aby

Bill H
(i didn't want to hijack the other thread so opened this one)
I've enjoined your photos !
what a lucky tour with Serval + Honey Badger + Wild Cat !!

I'm seldom jealous, but this time i was at that rather 'tame' Serval who allowed you such photos; especially with the "kill"...
it's a pity your Badger was a bit dark on the dorsal side; many individuals are really 'Black % White'... but how can one complain when seeing & photographing the Ratel ?!

50 Bat-eared Foxes??
tell me about it: since they are monogamous did you meet a few biG families with cubs?
{According to certain models & my experience in the Mara they seemed to be getting scarcer with the years; maybe in correlation with population changes of bigger predator- coarse-grass-larger grazers (& maybe climate change?)

Are you the bird spotter or you are picking the local guides by their birding knowledge?

thanks

aby

PS let the Godess of luck try to equal (or better) you next safaris

atravelynn

50 Bat eared foxes? Was it a convention? Bill and Carolyn always have great photos. If the ones referred to are recent, can you include the link?

Percy

atravelynn:

You probably already have their website for their trip to Tanzania in January 2006, April 2006 and January 2007 .

Percy

aby

Lynn Dear

you probably know those links
(i have this talent of skipping important niches within this forum)

i quote Bill from another thread:
<i>&quot;Hi aby, here are illustrated trip write-ups ...
http://www.hiltonphotography.net/africa/

Just started a Pbase account where I'll put up some Africa shots by topic, like &quot;Serengeti Lions&quot; or &quot;Tanzania Birds&quot;, not organized by trip ... half the lions are up at

http://www.pbase.com/hilton_photography &quot; <i>

aby

</i></i>

aby

<i>
&quot;Bat-eared fox pups ... we saw over 50 bat-eared foxes on this trip.&quot; </i>
http://www.hiltonphotography.net/afr...ia/ndutu-8.htm

Bill_H

Hi aby,

I posted the link for you but since you said you had taken over 30 safaris and rarely bothered using your camera any more I thought you might be too jaded to like our photos ... I guess the serval won you over?

<b>50 Bat-eared Foxes??
tell me about it: ... did you meet a few biG families with cubs?</b>

In the dry year (Jan 2006) we saw three dens with 2-4 kits plus one with 4 kits and 2 adults, maybe a dozen all told.

On the 'ideal-conditions' trip (Jan 2007) we saw 1-3 dens every day and once saw five dens in a day. Almost every den had four curious kits milling around the entrance and we saw a couple of adults running about ... saw one narrowly escape a jackal that clearly wanted to kill him ... so 50 was just a guess but probably low. No big families, just a lot of dens with four pups in each. They probably were born synchronously with the Nov or Dec rains?

On the April '06 rainy season trip we didn't see any foxes. The grass was higher and we went to different places in Serengeti.

<b>they seemed to be getting scarcer with the years</b>

We have never seen a fox at Tarangire or at Lake Manyara or in Ngorongoro Crater or in the central Serengeti. All our sightings were in the south Serengeti area near Ndutu where the grass is lower and there are fewer year-round predators because it's so dry much of the year. So it seems that area is optimal for them.

<b>Are you the bird spotter or you are picking the local guides by their birding knowledge?</b>

We don't specifically target birds, except for staying 2 nights at Manyara and doing four game drives there ... otherwise we just cruise like every one else, but we do look carefully ahead for birds and get the driver to slow down and then stop at the right spot so we can shoot quickly. We have the gear on top of the jeep so we don't scare them off shuffling a long lens to the roof and often it seems like you have about 10 seconds to line it up or they get nervous and fly off ...

I think all the guides at Roys get training on bird ID in the off seasons and they seemed to know all the bird species well. We are going to Kenya next trip and paid a bit extra to get a &quot;Silver Level&quot; guide with birding expertise (I think there are only 80-90 'Silver' guides in Kenya) and staying an extra night at Lake Baringo to try for fish eagles, but otherwise are looking for lions killing buffalo etc (in the Mara) like everyone else.

We are putting the Tz bird pics up separately on Pbase now, still in progress but some are at http://www.pbase.com/hilton_photography/birds_tz

Thanks for the kind words!

Bill

atravelynn

The bat eared fox and the flowers was lovely. He had to be one of the more photogenic of the 50.