h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This Tuesday – 1 April 2008, April Fool’s day to be exact, I went on a visit to a farm along with my father, our preacher friend Ds. Bertie Pretorius, his grandson Gunther (7 years old) and another friend. The farm belongs to Ds. Pretorius’ son Wim, about my age. This farm is about an hour’s drive north of Polokwane, my home town. The farm itself is mostly fairly pristine bushveld – dry savannah with grass and trees. The entire region is pretty wild, with a small human population. It is teeming with wildlife. We drove around and also I had a little walk with Gunther on the farm. We saw lots of things, including:

- Quite a few warthogs, including a family with young. Not just on the farm itself, but also on the way there and back. Warthogs are fairly plentiful in the wilder parts of the region.

- Impala antelope. These handsome reddish-brown medium-sized antelope with lyre-shaped horns are also plentiful.

- A couple of ‘Steenbokkies’. The ‘Steenbok’ is a small antelope, about the size of a large dog. Also reddish-brown but with short straight horns in the male only.

- A few Kudu – large antelope with huge spiral horns in the male. Not on the farm but along the road on the way back.

- A few Blesbok – medium-sized antelope, dark brown with white faces and lyre-horns a bit smaller than those of the impalas, on a farm on the way back. They’re actually not indigenous to the region – they are more typical of the flat grasslands of the Highveld of central South Africa. Some game farmers have introduced them to farms in this region.

- At least one mongoose scampering across a path on the farm while I was walking with Gunther.

- Birds – a heck of a bunch of birds! The one I’m happiest about seeing, was a Chanting Goshawk – I think it’s probably the ‘Pale’ species, Melierax canorus. A medium-sized hawk, I saw it flying and then alight on a telephone pole. This species is named for its voice – while it cannot really be said to ‘sing’, its call is nevertheless quite melodious, for a raptor.

- Quite a few ostriches. We saw a male ostrich doing his ‘dance’ to a female. This dance consists of funny side-to-side swaying motions with the body, neck and head while fanning the wings. Unfortunately as we approached closer the male ostrich stopped so we couldn’t photograph or video its dance. We also, later, saw an ostrich family: male, female, and between six and ten little chicks! Well actually they were the size of fairly large chickens, but for an ostrich chick, that is quite little!

- Another large bird, one that I haven’t seen for a while, was the Red-crested Korhaan, Eupodotis rufocrista. This is a small species of bustard (other bustards can be *very* large) that lives in savannah with grass and trees. It has a very characteristic call of piercing whistles. It also has a reddish-brown crest that it usually conceals completely beneath its head feathers, but spreads out into a ‘crown’ when displaying.

- The White-crowned Shrike, Eurocephalus anguitimens. This shrike is associated with Baobab trees, but is found in the farm region despite the only baobab trees there are a couple that had been planted around the old farm house. These shrikes are social and quite large, with prominent white crowns. The rest of their bodies are white, black, brown and grey.

- A Grey-headed Shrike, Malaconotus blanchoti. This one we saw around the house of the neighbouring farm. Another large shrike – actually a bush-shrike, a different family from the true shrikes; grey and olive-green above, yellow below with an orange breast, and a large grey head with a very sturdy bill and a white spot in front of the yellow eye.

- A few crimson-breasted shrikes, Laniarius atrococcineus. This shrike is black and white above, but with a breast and belly that is one of the most intense crimson-red hues I’ve seen anywhere in Nature. It also has very beautiful and interesting calls, the male and female accompanying each other in a ‘duet’ that is so precisely synchronized that it sounds like the call of a single bird. It also belongs to the bush shrike family.

- I saw, briefly, and from behind, a Tchagra dive into a bush. Tchagras are yet another group of bush shrikes. This could have been a Black-crowned Tchagra, Tchagra senegalus, or a Brown-crowned Tchagra, Tchagra australis. Both species are whitish below with bright rufous wings and black streaks on the head.

- At the farm house we were entertained for quite a while by a pair of Red-billed Hornbills, Tockus rufirostris. At first I just heard them calling and the raucus noise made me mistake them for Babblers, Turdoides-species. But when I saw them they were of course unmistakable. They hung around the large Knob-thorn (Acacia nigrescens) trees around the farm house.

- I heard, but did not see, a Black Scimitarbill, Rhinopomastus cyanomelas, calling in the bush. This one is a much smaller relative of hornbills, with a curved beak and all-black except for white markings on the wings and tail.

- A small Namaqua Dove, Oena capensis, perched in a tree. These little doves are common in the region. Much smaller than our turtle and laughing doves, they are especially pretty for their very long narrow tails, and the black face mask of the male.

- The ubiquitous Scaly-feathered Finch, Sporopipes squamifrons. These little finches have black-and-white scale-like markings on the feathers of their foreheads. They also have black ‘moustache’-stripes at the edge of their pink bills.

I especially liked the walk I took into the bush around the farm house with little Gunther. I told him I was especially interested in plants, and all along the way he was constantly asking me “what’s this?” about every little plant that attracted his notice. I could tell him a few of the species, but he reminded me once again how little I know! Many of the plants I had to say, “I have no idea”. At any rate I could tell him about a few of them. I showed him how to recognize Knob-thorn trees by the thick knobby bosses formed by old thorns on the branches and trunks. I also told him about what we call ‘Katsterte’ and ‘Katbosse’ (Cat-tails and Cat-bushes) which are actually species closely related to the edible Asparagus-plant. Our ‘Katbosse’ are sometimes classified in the same genus Asparagus, or sometimes in a related genus Protasparagus. At any rate, they are rather spiny plants, sometimes forming free-standing bushes, sometimes creeping and scrambling over other plants. They have very finely divided leaves, and a very large variety of growth patterns. We managed to distinguish three different kinds of Cat Bushes in the area. I also told him about ‘Kanniedood’ (“Cannot Die”) trees, Commiphora-species. Again there are numerous different kinds on the farm. All of them have thick, corky bark that exude a latex when injured. I just made a tiny nick in the bark with my nail, to show him the latex that comes out. These trees get their name because they are very drought resistant and also because it often happens that poles cut from them to make fences, remain alive and root in the ground and grow. Gunther noted that the shiny green bark of one species made it seem not like a real tree but like some artificial plant made of plastic or rubber. Another plant with an unusual appearance was the Milky Rope, Sarcostemma viminale. Again I cut a small nick into it to show Gunther the copious white sap that streamed out. This plant has green stems and no leaves, and also tends to scramble over other plants. The milky sap is, if I’m not mistaken, somewhat poisonous. I showed Gunther another similar plant, the Sjambok Bush, Kleinia longiflora, that also has long, thin, leafless, scrambling branches, but lacks the conspicuous sap. There was one ‘thicket’ in which both species grew together, giving one a chance to note the differences between them. Also nice was that there was a grasshopper perched in the thicket – one that I know quite well, that specializes in plants of the Asclepiad family, to which the Milky Rope belongs. The grasshopper can extract poisons from the latex of these plants so as to become poisonous itself. Being poisonous, it does not need to work so hard to evade predators and is more brightly coloured and more slow-moving than other grashoppers. We found other grasshopper species as well, the others being much more cryptic and camouflaged in appearance. I caught and showed Gunther a particularly ‘weird’ looking species … consulting my book, I think it was a Saw-backed Locust, Hoplolopha-species, the wingless female. We also saw a pretty little wasp, black bodies and orange wings. It had a very long ovipositor and I explained to Gunther that it’s not a sting, but an egg-laying apparatus.

We looked at interactions between plants and other creatures. Several times we found insects or other invertebrates in the fruit and pods of plants. I was rather sad to have destroyed the home a little spider had made itself in a hollow dried-out fruit … I hope it managed to make itself another! I showed Gunther the similarities in the pods of a number of plants in the Legume or Pod-bearing plant groups … from thorn trees to tiny herbs, one of which had a pod that very strongly resembled those of bean and pea plants. Gunther himself noted the similarities between wild plants and familiar garden plants. He asked about some of the Solanum plants with the small berries whether they were related to tomatoes, and I told them yes, but not to eat the fruits of the wild species since they are pretty much all poisonous. Other plants we saw included several species from the Sage family, Lamiaceae, most of which have very aromatic foliage. I showed Gunther how to extract the small seeds from the dried-out fruit by rubbing them between the fingers. I hope he tries to plant some of them! His grandfather would be able to help him with that.

Oh we also saw a couple of pretty sand lizards, with long orange tails. It was a rather short walk, about 40 minutes duration, but a lot of fun! I’m sure Gunther found it interesting.

Hi, Willem,

I am sure Gunther did! I know I did, and he is so lucky to have someone to show him such things. You packed a heck of a lot in to such a short walk. I wish I had time to look up all the animals and birds, though I am familiar with a few of them.

We had snow last night. I awoke in the early hours to a thick covering of fluffy snow and icicles, just as we had thought Spring had arrived! Friday was glorious, a near perfect day for one who likes the sunshine but not too much heat.

We also had a visitor which we have heard before, but never so close to home. A Green woodpecker was calling very loudly, a maniacal laughing sound, but it was so frustrating because we couldn't see it! I need to move some ants in to my back garden and make an anthill in order to see him I think.

I have my fingers crossed that he will eventually show himself.

I have some writing to do but I hope to pop back later in my day. Have a good one Willem and thanks for the interesting post.

Websailor

Hi Websailor and thanks for reading and for your comments!

I wish you had a nice bird guide over there to African birds. I have the complete one for the birds of sub-Saharan Africa. I also have a number of other bird guides including one to the birds of Britain so when you talk about some species I know what you're talking about! I know what Green Woodpeckers look like ... I have a guide to all the woodpecker species in the world! The green one you have over there is quite a handsome species. We also have woodpeckers here ... in our garden we've had two species so far: the Cardinal Woodpecker, Dendropicos fuscescens, and the Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Campethera abingoni. They are both actually fairly small and drab species compared to other woodpeckers in the world!

I hope you get that woodpecker to come to the garden! What other woodpecker species have you seen over there?

Spring must be close now over there! Over here it's Winter that's hastening on its way. We're still having some of the last rains of the season but the days are getting colder. My winter-growing plants are now waking from their dormancy, which is nice! I love having plants growing year-round. One of the perks of living in a subtropical climate!

Hope you have a good day as well Websailor!

We also have the Greater Spotted woodpecker and much rarer, the Lesser Spotted woodpecker which I haven't seen.

Have you been following the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker in America? It has been rediscovered after it was thought to be extinct. Fascinating.

Websailor (I can smell the lunch so I think I had better

Hello Willem ,

It sounds like you enjoyed your walk and wished it lasted longer . It was very interesting to read, the wildlife you mention I have never heard of before, you are very knowledgeable on the different names.

I recognised some of the plant names which was interesting.

Take care,

Nigel

Hi Nigel! Nice to have you here! I'm sure you would find it very interesting if ever you had a botanic expedition to South Africa! You would recognise some of our plants but I'm sure you'll see many things like nothing you ever dreamed about!

I looked at your photos - your orchids are very pretty! I can't tell you what species they are, though. I liked your duck and goose photos too!

I'm going to the Pretoria Botanic Garden this coming Thursday! I'll be taking lots of photos and will upload the good ones to my Webshots site. I think you might find them interesting!

Cheers,

Willem

Babblers same as Kurichane (sp?) thrushes? I'm sure I've seen them - I'd forgotten all about them.

I am green, green, green with envy of this. Thought I was doing well in Spain week before last, fantastic numbers and variety of plants and insects, good few birds too, even an ibex - but nothing to match this.

Thank you for this post, Willem. Despite being so envious it's such a pleasure to read.

Speaking of orchids, I saw several mirror orchids in Spain - amazing things. And a butterfly orchid - not so extraordinary, but beautiful.

Waz

Here, mirror orchid

http://images34.fotki.com/v1124/photos/1/1269186/6095257/1MSpain081712-vi.jpg

and butterfly orchid

http://images35.fotki.com/v1164/photos/1/1269186/6095257/1Spain08183a-vi.jpg

if the links work...

Waz,

Those orchids are lovely. It is a joy to read Willem's posts and find out what life is really like in South Africa instead of what you see on the news.

I watch a programme today about Trophy Hunting in South Africa and I would love to know what he thinks about it from a S.A. perspective. I will put a post up nearer the weekend as he seems to be on mostly on Sundays.

Websailor

Hello Waz, Websailor! Yes it's Sunday and I'm back again!

Waz, no, Kurrichane Thrushes are something entirely different from babblers! The Kurrichane Thrush is a true thrush, Turdus libonyanus, related to our own Olive Thrushes, and to the thrushes you have over there, like the Blackbird and the Song Thrush. The Kurrichane Thrush is recognised by a bright orange bill and a black 'malar' stripe.

Babblers belong to a different family, the Timaliidae. You can read about them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timaliidae

The common babblers we have here in South Africa belong to the genus Turdoides:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turdoides

The two species that are common here, are the Arrowmarked Babbler, Turdoides jardineii, and the pied babbler, Turdoides bicolor. The arrowmarked babbler is dark brown with orange-red eyes and white pointed breast streaks that look like arrowheads. The pied babbler is pure white with black wings, tail, legs and bill. Both are social and have rather harsh chattering or laughing calls where the whole social group calls together. They can get quite tame. My friend and German teacher of old, prof. Gigi Gottwald, often has babblers in her garden. They can also quite easily be seen in the Kruger National Park.

Waz, green is a good colour to be, and I am in turn envious of you for having been in Spain! I would love to see that country. Of course, there are lots of other places even in my own country I am deeply yearning to see.

Yes, the links work (for me at least!) and those orchids are beautiful!

Websailor, I really love being able to share stuff with people here on h2g2! As for 'life' in South Africa, I have a bit of an atypical life over here compared to the vast majority of other South Africans. What I can give are 'glimpses' of some of the things here from this very particular viewpoint of mine ...

As for trophy hunting ... I don't like it at all! To me a wild animal is infinitely better alive and out there in the bush than dead and stuffed on a wall. As a kid I liked looking at stuffed animals and mounted heads because I liked being able to see them so close up ... and I didn't worry much about the ethical side of things. But as I grew older I started thinking about ethics more and more and like you know I am now a vegetarian and really don't like the idea of killing animals ... I would say, I strongly dislike the killing of any vertebrate. Sometimes it may be necessary ... culling species that threaten to become too numerous for their habitat to support ... or animals that become serious pests and plagues ... or for hunter-gatherer societies that can only survive by hunting ... but I still don't like it. I would like if we humans and all societies could *strive* to eliminate all killing of our fellow vertebrates for any but the most extremely pressing reasons.

Why vertebrates? Why not invertebrates? Well I really am not sure if invertebrates have the sort of feelings that vertebrates have ... and also it is almost impossible to avoid the killing of them. I *will* kill fleas I find on my cat or mosquitoes trying to feed on *me* or caterpillars I find chomping on some of my rare plants. But I will not kill insects, even, without compelling reasons.

Those are my own ethical standards, which I am constantly thinking about and 'working' on, and I don't wish to impose them on everybody else. I would simply like to try and encourage other people to think of animals with a bit more respect and compassion and see for themselves how that might impact and alter their own behaviour. In this context I would do what I can to discourage people from hunting animals for trophies and try to interest them in better ways of 'experiencing' the wild: an excellent and very challenging thing to get into, is wildlife photography. It is even more difficult to get a good pic of an animal than to shoot it dead ... and it leaves the living animal for other people to appreciate as well.

Speaking of photographs ... I've just been on a very pleasant trip to the Pretoria National Botanical Garden! I took *lots* of photographs, most of which came out beautifully. I've only been having great difficulty uploading them to my Webshots site! I really hope I can somehow get them up there 'cause I'm sure y'all would like them a lot!

I thought that would be your viewpoint Willem. I found the programme hard to watch, because it was treating the animals as sport, yet it wasn't sport because the animals were lined up for the 'hunters' to take a pot shot at, many of them being very inexperienced with a gun. The meat was said to go to the local people, but I had my doubts. Some of the animals were reared specifically for trophy hunting, and I found that distasteful too.

I know that some of the money from trophy hunting in some places goes to help the local people, and that it helps the local people see a value in the animals, but I still feel it is wrong. The point was made that many of the animals would be gone already without the hunting.

If at all, I would still prefer to see the animals get a sporting chance, instead of being sitting targets. I agree the reasons for culling when really necessary, and if hunters took out old or sick animals it would make more sense, but then I suppose there wouldn't be enough!

I am not vegetarian, and provided animals killed for food are treated humanely I can live with it. Unfortunately much of it killed here is not!

I hope you get your photos up ok.

Take care,

Websailor

PS Have you ever considered writing an article for ? I am sure they would be pleased to have something and your knowledge and observations would reach a wider audience.

Hello again Websailor! Sorry not to have answered sooner ... my internet access yesterday was not working well.

Thanks for thinking folks would be interested in my writing! But you yourself already write to about wildlife ... do you think there's interest in even more such stuff?

I would have thought so. You live such a very different life from us over here, and there are people from all over the world on hoo too. I am sure there would be interest.

Why not drop a note to the Post Office and ask Skankyrich (the editor) if he thinks there would be an interest. I am sure he would give you an honest opinion. The link is at the bottom of editorial page.

I would not include any political stuff I think, save that for the threads.

You could do an occasional article maybe to start if you feel like it, but not too long perhaps.

Websailor

OK Websailor! I'll drop Skankyrich a line and start thinking about a topic for an article, in the meantime!