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Blue cranes in the Overberg – Featured Blog

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Today’s posts from our featured Port Elizabeth Blogger:

Blue cranes in the Overberg by The Firefly Photo Files:

Road trip stories.  I have many. Why?  Because it’s a lot more exciting than just flying to your domestic destination.  So except for speed, what is the most exciting thing that could happen on an average flight? Chicken or Beef?

Road tripping to Cape Town with Shefetswe and Erenei, we were driving somewhere between Caledon and Bot River in the Overberg when my eye caught something in a field next to the road.  As I spotted it Shefetswe remarked, “Wow! Check the Blue Cranes.” Well, I don’t know which came first but I slammed on the brakes and shouted hold on… or shouted hold on and slammed on the breaks.  Shefetswe did remark afterwards that he just saw the gravel next to the road approach quickly.  I don’t know what he was on about.  There was no skidding wheels and I had everything under control.   

The slight whiplash was well worth the sighting though.  About 100 Blue Cranes together in the field. Not something you get to see every day from where we come from.   

 
Why was this sighting to special for us?  The Blue Crane is South Africa’s National Bird and is a threatened specie that is classified as Vulnerable.  This took place in September which is normally a time when flocks have broken up and breeding pairs dominate the choice areas.  This means that in Spring and Summer you normally see pairs or pairs with youngsters in open fields.  The flocks that remain together move to the fringes of the breeding areas and it must have been a flock like that which we saw..

Read more here: The Firefly Photo Files

Overberg landscape by The Firefly Photo Files:

The Overberg landscape changes with the seasons with the best time to travel through the area being August and September.  That is when you will find green grain fields with wheat, oats and barley, interspersed by yellow canola fields, in splendorous full bloom.

Read more here: The Firefly Photo Files

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.