magrietb's Favorites

Geitjie kaping! & New family member(s).
Found on a car in a large, paved parking lot.
Then she escaped from the large holding container and disappeared in my car.
Seen >24hrs later. Stress or likes my car - delivered 2 eggs between head rest and back seat. Ma Geitjie released into the garden.
Now? Where to with those eggs!
Aaaawww

4 plants seen, smaller in size than a AAA battery. the population is under serious threat from habitat loss, disturbance, and invasive aliens. haven't had luck finding this orchid flowering from three previous search attempts - they don't flower readily.

This is the Outramps CREW 100,000 obs and we celebrated it with Tilla who is the Head of the Threatened Plants Programme and the CREW Programme. It represents our involvement with plant monitoring from 1992 to 2021. It has been a joyous ride. So thank you all for so many years of fun, laughs and learning. Keep going!

Houwhoek Merciera of another kind

In burnt veld less than a year old. Only saw this one plant of this species and am not sure how to go about identifying it beyond genus... Help, as always, very welcome.

This beautiful showy plant is the "Pride of Hermanus." Erect, semi-spreading shrublet up to 60cm. Leaves stiff, down-curved in 4's. Flowers in umbels, purplish-pink, corolla long with white frilly bib. Very sticky corolla, however the the bib is not sticky. This I am told is to allow the pollinator to enter.

Lifer
20mm
two of them found in the same gully, 5metres apart.
Better pics here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/28822353
Gif of it shooting its slime in the typical spiral. normal speed and then slowed down

Brutally efficient

Assume it's "L5's" father - adult bird, no apparent rings (both L5 and her huge mother are ringed).
See the unfortunate Bushbuck here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/28981153
Picture credit: Stanley, via Mary McKenzie

Porseleinberg kitten

I must have seen a hundred or more burrows in three small sites on this day. We finally managed to entice one inhabitant out by tickling her tonsils with a blade of grass, it felt just like playing with a kitten as she grabbed hold of the grass and pawed in our direction. I've never been patient enough to get a burrowing spider out in the open but not even vynbos's terrified squeals could perturb this one.

Is it a fish? Is it a slug? Is it a fishy anemone? I do not have a clue what this is!

It is about 30mm long and there were a few of them in the sand - outgoing tide nearly on the turn. Most were buried and only the "fan fin" was showing.

Resting on the wet sand, when the sand collapsed it arched it's face upwards (2nd and third photos) and seem to spawn capsule from somewhere - there are 2 floating in the 4th pic.

Totally hypnotic, by the time my sister-in-law and I carried on the brother had walked 2kms away from us!

A scrappy expanse of silky refuges and capture webs littered with body parts of previous victims. When preferred prey is entangled, the female spiders emerge from their 'nests' and overpower it by grabbing its extremities. In this case, a wasp https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319446.
Presumably they inject venom because after a minute or so the prey stops struggling. Then they snip it out of the web and carry it into one of several 'nests' or refuges.
Unwanted prey, often beetles (see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319435 ) are also killed but sometimes left in the web, uneaten. Ants, in this case, Maranoplus ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319390 )scavenge around the periphery of the webs, feasting on unwanted beetles or other left-overs.

CRG: 150

A very rare and a very special sight. I will give rearing it a bash.

Chrysalis: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21991269

Butterfly: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/22649191

Kleinmond swamp monster shows its true colour at last

Creepy succulent appears to favour the more puddly parts of sandy, peaty, marshy reserve on the rocks between Palmiet neighbourhood and its beach. First noticed on 2013's great Erepsia Quest with Prix and Stevo, but I could never find more than a few clusters of densely creepy leaves until now. The same creepy leaves have also been spotted further inland next to a sandy footpath that often gets briefly flooded in winter, I'm curious to see if they are flowering too.

Redlisted as Vulnerable, Data Deficient. Part of Kleinmond's protected coastal reserve.

Kleinmond yellow pea

Fields of these came up thick and fast after 2015's controlled fire. 100's of plants, maybe 1000's, flowered and seeded extremely well. If my ID is correct then it is Vulnerable, and this is a range extension judging by the Red List's distribution. Threats might include alien invasives, although these guys outgrew everything else after the fire. In protected municipal reserve area so hopefully urban expansion not a threat here.

Cape Dune Mole-rat

I didn't realise how large they were, or at least this one was big, the size of a dassie. I saw it strolling along and followed it. It turned and came right at me. Although they have eyes, this one seemed blind, and couldn't see me. He then took a leisurely dig into an existing sand heap, and sped up a bit when I made some noises.
You can see the full video here.