Not what you will expect to see, as something also happened.
Look carefully at the photo above, and tell me if you can see a big bird in the tree?
I said somewhere else that one should be aware of first impressions, and in this case, the tree in the photos just looks like an old dead tree, but that it is definitely not. For one thing, the tree is a late bloomer, and in a month or so, it will have green leaves. In the meantime, there is also birdlife in the tree, as it makes a great vantage point from which the birds can scout their territories. So, come and see.
Can you see the bird now? He was squawking to let the bird world know that he is the owner of this territory.
Yeah, it is a Pied Crow (Corvus albus).
I waited for the crow to take off.
Take off he did, and he came close to me in order to see what I was doing in his territory.
We are also mad enough to hug trees :)
The trees are the sentinels of nature, and they open their arms to embrace many birds during the nesting season. I had a sad discussion recently with a Hive member about our loss of all the old Oak trees. All to do with an invasive beetle called the Borer Beetle.
I cannot explain to you how beautiful the road looks with old oak trees on both sides. And after all of the oaks were cut down, the road looked sterile and strange. But then again, oaks are not indigenous to South Africa, as they were imported from the UK and other countries a long time ago.
So, here below is a small collection of my tree shots.
Many of the trees, shrubs, and succulents here are not indigenous to South Africa. But in saying this, many South African trees are also beautiful. Why I am saying this, is that it depends on what type of wood was required for furniture, construction, paper, and other uses. So, instead of importing the wood, saplings of the required wood were sourced internationally and planted to form forests.
Lately the forests are now being taken down, as it is cheaper to just import the finished products. In the old days, everything was done by hand, and now in the modern days factories are closed, as they are not needed anymore. Teams are, nowadays, formed to remove invasive trees, as they are thirsty and we are in a water scarce country. And so, it is a complete turnaround from the old to the new way of doing things. Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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