Daily Archives: September 20, 2022
Wildlife edition: The placid side of Hippos
This is a more typical “action” shot of Hippocampus. The youngster here is yawning. A frequent behavior and often photographed as it is about as much action as you are likely to see in a bloat of hippos at mid-day. When an adult does it, with the full grown tusks, it is, of course, much more impressive. 🙂 Again, these hippos will send the daylight hours hiding from the sun in the shallows, kneeling on the bottom to keep as much of their skin underwater as possible, and taking frequent dips to completely submerge. This bloat (or school, or pod) was along the shores of the Victoria Nile between its junction with the Albert and Murchison Falls in Murchison Falls National Park…taken from the tour boat to the base of the falls. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Shorebirds on the Nile
Spur-winged and Black-headed Lapwings, and African Jacana: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — There is a rest stop on the game drive trails of Murchison Falls National Park (complete with toilets) on the banks of the Victoria Nile, just above where it joins the Albert Nile at the head of Lake Albert. It is called, variously, the Delta or the Hippo Pools area, and it is a good place for shorebirds (as well as hippos, as the name suggests). Three that posed nicely for us were the Spur-winged Lapwing and the African Jacana (which we had already seen in the marshes at Mabamba, though not on the shore) and the Black-headed Lapwing (which was new at that point for us). Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.