Description
The Green-backed Heron belongs to the family of birds classified as Ardeidae. According to the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology it is also known by these other names: Green Heron, Striated Heron and Little Green Heron. It is neither endemic or near endemic to the Kruger National Park. It is however a common resident. The height of the bird is about 41cms and its weight is about 215grams. The male and female have the same plumage and colours. The head is black, eye is yellow, and bill is black. The throat is white; the back is black and grey. It has a spear-like bill that is yellow at the base and brownish-black at the tip. Chin, throat and upper breast are white with blackish stripes. It has yellow legs and feet. The male's legs turn orange when breeding. The bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Feeding Habits
Green-backed herons feed mostly on small fish, amphibians, crustaceans and aquatic insects. When hunting for food, a green-backed heron stands at the edge of the water with its neck folded back on its shoulders. It then quickly lunges for prey with its spear-like bill. Green-backed herons will also drop twigs or leaves into the water to attract fish to the surface.

Breeding Habitat and Nesting Habits
It is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying it will seek out a new mate. They are considered semi-colonial because they create nests both solitarily and with other herons and egrets. They nest in shrubs and small trees or sometimes create a nest on water. They usually begin arriving at their breeding areas in early April. During courtship, the male heron extends his neck feathers and swells his throat in a sharp call, then hops from one foot to the other in front of a female. The female heron lays clutches of three to six eggs twice per year which is blue-green in colour. Both parents incubate the eggs for about 23 days. Newly hatched stay in the nest until they are able to fly. Fledging occurs at about 30 days, and most birds depart the breeding colonies from mid-July through mid-October. Immature green-backed herons are brown above with brown and white streaks below.

The preferred habitats for Green-backed Heron are woodlands. They also live along lakes, ponds and wooded streams. You will normally see them by themselves rather than in the company of birds of the same species.

Interesting facts
When alarmed, a green-backed heron may stretch its neck, raise its crest and jerk its tail. It will also call a piercing skew. In flight, green-backed herons hold their neck in an S-shaped position. 

Words and photo by Anna Eksteen, click here to see more photos on her TrekNature page.

For the latest on happenings in Zimbabwe, go to:  http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/  and subscribe to their newsletter, a really good source of current information

Cathy Buckle has started writing again from Zimbabwe, her letter is below.

Here is Cathy's letter:

Dear Family and Friends,

When businessman Temba Mliswa was arrested and charged a couple of weeks ago for allegedly seizing shares worth US$1 million in a local company, our eyebrows went up. Having been right up there at the top of the indigenous empowerment actors, Mliswa had obviously stepped on someone's toes. Was this the beginning of something big, we wondered, could it really be possible that Zanu PF were going to bring down one of their own? A big fuss ensued as one of the others accused in the case was Martin Mutasa, the son of Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa. Newly appointed MDC co Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makoni went to the aid of Minister Mutasa and that caused even more of a stir and the worms have continued pouring out of the can ever since.

Moments after being released on bail, Mliswa was arrested again; more charges had been raised and he was taken back into custody. This time the charges related to farms and involve generators, tractors, bulldozers, trucks and cattle. Was someone finally going to be held to account for the decade long looting of assets, livestock and equipment from commercial farms we wondered?

At the he earliest opportunity, Mliswa started squealing. In the brand new independent daily paper, Newsday, came the tantalizing headlines: 'Mliswa spills the beans... implicates Chihuri, Chiwenga.'
The former being Zimbabwe's Commissioner of Police, the latter being the wife of the commander of the Defence Forces.

The next day NewsDay's front page was even juicier: "Chihuri threatens Temba Mliswa."

At the time of writing there are apparently more than 70 charges hanging over Mliswa's head and possibly more to come.

The real question is whether the sudden rash of charges against Temba Mliswa is a serious case of police investigation into the looting of farms or if dirty politics is really behind this matter.

The most famous, or infamous statement used by the police for not investigating incidents and reports from farmers for the last decade is :"it is political." Behind these three little words are hidden hundreds of thousands of reports from farmers. Reports that involve illegal entry, breaking and entry, theft, stock theft, malicious damage, abduction, extortion, beating, arson, rape, murder and many, many more.

Just one lawyer interviewed on SW Radio Africa said that he personally had over 600 cases relating to farms that have been pending for over five years.

Temba Mliswa is the tip of a gigantic antheap. An antheap that is festering underground, hot and humid and crammed with a seething mass of criminals, small, big and very big. Is their day finally coming?

Until next week, thanks for reading,

love cathy.

www.cathybuckle.com
. For information on my new book: "INNOCENT VICTIMS" or my previous
books, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears," or to
subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please write to: cbuckle@mango.zw
 

This South Africa - news headlines

Source: SouthAfrica.info
The all-in-one official guide
and web portal to South Africa.  
 

Recipe Requests

Looking for a specific South African recipe? Email me and I will do my best to find it for you! 
 

The Recipes

Asparagus and pea soup

Ingredients
400 g fresh green (young) asparagus spears
250 ml water
30 ml butter
10 ml sunflower oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large potato, peeled and diced
400 g frozen peas, defrosted
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
salt and milled black pepper to taste
250 ml thick cream
Method:
Cut off asparagus tips and set aside. Chop stalks coarsely. Bring water to boil and steam stalks for 3 to 4 minutes (see tips).
Set aside. Using same water, cook tips until tender (2 to 4 minutes, depending on thickness). Reserve water for soup. Heat
butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and sauté until glossy but not browned. Add potato and toss to coat with
butter mixture. Add reserved cooking liquor and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until potato is tender. Add peas, asparagus
stalks and a quarter of the tips. Add stock (use 2 cubes) and bring to boil, then reduce temperature and simmer for 10
minutes. Purée soup until smooth, then return to saucepan. Season with salt and pepper, reheat (but don't allow to boil)
and stir in cream and remaining asparagus tips. Serve in heated bowls, with crusty bread.

Bacon and bean soup
Preparation time: 15
Cooking time: 30
Ingredients
15 ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
150 g rindless bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic cloves, crushed
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
400 g tinned mixed beans, rinsed and drained
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
1 small Savoy cabbage (about 90g), thinly sliced
2 pinches salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 handful Italian parsley, chopped
Method:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a moderate temperature. Fry the onion and bacon for 3-4 minutes or until the
onion is soft and begins to colour.
2. Stir in the garlic, carrot and celery and stir-fry for another few minutes. Add the tomatoes, beans, stock and cabbage and
bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the soup (with the lid on) for about 20 minutes.
3. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir in the parsley and serve.

Bacon and cabbage soup
Ingredients
125 g streaky bacon (rind removed), chopped into small pieces
Pg No: 5
1 onion, finely chopped
15 ml olive oil
500 ml potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
1 head of cabbage, shredded
2 litre chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
lemon juice
TO SERVE
100 g Brie cheese
few extra rashers bacon, grilled
Method:
Fry the bacon in a saucepan until done. Remove from the pan and set aside. Fry the onions in the remaining fat until glossy.
Add the olive oil and stir-fry the potato cubes until glossy. Add stock and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer
until the potato cubes are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and a dash of lemon juice. Remove the rind of the
Brie and cut the cheese into 1 cm cubes. Place the cheese cubes in the bottom of soup bowls and ladle the hot soup on
top. Garnish with grilled bacon and the remaining cheese cubes and serve. Serves 6-8.

Beef Soup
Preparation time: 30
Cooking time: 150
Ingredients
3 medium carrots, peeled
2 large celery stalks
3 large leeks
3 bay leaves
500 g stewing beef pieces (with bones)
250 ml celery leaves, chopped
20 ml butter
100 ml semolina
10 potato fritters and ready-made apple sauce, to serve
Method:
1. Pour 2½ litres of water into a large saucepan. Roughly chop one carrot, one celery stalk and one leek and add to the
saucepan along with the beef and bay leaves. Cover the saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer
for 2 to 2½ hours until the meat comes off the bone easily.
2. Remove the vegetables and bay leaves and discard. Take out the meat and remove the bones. Cut the meat into smaller
pieces and place back into the stock in the saucepan.
3. Chop the rest of the vegetables and add to the soup, along with the celery leaves. Return to the boil, then reduce the
heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a frying pan. Add the semolina and fry over a medium heat, stirring until golden. Remove
from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add the semolina to the soup and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season well
with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve with potato fritters and apple sauce

Beef and barley soup
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 1hr 45 min
Ingredients
2 litre beef stock
Pg No: 6
400 g beef shin, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
400 g chopped tomatoes
250 ml pearl barley
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
45 ml freshly chopped parsley
4 crusty rolls to serve
Method:
Heat the stock in a large saucepan.
Add the beef and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 1 hour.
Add all the remaining ingredients, except the parsley and allow to simmer for a further 45 minutes.
Remove the meat from the soup and discard the bones.
Dice the meat and return to the soup.
Stir in the parsley and serve with crusty rolls.

Bean soup
Cooking time: +/- 4 hours
Ingredients
500 g sugar beans
25 ml butter
1 onion, finely chopped
250 g streaky bacon, rind removed, finely chopped
few pieces beef shin
65 ml fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
2 litre cold water
finely grated rind of lemon
45 ml fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method:
Soak the beans overnight or according to the quick soaking method (see Tips). Drain and rinse. Heat the butter in a large
saucepan and fry the onion until glossy. Add the bacon and stir-fry until done. Add the drained beans, shin, parsley, bay
leaf and cold water and simmer slowly for about four hours until both the beans and meat are tender. Mash the beans
slightly and season with lemon rind, more parsley, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve hot with vetkoek.
Serves 5.

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