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About My Travels African Safaris UNESCO site

African Safari

African Safari in Serengeti and Sabi Sand South Africa, also visits to Arusha National Park, and Nogoronogoro Caldera;

An African Safari is an wonderful experience, and time in Africa involving several safaris is even more amazing. Up at 5:30 every morning and in the trucks for the Game Drive by 6:00 takes some getting used to, but the anticipation of what we will see each day makes the early rising well worth it.

The photos on this page were taken in multiple places; Arusha National Park, Nogoronogoro Caldera and Serengeti National Park all in Tanzania, and Sabi Sands near Kruger National Park in South Africa. The land areas and habitats of the Parks and Caldera are different and there are some differences in the animals one will see, but the wonder at the massive herds, variation in individual species is God’s plan and we can only view in awe.

We easily saw “the Big Five” and I display pictures of them.
“In Africa, the big five game animals are the lion, leopard, rhinoceros (both black and white species), elephant, and Cape buffalo. The term “big five game” (usually capitalized or quoted as “Big Five”) was coined by big-game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_five_game

Serengeti National Park has UNESCO designation.

The photos are all for sale in the size of your choice.

Yellow Beaked Oxpecker cleaning Giraffe teeth.
Yellow Beaked Oxpecker cleaning Giraffe teeth.

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About My Travels

New Zealand Birds

New Zealand Birds

 

New Zealand Birds

When humans arrived in New Zealand about 700 years ago the environment changed quickly. Several species were hunted to extinction, most notably the moa a giant flightless bird, (Check out http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/ext_moas.htm) and harpagornis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast’s_eagle). The most damage was caused by habitat destruction and the other animals humans brought with them, particularly rats – the Polynesian rat or kiore introduced by Māori and the brown rat and black rat subsequently introduced by Europeans. Mice, dogs, cats, stoats, weasels, pigs, goats, deer, hedgehogs, and Australian possums also put pressure upon native bird species. The flightless birds were especially sensitive.

Consequently, many bird species became extinct, and others remain critically endangered. Several species are now confined only to offshore islands, or to fenced “ecological islands” from which predators have been eliminated. New Zealand is today a world leader in the techniques required to bring severely endangered species back from the brink of extinction.

During the early years of European settlement many bird species were introduced for both sport and for a connection with the settler’s homelands. New Zealand had a starkly different appearance to the countries from where the settlers came.

A wonderful place to visit near extinct birds is Tiritiri Matangi an Island off the NZ mainland. The following is from their website, and most of the bird pictures are also from the island.

Tiritiri Matangi Island

is a wildlife sanctuary and one of New Zealand’s most important and exciting conservation projects. It is located 30km north east of central Auckland and just 4km from the end of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. A hundred and twenty years of farming had seen this 220-hectare island stripped of 94% of its native bush but between 1984 and 1994, volunteers planted between 250,000 and 300,000 trees. The Island is now 60% forested with the remaining 40% left as grassland for species preferring open habitat.

In conjunction with this planting program, all mammalian predators were eradicated and a number of threatened and endangered bird and reptile species have been successfully introduced, including the flightless takahe, one of the world’s rarest species, and the tuatara. There are few places in New Zealand where you can readily see and walk amongst so many rare species.

The project is managed by the Department of Conservation in conjunction with the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated.

http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/
http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/ext_moas.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast’s_eagle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_of_New_Zealand
A book on New Zealand birds–http://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/native-birds-of-new-zealand-5955027

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About Me Australia Backyard Birds birds

Smug Mug

Check out my Smug Mug photos. Birds of Australia, (A Cassowary is the photo featured from AU) Birds of US Butterflies. More photos coming.
April 2016,

Just added NZ, New Zealand

to my website, will add them to this Smug Mug site soon. Check out FordsFotos.net, or FordsFotos.com. I uploaded one of the NZ birds to give you a heads up.

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About Me About My Travels Australia

Birds of Australia

Birds of Australia

Kukaburro
Kookaburro

Please enjoy viewing Kookaburras, Tawney frog mouth, black and white pelicans, pink Galahs, cockatoos (as pests) lorikeets, white ibis, penguins,and other interesting birds. The fairy Penguins are also called Blue Penguins, and they actually have a blue look to their fur. They are the smallest penguins in the World. The Kookaburras were very exciting for me to see and hear. I heard them first, and actually recognized the “laugh”,then later saw several pairs flying around quite close to where we were in Yanchep National Park. The pink Galahs were also a delight to see, but we did get a bit tired of them as they are very noisy. I had never seen nor heard of a bird called the tawney frogmouth, so another new Australian experience. It is often mistakenly thought to be a type of owl and is found throughout Australia mainland and Tasmania. Luckily we did not meet any cassowaries in the wild, but as we walked through the rainforest we kept a look out!

4 Galahs

Flying galah

Australian Wood Ducks

Banded Lapwing

Blue winged Kookaburra

Giant Penguin

Zebra finch
Zebra finch at Uluru

 

Orange-beak

Sea-Gull

Olive-Backed-Sunbirds

2-Fairy-Penguins

Myna-bird

Water buffalo and Australian duck

Australian Hawk

Cockatoo posing
Cockatoo posing
Lorikeet
Lorikeet
Cockatoos eating off picnic Table
Cockatoos eating off picnic Table

Emu in the Wild

Black & White Pelican
Black & White Pelican
White Ibis
White Ibis
White Ibis
White Ibis
Cockatoo
Cockatoo
Flying Cockatoo
Flying Cockatoo
Australian White Ibis
Australian White Ibis
Tawny Frogmouth
Tawny Frogmouth
Whistler Ducks
Whistler Ducks
Cassowary
Cassowary
Cassowary
Cassowary
Cassowary
Cassowary

Cassaway

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