in fiecks of horizontal dots of cattle shit a little vortex of feathers…-chestnut bellied sandgrouse, colours only slightly heightened… peach on breast, orange on pigeon head… earth in body…(back)spoon tips in umber earth, inflections of earth colours, subtly shifted.

On the plain three stand out charismatic species, the chestnut bellied sandgrouse and the 2 spp. of courser.
Variants on sandy coloration… from the orange sand as freshly dug by ants to the bleached straw of the grass… umber dung…. raised patches of ground make very low conical mound blown clean to plaster… same colour as the breast of the sandgrouse…. around the scapular spotting is the loden dung colour… with the spots themselves fine spun gold… think the leading (lower edge of the folded wing was the same colour….) so as if seeing through the bird to the soil below.
Species of plant – balanites with big fleshy alternating spines… creating a cage of thorns.. between the thorns little opposite mistletoe type leaves…. all a dirty olive green. bulbous swellings on some of the spines. ants cluster in places. Below the tree on the sand – chequered metallic beetle wing casings… or rather the whole body with the head missing… maybe the work of the shrikes. Both southern grey and woodchat.
lots of wheatears seemingly benefitting from the cattle dung that is liberally scattered over the flat plain. dark brown (dung brown)elongated backs… pointer expression… broad pale supercilium…. apricot chest…
a couple of tawny pipits.
2 hoopoes with rich dark orange… cadmium red… plus burnt sienna… expanding to broad zebra moth wings… easy breathing flared flight.
Women carrying small beach buckets on their heads…. flowing robes.
flat top carts with cross legged drivers…one leg draped over edge… whip or branch in hand to goad the donkey or pony doing the pulling… the horse has a breast band attached to the poles leading back to the cart.
zebu cattle stately procession… milky off white…docile placid (bovine) expression