thing to learn about our country’s wildlife.

Falcon power. Photo by: Richard Sagredo on Unsplash.

 

February 21, 2025

The third small boy in our house has now hit the stage of tall stories, potty training, and screaming not to be restrained in the car seat.

He’s also got the advantage of superpowers much earlier than his older siblings who didn’t get to watch such advanced programming – nothing much beyond Peppa Pig, Bing, and Winnie the Pooh.

Now, It’s Wild Kratts, a highly educational wildlife programme that also happens to have baddies trying to steal or eat rare animals that need saving.

The Kratt brothers use their power suits with various animal powers to do that saving. By the end of the episode, you know all about the species, so I’ve shrugged off the superpower stuff mostly.

The Wild, Wild, Wild Linds

As a result, the littlest person in our family is now hitting his chest (the button on the power suit). He shouts, ‘Falcon power,’ and zooms from one end of the house to the other. And back again. Sometimes, it’s cheetah power, grasshopper power, salamander power, or any other of the number of species the Kratt brothers showcase on their show.

He’s learning about quite a wide variety of animals, I guess. I don’t know many other two-year-olds who can talk about falcons and actually know what they are and what they do. I could be wrong on that.

Anyway, if you hear me calling the boys, ‘Wild, wild, wild Linds’ you’ll know why. They’re basically Kratts.

I wonder if there will come a day when my sons are roaming the earth doing conservation work with rare species and developing their own power suits. It seems like that would be a great way to spend a life.

Meet the Kratt brothers and their wildlife show.

Published here.

Oribi Mom

Oribi Mom: Flushing Fan-Tailed Grassbirds in the Proteas and Penny Gums

There’s something special about bird watching.

PHOTO BY PIXABAYFebruary 15, 2025

I’m back in the bird challenge for 2025. I bombed out in the early 30s – in August, maybe – of 2024’s 52-week challenge. That felt like good going for being at home for all except two of those weeks.

I learned a lot about birds right under my nose here, including rarities. Two of these amazing finds were the wintering spotted ground thrush and orange ground thrush, which both just happened to appear in my little slice of forest.

If I hadn’t walked down into the dark gorge below the house in winter, I wouldn’t have found them at all. Now that I know they’re there, that’s two more birds I can potentially list this year when the time comes.

Mostly, it’s just exciting to know that I’m preserving some habitat they can shelter in for the next few decades (let’s hope!).

A Little Trail Running Turned Out To Be a Big Birding Win

While exploring, I also found a wonderful fan-tailed grassbird. It was in the middle of some penny gums when I took a little detour on my usual route.

It’s quite hard to describe that moment. The penny gums are beautiful and smell so good. The king proteas nearby were in full flower on one lonely tree.

In front of this, in the penny gums, the bright yellow Cape longclaws were trying to hide in the longish tufts of grass.

I was sneaking up on them to see how close I could get to those skittish birds that are all along the road in Oribi Gorge. As I came around the bend, I flushed the fan-tailed grassbird instead.

It took me a little while to click.

The gorgeous little bird was in its full spring plumage. Bright and clean, it perched on top of a young penny gum tree and looked quite indignant about my disturbance.

Behind it, there was the view of the brown farm slopes dropping down to the Mzimkhulu.

At that point, everything else was just sprouting tiny, almost transparent leaves. I knew they would grow and darken into full green foliage in a few weeks, but right then, the freshness – new life – was palpable. The ocean further beyond that shone in the sun.

Was I in some lost world? As I heard the nearby quarry machines whirring up, the grassbird flew off. I guess not. But it was still so beautiful.

Published here.