A wild bird story.

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We have plenty of Guinea Fowls here in the Western Cape of South Africa, and I asked this guy for permission to take photos of the family.
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As a child on a farm long ago, we used to trap guinea fowls for food. My aunt could make a wonderful plate of food with guinea fowl, rice and baked potatoes. There were huge flocks of them after harvesting in the peanut lands, and our method was to make the trap nooses with the long hairs of a horse's end tail brush. That was a very long time ago, and thankfully matters in my life changed drastically over time. So much so that I am now a guinea fowl lover, instead of a hunter :)

Of course, we were out in nature on a farm.
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And then there were 4 youngsters.
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The guy looked at me and I quickly turned away to take the mountain shot in the photo below this one.
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I watched him and all was well, as they were scratching the ground for food again.
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And now look, as there were now 5 youngsters.
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Suddenly the count jumped to 7 youngsters.
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Guinea fowls on average have 12-13 babies and if all of these survived, there would have been 14 youngsters.
But this guy in the photo below is one of the main predators. It is the feared Harrier Hawk flying over high up to scout for babies. Then there are also the Peregrine Falcons, the Buzzards and the Eagles to watch out for.
But the wisdom of the Guinea Fowls has also increased and now they hide the youngsters in the bushes under big trees. The only problem in this case is then the house cats.
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And finally, here below you can see the whole family.
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Life is life and we all learn how to escape from attackers. In my own life, I have also had many close calls, especially as a teenager from my mom's "boyfriends". When she was not around, they showed me their true colors, and I knew that they were only after having a good time with my mom. She was a very attractive woman, but with a broken wing resulting from the trauma of her divorce from a very violent man. The predators are not only in nature, as they are also very much alive among us humans.
Such is life.

I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting this post.

photographylovers photography wildbirds youngsters nature proofofbrain vyb neoxian featheredfriends silverbloggers
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27 comments
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Your content has been manually curated by sagarkothari88
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Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️

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Thank you kindly!

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@papilloncharity you're most welcome

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Yeah, I've definitely enjoyed watching the pretty guinea fowl and its family. I'm glad you looked away to snap something else cause it was definitely looking dead at you. Lol

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Great that you enjoyed it, and yes, he gave me that death stare, but fortunately I knew what to do. !LOL

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What cool birds! Great shots you go as well! In the US we sure don't have any of those!

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Thank you! Fortunately, I know the birds and their habits well, as many of them are all over here.
Nope, I don't know if you guys have any as they are residents of Africa. !LOL

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Here in Panama they are very rare, from time to time I go running to a park close to my apartment where there are a few wild ones, no clue who took them there because its in the middle of the city and I had clue the could actually fly until I saw one getting to a three branch about 10 feet high but there are just a few not sure why since they dont have any predators on that park neither they are common here, they are funny looking and have this particular sound, very different than regular chickens

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Maybe someone smuggled them in from South Africa and oh yes, they can fly. They normally sleep in the high trees at night, but during the day, when they are scared of a predator, they will also fly up into the trees. On the farm we saw virtual clouds of them flying in to come and eat in the peanut lands.

!BEER

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So true, predators are everywhere, as humans we have to be mindful of such around us.
This was an amazing view, you actually didn't want some trouble when that little guy was looking at you😀 you have to look away...

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Wolves in sheepskins to fool their prey.
Nope they are not aggressive, but that guy can shout so load that you could hear him from miles away.

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It's just like that, life is not so easy for everyone, now the way we see that these birds have also been attacked, they will have to be saved from all these attacks, only then will they be able to live a good life. That when something attacks, its life ends and then there is a lot of regret. It is better that man keeps his birds and his animals under his protection.

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Nature controls the bird populations and that's why the guinea fowls have many babies. It is a food supply for the predator birds and their babies. So, it is best not to interfere with nature's natural systems. If we were to protect all of the guinea fowl babies, then the predator birds will have no food to eat. That is the way of life in nature.
!BEER

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