October 5, HOT, HOT, HOT!

I don't know that we've ever birded in 110* heat before, but that's what we did today.  Because visitors to Krueger are only allowed out of their cars in a few places, we spent a good share of the day touring the southeast corner of the park in the air conditioned comfort of the van.  We did several walks at the "camps" though where there are cottages, restaurants, and very nice grounds for walking around and birding.  My target mammal for the trip was a leopard, which we observed napping this afternoon  in a concrete pipe in an area where the park is doing road repairs - not quite how I envisioned seeing my first wild leopard!  We also saw our first giraffes and elephants of the trip and a huge group of a hundred or more  Cape Buffalo.  We've also seen 9 other species of antelope-type mammals.  AND we added about 40 new species of birds to our list today.  Tom and Steve did some late afternoon birding with Brenden around the grounds where we're staying, while Priscilla and I took a dip in the pool to cool our body cores down - very refreshing!  We're going on a night drive with the park service from 8:00 - 10:00 tonight, which should produce some new interesting sightings.  Will report tomorrow!  Photos are of a Klipspringer, a Purple-crested Turaco, a Scarlet-chested Sunbird, and a zebra.