Description: Have been observing them for a while now, looking for good nesting sites, building the nest, sitting on the eggs and since the weekend, two chicks. The interesting bit though, how did the chicks cross the water from the island where the nest was to the main land? Can they swim? Obviously they can! Included a picture of the distance the little chicks had to swim within a day or two after they where born - amazing!
Description: Cranes used to pass over very high on their way to the wheatfields of Bredasdorp. Now they are resident here, which is super. There is something supremely primal about the call of the blue crane.
Description: I have no image. For approx. 10 days I have been hearing at night (9pm and later, till 2am, sometimes), birds flying overhead. Their call was not familiar to me - they sounded vaguely like gulls. This afternoon I heard them in daylight, looked up, and saw a group of 8 individuals flying very high. They looked like big birds, and storks came to mind, although when I first heard them I thought of shorebirds. I didn't have time to fetch binoculars. Their call is a fairly high Krrr Krrrr, rather grating. They were flying north.