Second try posting this image. Loaded the wrong version initially.
This Village Weaver was very busy building his nest in the November rains of 2023 in Nyerere National Park in Tanzania. Village Weavers are colonial breeders, so many nests typically hang from one tree. This particular tree was at the edge of a cliff by a small lake full of hippopotamus, and had over 100 nests hanging from the branches. The noisy birds build coarsely woven nests made of grass and leaf strips with a downward-facing entrance. The rains had provided for plenty of new grass to use as weaving material.
I took the image with a Canon EOS R6 with a Canon 200-400 F4L IS USM 1.4 EXT lens, f5.6, ISO 1600, 1/2000 sec, 560 mm, handheld.
(Second try posting this comment - by the time I was done composing the first image was removed...got to laugh)
Thanks Robert for posting images from your African Adventures. I get to live vicariously through your journeys and the images you share with us. Africa is so far down the list of places we would like to see, I may never get there. I do enjoy your stories as well.
Plus a big thanks for including camera, lenses and settings you use on your images. It gets my mind to think about the choices you've made and how to incorporate those decisions into my own photography...which I think helps me to learn and become a better photographer.
Hi Frank,
Many thanks! I really appreciate the comment!
I got very lucky with regards to my company having a division in Johannesburg. My first trips to Africa were focused on business. But once you get there and encounter the wildlife, you'll be hooked!
But judging from your photos, you live in one of the great places in the world for wildlife and landscape photography.
We lived in Santa Barbara back in the 1970s when I worked for the UCSB Marine Lab. We had environmental and research projects all along the California coast from San Diego to Moss Landing. When I see one of your pictures from the Pismo Beach or Point Conception area, I remember how much I miss living next to the Pacific Coast.
It also reminds me I have a couple thousand 35 mm slides from the California Coast from the 70s and 80s that I still need to scan.
Best regards,
Bob Henderson