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Yep, definitely composite — but also NOT stars. “Pattern” is nothing like actual night sky, north or south hemisphere constellations, at any exposure length, nor is the distribution of brightnesses. Some are smeared or clumped.
So it’s either as Ted said precipitation, or more likely in my opinion, just somebody spattering image (rather artlessly) with random white spots to simulate stars.
I believe these are not stars, but in fact hail, or another weather condition, because you can see some particle being in a much closer field of view and not in focus. I believe you can also spot circles on the water. It would also be impossible to see that many stars soon after sunset (as indicated by the glow over the horizon).
This photo appears to be a composite image. The stars seem to be a separate photograph overlaid onto the swamp-at-dusk photo. Notice there are no stars in the sky’s reflection on the water. I have seen other images in the Windows and Bing rotations that looked like they were made this way. They usually are done more skillfully than this one. Although they are nice enough to look at, after the initial little “wow” moment I find myself feeling a bit disappointed by the deception.
Image does not look real. Many things look wrong with this image. I think Microsoft was snookered.
The above image is incorrectly named. Here is the correct information,
Okavango Delta is a vast inland river delta in northern part of the country of “Botswana”.
“Limpopo” is the northern province of the country of “South Africa”. Limpopo is not part of Botswana and Botswana is a separate country from South Africa.
The proper name to the above image is “Okavango Delta river and swamp, Botswana, Africa” (where Africa is a continent, not a country).
Viewing Google maps will confirm what I said above.
Thanks.