Painted Lady feeding on a nodding thistle on the farm. The Walsingham Farm, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa (2024). Formerly known as Acraea acara subsp. acara but revised by Williams & Henning (2023). Male and female. Upperside. Ground-colour reddish-ochreous, basal areas olivescent-ochreous-brown. Cilia black, alternated with white. Forewing with an outwardly-oblique black irregular-shaped broken… Continue reading Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Tag: farm
African sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)
African sacred ibis visiting a dam on the farm. The Walsingham Farm, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa (2024). Adult with all-white body plumage, apart from dark plumes on the rump. Bald head and neck, thick curved bill and legs black. Wings white, showing a black rear border in flight. Eyes brown with a dark… Continue reading African sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)
Cape glossy starling (Lamprotornis nitens)
Cape glossy starling perched on the rails of a cattle kraal. The Walsingham Farm, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa (2024). A fairly large, short-tailed, uniformly glossy starling. Green head, with bright orange-yellow eyes but without darker ear coverts. Reddish-bronze shoulder patch, and glossy green belly and flanks. Larger than the arboreal black-bellied starling (Notopholia… Continue reading Cape glossy starling (Lamprotornis nitens)
Fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis)
African drongo hanging on a tree branch, close to the farm house. The Walsingham Farm, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024). Black body with a blue-green iridescence in specific regions. Underside and belly uniformly black, contrasting with the glossy black-blue upper body. Robust black beak. Red eyes. Deeply forked lengthy tail. Males and females alike, with… Continue reading Fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis)
Common ghost mantis (Phyllocrania paradoxa)
Male leaf mantid attempting to remain motionless to blend with its surroundings. The Walsingham Farm, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024). Large mantid that mimics dead leaves. Head has a long, erected, wavy dorsal projection. Legs are ornamented with prominent leaf-like lobes.Males are slender and mottled brown with dark shoulders and a darker cross on their… Continue reading Common ghost mantis (Phyllocrania paradoxa)
Cape terrapin (Pelomedusa galeata)
Cape terrapin found on the side of a dirt road. The Walsingham Farm, Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024). Large-sized, often dark-coloured helmeted terrapin. Pectoral scutes always with broad or very broad contact at the plastral midseam. Either two small temporal scales present on each side of the head, or one large undivided temporal scale. Two… Continue reading Cape terrapin (Pelomedusa galeata)
Black-headed heron (Ardea melanocephala)
Juvenile black-headed heron, lacking the black crown yet, but showing the characteristic dark ear coverts. Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024) - iNaturalist A large, greyish heron of terrestrial habitats. Slightly smaller than the grey heron, with contrasting dark flight feathers and pule underwing coverts in flight. Black crown and hindneck contrast with white throat. Underparts… Continue reading Black-headed heron (Ardea melanocephala)
