Monday, August 23, 2010

A few birds

Kruger National Park isn't just for big game. I was overwhelmed with all the new birds we found. Of course it was a big help to be birding with Tom Hince as he has birded South Africa on several prior occasions and knows the birds very well. I posted a few bird photos below.

Lilac-breasted Roller is a common and conspicuous bird in the park. Its colours are simply amazing. Even starlings here are gorgeous. We saw four species with iridescent plumage and two species of oxpeckers. The finfoot is much harder to find and we were fortunate to find this lone bird while birding from a bridge.

I hoped to see hornbills on the trip and we were lucky to see all six species in a single day. The Yellow-billed is the most common hornbill in the park. It seems to have a fondness for picking through elephant poop. Mousebirds were another new bird family for me. They are fairly conspicuous as they travel around in small flocks.

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