Safari Birds

As a birder a short a one day safari, whilst a tremendous thrill, left a bit of a dilemma at where to look. I’m not sure how many bird species I missed as we hared past them, though I am fairly sure we saw several different Bee-eaters and could only put a name on one. There’s no stopping in a shared jeep, what follows are all the species I got half decent pictures for as we slowed or stopped. If the order seems a bit random it’s as we saw them, except the oxpeckers which I’ve juxtaposed so any readers can see the differences reflected in their species names.

Saddle-billed Stork so impressive that the driver stopped for pictures, which was just about the only bird he did this for.

Greater Blue-eared Starling

White-crowned Lapwing. We also saw Crowned Lapwing but were doing about 30 mph at the time

Palm Nut Vulture

White-browed Sparrow-Weaver

Helemeted Guineafowl

African Fish Eagle

Little Bee-eater – ironically the one species I did clinch was the tiny one…

Southern Ground Hornbill – these looked like something out of a fantasy film, I couldn’t take my eyes off them

Oxpeckers on hosts – Yellow-billed (on buffalo) above and Red-billed (on giraffe) below

Egyptian Goose – the holiday started with these at Gatwick, but obviously on a safari they are the ‘real deal’

Cattle Egret (see also the pair on the hippo above)

Lilac-breasted Roller

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