A rare wrong turn that was rewarded.

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At times we get things wrong, and then the unexpected happens.
It was a hot and windy day as we left our house.
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We were on our way to attend a Christmas lunch and I took a wrong turn, as instead of taking a right turn, I turned left. So at the end of the road, I had to turn the car around, in order to follow the road the other way. It was during the reverse of the car, that my wife spotted some movement behind the car. She said that she thinks it is a bird, so my camera screamed to see.
Come and see what was behind the car.

I stopped and had to make an awkward turn of my body to see what it was and there they were on the sidewalk of the road.
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A Cape Spurfowl (Pternistis capensis) and her babies.
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Not every day that one can see them with their babies on show and it is so amazing to see how these wild birds have infiltrated the town's suburbs. There were 3 babies, and you can see the third one at the right of the picture.
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And so, I saw this as a great reward for taking the wrong turn.
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We finally arrived at our lunch destination.
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On our way back home, I decided to take a bit of a longer scenic route.
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The clouds had taken on a lovely yellow tint as we arrived back home.
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Just another day in paradise, as the saying goes, and I was so glad to get the spurfowl and her babies on camera. We had a great lunch, but in the back of my mind all the time was the fact that so many had nothing to eat for a Christmas lunch.
55 ,000 of our state officials cling to their salaries of more that ZAR 1 million per year, and the government grant to the unemployed 8.5 million people is only ZAR 350 per month. This was said recently by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.

So, I am sure that you can see that I was not much in a happy feasting frame of mind, and thankfully the lunch was very peaceful at my wife's aunt's place. This that was said in paragraph above is one of the reasons why we so often flee into nature. And on this Christmas day, nature came to us, by means of the spur fowls.
Such is life.

I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures.

Photo by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting this post.

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31 comments
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That's a cool find. On a couple of trips out over Xmas we have seen some small deer by the road, but I didn't get to take photos.

Wishing you the best for 2024.

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Thank you. That's the time that if I were to see the deer, I would simply stop at the side of the road and slam the hazard lights on to take photos.
Must be a wonderful sight.

Thank you and a !BEER for your New Year. (I think it rhymes)

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Cape Spurfowl out in the open most unusual sighting, only ever seen one Natal Spurfowl when my niece arrived with the bird having been injured, delivered to CROW over twenty years ago.

Wrong path might have been meant to be followed, special outing to take sting out the tale. Voted out oligarchy type of government to inherit different form in Cadre deployment, much the same all over again!

2024 must be the year to vote for change!

@tipu curate

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I have now seen them a few times over here, and this time with the babies were very special.
That's why I called it a reward, as it certainly calmed matters down inside my head.
Beware about the change that so many are talking about. 55000 officials will put up a big fight in order to keep their 1 million rand annual salaries. So we can expect some tricks again.

!PIZZA !LOLZ !LUV

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Little ones very special seeing them out with Mum, a special surprise as you said.

Killing fields in KZN have already started, sad to see some trying to make change being slaughtered in, or near their homes.

Stay safe is about the best one can do!

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Oh yes, not often seen.

So sad to read about all of the political assassinations, and it is high time that an end be put to all of it. But I know that it will be an if only and remain like such.

The wise way!

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Tribal lines need to be in history books, village InDuna removed from system if a Democracy.

To be South African all need to keep culture, creed within the home, not ashamed but no difference within community standing.

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Never! As they are being coddled for votes.

A nice dream, but in reality an almost impossibility.

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A yellow cloud in a blue sky looks very impressive. Cool!

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The wrong path might not be wrong anyway since, at the end of the road, you encounter a rare thing—a cape spurfowl. The sky looks beautiful, with a blue sky and a touch of yellow clouds.

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Oh yes, it was meant for me to get the reward at the end of the road. Glad that you liked the sky with the yellow sunset clouds.

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Haha! I guess your taking the wrong turn was for you to see the birds. The wrong path sometimes draws us to something beautiful. I enjoyed watching them and they have very unique feathers

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In this country, the wrong path can also land a person in a heap of trouble, so that's why I saw this occasion as a reward. The birds are supposed to be out in the wild, and rarely seen.

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They must have escaped from some house, it reminded me of the guinea fowl in the countryside, you dont see those in the city, I used to see them with their young but they don't like to have much of an audience, although I think they can be some what domesticated

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We are in a countryside town and the birds breed on the farms. So there are many Guinea fowls walking around in the roads here. I have posted them a few times. The Spur Fowls breed in the bushes on the farms, and they are rarer to be seen than all of the other birds.
Guinea fowls can indeed be domesticated, but they lose their colors in captivity.

!BEER

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Your photos are stunning!! The unexpected moments that you capture it turn out to be the most best shot. Ahhhhh Nature truly has a way of suprising us when we least expect it. Your true that nature is being an escape especially with this issue happen in our world.

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Thank you, and yes, nature can surprise us many times with the unexpected. I find it very relaxing in nature, as it is a great healer.
!WINEX

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