Local flora & fauna (pt. 3 of 2)

So, it's been a while since I wrote a post, but Al has been taking up the slack.  This post is part 3 of a two-part thing.  By that I mean I want to not have everything I post on here be a mishmash of odd zoological and botanical generalizations based on the limited slice of the ecosystem I encounter in my daily commute and on weekends.

But there are so many of those that I cannot contain them.

Case in point: the other day I saw a bird clap.  Clap.  With its wings.  As if they were hands.  In flight.  It was at the bottom of its wingbeat, the tips of the feathers slapped together twice.  And I instantly recognized the sound as a thing I hear almost daily on my morning walk to school, and never thought twice about.  Because birds don't clap.  Except that they do.

Based on some 15 minutes on google, this is either a completely undocumented behaviour, or a mundane thing that pigeons do.  What I saw clapping was significantly larger than any pigeon, though.  If I can get a picture, or justify this improper questionable use of the phonetics lab equipment, it will go up here.  Or be published in Folia Ornithologae.

Here are some other fauna-related highlights from our trip to Port Alfred weekend before this one.

1) Snails. Quick ones.  The first three pictures were taken in a span of like 4 seconds.  These snails are lightning-fast.  And also really intensely colorful.  

2) Weavers.  These are bright yellow little birds that make really cool nests.  And they make them inside the mall, in droves.  Every tree in the mall at Port Alfred looks like this:

Also, everyone needs to go to Port Alfred, because look:

That's not even the beach.  That's a random parking lot at the mall.  Puts Menlo Park to shame...

Some of those were taken from the pier.  Sally saw one and figured that out, and informed me that we had done a tremendously stupid thing, because apparently huge waves frequently come out of nowhere and push people off.  Onto these:

Ouch.  Sure is pretty, though...

Next post, no more flora and fauna, unless there is a sudden bigfoot epidemic or it starts raining spiders or something notable like that. 

Plans for this week:
-get internet installed at home (tomorrow, finally)
-buy a car?  (Having never done this, I have literally no sense of how long it takes to achieve.)
-I'm giving a talk tomorrow, my first one as a Rhodes person.  Should be fun.  If you like Obolo nasal harmony, that is.  Otherwise, hit or miss.
-Al is applying for an Indian visa. 

Everything is still tremendously exciting!  More news soon.