gazelle teenage outing, chameleon, dragonfly.

Thurs: August 23rd

Warm and quite humid, (I didn't get around to getting the figures from the station on time)

On our usual late afternoon walk.. gazelles: 5 altogether today.. 2 in a glade toward east end of the orchard, moved to far end when we arrived - 1 hornless and short horned, probably the same mom and young we've been seeing a lot around there..young sproinged off toward the east. Fresh gazelle gazelle spoor right on the dry creek trail by the orchard. (easy to recognize, looks like a pile of almost black peas)

Then around 7 pm to our delight looked like teenage gazelle outing.. three young gazelle in the middle of the pinewood just to south of central trail and to west of dry creek in a burnt ground glade.. leader, young male, short horns, followed by hornless, followed by one with shorter horns. Interesting because we haven't seen them in that section before.

Reptiles: a beautiful camouflaged chameleon in dried spent thistles by pumping station. His eyes were busy moving out of synch with each other in their peculiar fascinating way, often swiveling backwards to peer at us. Very alien and curious they are. This one was showing a moth like tapestry of brownish grey and offwhite, repeating intricate bars and perfect for camouflage at the base of thistle stems.. if it hadn't been loping along like a miniature camel we would have missed it entirely. As it is, I'm sure we do overlook chameleons all the time. They are quite common here and occasionally seen in the garden. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera with and I've been searching the net for an image I can use which resembles it at all. Chameleons we've seen can range in colour between very pale sand to almost black with a wide range of greys, browns and greens in between. There are about half a dozen rough vertical bands down the length of their bodies (with more and more narrowly spaced along the tail) These bands can be made more or less visible and contrasting at will and in a variety of different colour permutations.

Agama lizard on pine trunk, quite still.

reddish dragonfly in vegetation along valley road by turn south.. plenty mosqutoes for them.. there has been a leak from the buildings and a mini marsh formed by the valley road in last few weeks. We call it the bog of eternal stench and hurry past. Cicadas too today.

Hoopoes 2 or same.. one foraging on the ground on trail by orchard, one in eucalyptus branch in that grove

House sparrows: bauhinia, around houses as usual

Senegal doves: street, houses

Hooded crows: calls.. around small flock from hizmeh, bangs

Jackdaws: calls.. and small flock from hizmeh both fanning west in alarm

Jays, feral pigeons, greenfinches : as in past few weeks

Collared doves: pomegranate tree and around

Stone curlews: calls from north valley

Sunbirds: calls from eucalyptus grove, song and calls in bauhinia as usual, the young male again I think

Syrian woodpeckers: calls, quite active and visible.

Bulbuls: calls garden. Some song in the Bauhinia at about 7.30 p.m.

Great tits: calls?

Great spotted cuckoos, Turtle doves, Bee-eaters, blackbirds, chukars, graceful warblers, not seen or heard

Wheatears, not sure, calls? None seen.

It's Friday 24th as I write.. I've been hearing the bulbul family in the garden, calls from the sunbird in the Bauhinia and a senegal dove cooing in there earlier.