Speckle-fronted Weaver - Sporopipes frontalis
I have to make sure that I post some of the small brown jobs as I go along otherwise I am going to end up with a month worth of "brown" at the end of my Tanzania splurge. I need to up the pace a bit as well I am never going to get 100 or more East African birds posted before my next trip...I have a business trip to the States planned in a couple of weeks and a good opportunity for a surgical strike somewhere on the West Coast and then again on the East Coast. As long as I do not get mugged for my camera lens it should be happy days as my list of North American birds (seen and photographed) is pitiful. I am always... well embarrassed to bird in the States. I went to Central Park in New York the last time I was there and then realised that I must have looked like a seedy cottager scurrying through the bushes in search of a pair of Blue Jays. I went off and had a manly pastrami sandwich instead and then walked the length of Manhattan instead looking for a book shop to feed my Civil War addition (yes I paint toy soldiers).
Back to this bird. This is a beautiful seed eater - halfway between a sparrow and a weaver. Very distinctive head markings with the speckled black and white forehead and then gingery orange nape.
Beauty in the detail. Every head feather frosted with a white tip. Both the male and female have the same plumage. This bird was collecting bits and bobs - presumably to line a nest.
No need to feel embarrased about being a birder in Tanzania. The drivers were delighted to spend time other than tearing around the countryside after stuff like this. Again beauty in the detail.
A leopard had left two cubs up a tree and the local guides around our tented camp had picked them up. We did make a drive for this opportunity. A little busy - 4 or 5 trucks and the next day driving through the same area a lot of flattened grass. Our driver was not confortable with how close some of the "strange" trucks from out of town if thats the right word were getting. We hung back a bit but thats the beauty of a 400mm lens. Paid for itself that lens !
We didn't see an adult leopard. We were very privaleged to get this close to cubs. The other cub was curled up like a cow pat in the thin branches at the top of the tree ! If you spend a week on safari expecting shots and views like this every hour you are going to be sorely disapointed. We were very very lucky. A lot of time was spent talking in the evening at the dinner table. Some people were fixed on seeing dramtic Wildebeeste river crossings, some people were desperate for lions and leopards, there were many people just like us for whom everything was spectacular - even the lunch ! Birds just complete a safari - we were happy with tortoises and lizards ! The leopard cubs and such will come - a few very special moments. Have a look at that Speckle-fronted Weaver though again - its just on a different scale and down by your truck's tire on the floor. If you appreciate one you can surely appreciate the other.
Speckle-fronted Weaver, Sporopipes frontalis
Serengetti, Tanzania
July 2012
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