Beautiful Birds of Africa: Part 2

Other than being pretty, or striking, or even awesome to see, birds intersect with the safari experience in several ways.

Practically anywhere you go on safari, there will be a dawn chorus.  More than any other destination you could travel to, Africa is where you hear birds more often, and earlier.  Well  before first light, and long before the sun actually appears, the first sounds heralding the new day start to pop up.  Far away in the distance you might hear the chirp-like call of an African Scops Owl, to be answered a few seconds later by another owl.  Then, depending on the habitat, the small, colorful birds which inhabit the dense thickets and edges of wetlands – where many camps are located – swing into action.

Remarkably loud for their size, species such as the Chorister Robin-Chat, White-browed Robin-Chat, Cape Robin-Chat, Gorgeous Bush Shrike,  and other skulking species of the forest interior will get your attention.  Sometimes earlier and more insistently than you might have liked. Later still the various Bulbuls, Doves, Hornbills and Go-Away-Birds chime in, so stick around.  Around sunrise, it is not unusual to hear the raucous calls of Spurfowl and Francolins, sounding perpetually surprised and startled.  With luck, you will wake up to the melodious call of a Whitebrowed coucal – sounding much like water bubbling from a bottle.

If you have a moment – when you’re not too busy getting ready for the morning game drive – this is the perfect time to take a seat on your verandah, with a cup or tea of coffee, and really immerse yourself in the sound and the place.  This is when you might experience that most magical of safari phenomena, a sense of profound deja vu.  Let your mind wander along with the view and the sounds of the African morning. Before long, you may experience a feeling of belonging, just as if you’ve been there before.

Perhaps this has something to do with Africa having been our ancestral homeland, or maybe it is just a reflection of mind and body feeling at peace in such an idyllic  setting.  It is even more likely to happen just after first light, with the soft morning sun rays gently lighting up the landscape.  Whenever this happens to me – and I make a conscious effort to seek out suitable opportunities – it engenders a very powerful sense of belonging, and of being in a spot which feels just right.  The space-time continuum is real.

The Kori Bustard

One of the most fascinating birds you are likely to see in Africa is the Kori Bustard, widely considered to be the heaviest flying bird in the world.  When the males are in full breeding display – with their white neck feathers distended into a prominent hemisphere – they are unmistakable and can be seen from more than a kilometer away.  Kori Bustards are cryptically colored and blend incredibly well into a grassland habitat.

If you see one, start looking around and invariably there will be one or two others around, in the far distance.  Koris are shy by nature and rarely allow vehicles to approach them closely.  They are almost always walking away when seen, and it is tricky to get a good photo of a Kori Bustard head-on.  I know 90% of my Kori Bustards shots show the birds side-on.  Maybe trying to get a better angle on a Kori would be a nice challenge for a future trip!

Sandgrouse

Sandgrouses are pigeon-sized birds which are often seen on the ground in sandy or gravelly terrain, in search of seeds,  green shoots, leaves, bulbs and berries.  There are 16 species of sandgrouse – mostly found in semi-desert regions of Africa – and many of them look alike. If you do happen to drive up to a few of them and they stay put, be sure to put the binoculars on them as their cryptic coloration conceal some beautiful neck bands, face patterns and breast markings.

Most sandgrouse species drink at dawn, others at dusk.  Sometimes many hundreds or even thousands of them converge at a water hole, and it is a spectacle to see them swoop in to drink quickly (they can gulp up enough for 24 hours, in just seconds ) and then explosively fly away.  Sandgrouses are at their most vulnerable while drinking, and it is not unusual to see a bird of prey such as a Sparrowhawk or Lanner Falcon lurking nearby or actually attacking them.

Pigeons, Doves and Parrots

If you’re driving through mature woodland savannah and hear the typical shriek of a parrot, you’re not imagining anything.  That is a real parrot you are hearing.  There are not many parrots in Africa – compared with South America for example – but there are a few and some of them are quite common and widely spread.  These include the Brownheaded, Meyer’s and Cape Parrot, and the Rosyfaced, Fischer’s and Lilian’s Lovebirds.  They are more often heard than seen, often just a flash of green disappearing into the treetops.

Pigeons and doves are a different story.  They are abundant and usually quite confiding, but tend to blend into the background due to being so common.  If you’ve seen one, you haven’t seen them all, by any means.  The Green Pigeon – often seen within the canopy of wild fig trees – is a spectacular bird, when seen properly.  So be sure to check for them and train your binocs on them.  Their olive green and blue feather pattern and blue eyes are spectacular.  With prominent red bill and feet, plus their peculiar pigeon-like foraging habits, they are worth seeking out.

Cuckoos

Cuckoos are common birds of the African bushveld, with many of them widely spread and quite visible in acacia thornveld.  Several of the cuckoo species are summer migrants to Southern Africa, arriving around October and heading back up north around April or so.  So if you are a keen birder, this is the best time to be in the region, to be able to see the cuckoos and many other summer migrants which include some shrikes, birds of prey, various wading birds, bee-eaters, orioles and others.

Cuckoos are vocal and often quite loud – sometimes annoyingly so as in the case of the Black Cuckoo.  It can literally drive one insane with its drawn out, monotonous round-the-clock call: “I’m so S-I-C-K, I’m so S-I-C-K”.  Paradoxically, some of the most well-known cuckoos – at least by their call – are almost never seen.  The best example is the Redchested Cuckoo.  It takes concerted, persistent effort on the part of any birder to actually see one of these pretty yet supremely elusive, raptor-like birds.  For visitors, my  best advice is:  enjoy the call.  ‘Piet my vrou, Piet my vrou!’

Coucals

Coucals are found all over Africa and in many cities like Johannesburg and Nairobi, they are common garden birds.  Gardeners love them for their snail-eating penchant.  In the wilderness, they are often seen skulking around thickets or on the edges of bushes, sometimes flopping from one low perch to another.  They are not the best of flyers.

When seen well, Coucals remind one remarkably of their reptilian ancestry, looking for all the world like little miniature dinosaurs.  The most commonly seen species is the White-browed Coucal.  It looks just like the Burchell’s Coucal which looks just like the Copperytailed Coucal which looks just like the Senegal Coucal.  One of the reasons, I guess, why birding is an acquired taste…

Owls and Nightjars

Seeing an Owl – anywhere – is a thrill.  These quiet-flying, big-eyed, mostly nocturnal birds of prey have a special mystique attached to them.  Their baleful stares, their haunting calls, their association with darkness, magic and mystery – everything about owls is weird and different.  Africa has its share of owls and on safari there are many opportunities to mostly hear, but sometimes also see them.  If you’ve ever been on an African safari you have likely already heard the call of the African Scops Owl.  And if you are planning to go, you will certainly hear them, if you listen.  Sometimes throughout the night, their chirping, insect-like calls penetrate the darkness, one answered by another.  Over and over.  As to seeing them, good luck with that…

Fortunately, there are many African owls that are not that difficult to see.  The tiny Pearlspotted Owlet is one of them.  This fearless creature – which can often be heard in a wide range of habitats, making its long, whistling call – is diurnal and is much despised by smaller birds.  This often results in several small birds ‘mobbing’ a Pearlspotted Owlet, which attracts the attention of safari guides, and guests.  Many guides are also capable of ‘calling up’ a Pearlspotted Owlet, by mimicking its call.  When seen from behind, it has a false pair of ‘eyes’ on the back of its head, making it appear to be looking directly at you.  The real purpose being to fool potential predators into thinking that they have already been spotted.  Like other owls, a Pearlspotted Owlet is capable of turning its head about 270 degrees.  Did we say that owls are weird?

Another relatively frequently seen African owl is Verraux’s Owl (Giant Eagle Owl), a massive bird which spends much of its day secreted in the mid to upper part of stands of large, leafy trees.  Due to their sheer size, they are often spotted in this situation, or sometimes around dawn or dusk, when they tend to perch in an open spot, sometimes emitting their strange screeching call.  When seen close up, their eye-lids are distinctively pink, yet another way to distinguish them from any other owl species.

A highly sought-after African species of owl is a handsome, large brown to beautiful ginger-colored bird, the peculiar and very distinctive Pel’s Fishing Owl.  It is most easily seen in the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana, but is widely distributed in suitable wetland areas in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, such as along the Luvuvhu River in the far northern part of Kruger Park.  Pel’s Fishing Owl is one of the few species of owls eating fish almost exclusively.  It is rarely seen mostly because of its solitary and largely nocturnal existence, patrolling rivers and swamps in the dead of night.  When seen, it is often hidden away in a dense thicket during the day, or close to a nesting site which may be a hollow or cavity in a big tree.  On a recent trip I was fortunate to be in tent #4 at Wilderness Safaris’ Pelo Camp in the Okavango, where a pair of Pel’s Fishing Owls (they mate for life) were raising a young chick in a tree just meters from the tent.

As for nightjars, they are the African equivalent of the North American Nighthawk.  The African birds are not usually seen hawking insects in a Target parking lot, of course.  Rather, they are usually seen on the ground, at dawn or dusk, their cryptically colored feathers making them extremely hard to tell apart.  All but a couple of species are practically indistinguishable from a distance, by all but the most expert of birders who put together the habitat, call (if heard), the known distribution of specific species and a few other clues, to come up with a name.  The rest of us amateur bird-watchers and visitors will mostly have to be content with writing down “nighthawk species’ in our list of birds seen.  You will most assuredly hear them though, at night.  In fact, one of the most ubiquitous sounds of the Southern African bushveld night is the call of the Fierynecked Nightjar, a loud and instantly recognizable ‘Good Lord deliver us…’

Kingfishers

Africa has less than a tenth of the world’s total number of kingfishers, but these highly visible, charismatic birds are sure to draw the attention of any visitor on safari, anywhere on the continent.  While many kingfishers live up to their name and actually hunt for and eat fish, many of them do not.  In fact, several species of kingfishers which you are likely to see in Southern or East Africa, are totally non-aquatic, woodland birds.  The most striking of these being the Woodland Kingfisher, a simply gorgeous blue and white bird with a vivid red-and-black bill.  Its ringing call is an announcement to all and sundry in Southern Africa that summer has arrived, the bird being a seasonal migrant.  Other frequently seen insectivorous kingfishers include the Brownheaded, Striped, and Grey-hooded Kingfisher.  None of these are quite as flashy as the Woodland Kingfisher, but they have their distinctive appeal.

Of the ‘true’ kingfishers, the ones that attract the most attention are the Malachite, Giant and Pied Kingfisher.  The Malachite is a veritable tiny flying jewel, a bedazzled midget flashing along many an African waterway, usually seen when perched on a reed or twig not more than about three to four feet over the water.  When approached carefully, it will often stay put, allowing for some ‘brilliant’ images.  We’ve taken several of those over the years!  Hopefully you will be able to do the same on your own trip.

The Giant Kingfisher is hard to miss when around, being several times the size of most of the other aquatic kingfishers.  Being the biggest African kingfisher with a shaggy crest, massive bill and with a prominent chestnut breast band (males) or white-spotted black breast band (females), these birds are usually quite easy to see and identify where present.  They are not particularly shy either, often perching prominently on sticks or posts, in search of fish, frogs and crabs.

Pied Kingfishers are probably the most commonly observed of any of the African Kingfishers, simply because they are such show-offs.  At almost any body of water in sub-Saharan Africa, there will be a pair and sometimes several pairs of Pied Kingfishers, loudly calling out to each other and proclaiming their presence to would-be intruders.  These medium-sized, head-bobbing black and white kingfishers are often seen hovering over the water prior to diving vertically and pouncing on a small fish or other prey animal. When successful, they will sometimes devour smaller organisms while flying back to their perch, or otherwise take it with them to be beaten against the post or twig, before being swallowed.

In the third instalment of our ‘Beautiful Birds of Africa’ blog next Friday, we will be looking at some of the most colorful of African birds such as the bee-eaters, rollers, hoopoes, barbets, flycatchers, shrikes, oxpeckers and sunbirds.

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

Email jason@fisheaglesafaris.com

@fisheaglesafarishouston

#FishEagleSafaris

Beautiful Birds of Africa: Part 1

For many visitors to Africa, observing and appreciating birds is an added bonus to their safari.  Other than a relatively small group of serious birders, sometimes jocularly referred to as ‘twitchers’, few people travel to Africa mainly to see birds.  For the vast majority of safari-goers, it’s all about the animals.  More precisely, the large mammals like elephants, giraffes, zebras and buffaloes, and of course the big cats.  At least as far as game drives are concerned.  Beyond that, many people are of course also interested in other aspects of the African milieu such as history, culture, cuisine, scenery and so on.

On a typical game-drive though, we’re all pretty much looking for the larger animals.  This is where things sometimes go awry.  Mammals move around in real time and every now and then, sometimes more frequently than you might anticipate, they just seem to be absent.  In safari parlance, this is referred to as a quiet day.  Guides handle it differently.  Some just keep on driving – and driving some more – which can ultimately be frustrating for both guide and guests.  Other, more resourceful guides shift their and their guests’ focus to smaller organisms which are often overlooked when there’s plenty of mammal action.  Organisms like chameleons, tortoises – and birds.

Once you start seeing them,  perhaps prompted by a guide looking to fill a hole on a slow morning drive, or on your own in a camp where birds are confiding and approach humans quite closely, you soon realize that there are an astonishing number and variety of beautiful and interesting birds of all shapes and sizes,  all over Africa.

Secretary Bird

For my traveling partner Kathy and and for me, no Africa trip is complete without a sighting of a Secretarybird.  These stunning, long-legged terrestrial eagles (as they are sometimes referred to), are unmistakable when seen.  There’s simply no other bird like it:  a huge bird of prey which spends much of its time striding along open patches of grassveld and savannah habitat, seeking out its food which consists of rodents, grasshoppers, small mammals, frogs, lizards, snakes and tortoises. The Secretarybird is unique to the point of being the only bird in its own family, the Sagittariidae.

Ostrich

The largest bird of all is of course the ostrich and most visitors to Africa do get a chance to see these giant, flightless birds strutting in open terrain which they favor.  Ostriches are widely distributed in suitable habitats all over Africa, so whether your safari takes you to Southern or Eastern Africa, to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya or Tanzania, you are likely to see some ostrich along the way, somewhere.

On a recent trip to Northern Botswana, on a game drive out of Mombo Camp, we witnessed a fascinating courtship display involving the markedly different male and female ostrich, the males having mostly black feathers and the female being a dull grey.  The male performed a ritualistic wing-flapping display, initially flapping alternate wings and then violently flapping both wings.  The female runs a circle around the male with her wings lowered, before they unite.  Even from a distance of several hundred meters we could see this fascinating spectacle quite clearly.

Herons

Herons are widely distributed in Africa and unless you find yourself in a particularly arid area, probably not a day goes by on anyone’s safari, without a heron sighting.  The most spectacular one is the Goliath Heron, Africa’s biggest heron.  Typical of its species, it is aquatic so it can be seen standing in a river or pond, waiting  for its prey which consists of fish, frogs and other aquatic animals.  Invariably solitary,  herons catch their food by impaling them with their sharp beaks.  Closely related to herons, there are many different kinds of mostly white egrets to be seen in similar aquatic habitats, all over Africa.  An interesting exception is the Cattle Egret which – on safari – is mostly seen away from water, on the ground, following mammals like wildebeest, zebra and buffaloes.  They pounce on the insects disturbed by the grazing action of the animals.  Cattle egrets only follow mammals which walk and graze at about the same pace as cattle.

Storks

Of the storks which you may see on your Africa trip, the most visible one is the rather homely if not downright ugly Marabou Stork.  It has a massive, scary-looking beak, a bloated, hairy air sac and a bald, bristly head.  Add to that its tendency to scavenge – it can often be seen hanging around landfills – and it is not surprising that the Marabou Stork is not widely revered.    The Marabou is a strong flyer though, with a wingspan of up to 12 feet, among the longest of any bird.

Another fairly easily seen African stork is the handsome Saddlebilled stork, also unmistakable because of its huge size, vivid black and white plumage and brilliant red and black beak and legs.  Saddlebilled storks are the only storks with marked visible differences between the males and females, the females having yellow eyes while the males’ eyes are red, plus they have visible yellow wattles.

Flamingoes

If your trip takes you to the right habitat – being a river-mouth, lake or similar stretch of shallow water with high salinity, you may see something truly spectacular:  a flock of tall, thin, elegantly pink flamingos.  They are even more beautiful in flight when the vivid pink coloration of their underwings is seen to its best advantage. Currently, the best places to see flamingos in East Africa are the soda lakes of the Great Rift Valley such as Lake Logipi, Natron, Bogoria, Magadi, Manyara and Nakuru.

Of these the first three are currently excellent, while the last two are currently poor.   A good base from which to make a couple of outings in search of flamingoes would be Loldia House on Lake Elmenteita, in Kenya.  In Southern Africa, your best bet to see and photograph some flamingoes would be the Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana, the Walvis Bay estuary in Namibia, and another Namibia location – Etosha Pan inside Etosha National Park.

Vultures

Even if you spend just a few days on safari in Africa, you’re likely to see some vultures, the continent being rich with vulture species.  Just like the turkey and black vultures of North America, African vultures are not the prettiest of creatures. Their large heads with prominent hooked bills, bare necks, a seemingly permanent demonic glare, and their carrion-eating behavior are not conducive to popularity.  They serve a necessary function of course, being nature’s recyclers.

The overall number of vultures in Africa has dropped alarmingly over the last three decades, by more than 60%.  This has put at least six species of vultures in the critically endangered category.  According to an article in National Geographic, most African vultures may become extinct within the next 50 to 100 years.  Many are killed by feeding on poisoned animal carcasses, while others are hunted and sold to traditional medicine practitioners, and they also suffer casualties by flying into power lines.

Birds of prey

Birds of prey are practically synonymous with an African safari trip.  Over the course of a week or two in the African bush, visitors are sure to see several of these most magnificent birds, such as the ubiquitous African Fish Eagle, the much heralded Bateleur, various Snake Eagles, the incredible Martial Eagle, and the sleek Verreaux Eagle.  Once you start paying attention to birds of prey, you’ll soon realize that there is a confusing array of mostly brown eagles – several of which are summer migrants to Southern and East Africa.

If you have a well qualified bird guide, you will also see several species of buzzards, harriers, kites, kestrels, hawks and falcons.  Some are common and easily seen, others shy and elusive, diving into the undergrowth or secreting themselves deep in a forest, at the first sign of human presence.

The African Fish Eagle is one of the world’s eight species of fishing eagles, one of the other notable ones being the American Bald Eagle.  Superficially, it resembles the African Fish Eagle quite closely.  African Fish Eagles do live mainly on fish, but they are – like the Bald Eagle – also scavengers, eating carcasses of drowned animals and pirating fish caught by other birds like osprey and herons.  Fish Eagles are common all over Africa, and they can be seen close to almost any fair-sized river, lake or other aquatic habitat.  Their ringing call – often performed in a duet – can be heard all throughout the day and is one of the most typical, evocative sounds of the African bush.

Guineafowls and francolins

Guineafowls and francolins – recently renamed as spurfowl – are easily seen, noisy ground-dwelling birds.  The most common of the guineafowl species – the helmeted guineafowl – is found all over sub-Saharan Africa, usually moving at a fairly good pace over the terrain, feeding non-stop with frequent contact calls keeping the flock in touch.  Unless they are hard pressed, guineafowl will keep running long before they take to the air.  The same is true of the spurfowl, which often run in the path in front of the game drive vehicles for long distances before dashing off to the left or right.  At night though, guineafowls can be found huddled together in the branches of a tree, away from predators.

Keen birdwatchers are always thrilled to spot the striking Crested guineafowl – a bird of forests and dense thickets – and the even more striking Vulturine guineafowl, which is mostly seen in arid areas of Northern Kenya such as Samburu.  The spurfowl and francolins are superficially quite similar, with heavily barred or spotted feathers, but if you see them close-up, they can be easily identified on the basis of their bill, feet and eye color, and their breast, neck and face feathers.  Francolins and spurfowl are often heard well before they are seen, their raucous crowing or cackling calls reverberating through the African landscape in the mornings and again in the evening as they are settling down.

Hornbills

Hornbills are fascinating birds in many ways, but mostly because of their peculiar breeding behaviour, which start with finding a cavity in a tree, where the eggs are laid.  The female hornbill is then more or less incarcerated in the hole with the eggs and later the chicks, the opening to the outside being mostly closed up, with a mud wall.  Leaving an opening just big enough to feed the female bird and the chicks, male hornbills can often be seen flying to and from a nest site, all throughout the day.  Once the chicks reach a certain age, the female breaks out of the nest site and starts helping the male with the feeding duties.

On a safari trip of 10 days or so, most visitors will see at least a couple of hornbill species, such as the ever-present redbilled and yellowbilled hornbills.  There are several other species of note though, including the loud, wailing trumpeter hornbill (a bird of moist, lowland forests), and of course the most impressive of them all, the huge ground hornbill.  To be sure, they are simply large, ground-dwelling hornbills.  Not ‘turkey buzzards’.  Their deep, booming calls can often be heard over great distances, early in the morning.  Unfortunately, Ground Hornbills are becoming more and more scarce every year, their numbers  dwindling year by year.  This alarming development is closely tied to their slow reproductive rate and the same factors affecting so many other birds:  habitat loss, electrocution from power lines, accidental poisoning, and illegal hunting.

Cranes

As a family, the cranes of the world are in trouble.  No less than eleven of the fifteen species of cranes are threatened with extinction. Cranes are endangered or globally threatened due to a long list of reasons, the most prominent one being habitat loss. Crane breeding success is negatively influenced – more so than for many other species – by human encroachment and development in general.   Other factors include accidental and deliberate poisoning and hunting.

So when you find yourself in Uganda or Kenya, or in Northern Botswana, observing a family of stunningly beautiful Wattled or Crowned cranes, take some time to truly appreciate these special birds.  As the International Crane Foundation puts it, “…cranes continue to unite people throughout the world through their charisma and symbolism of fidelity and longevity.”  By traveling to Africa and supporting companies and organizations who operate in a sustainable and ecologically sensitive manner, you can play a role in helping secure a brighter future for these beautiful creatures.

We will continue to focus on the beautiful birds of Africa in our blog post next Friday.  We will take a closer look at more fascinating and colorful species such as the Kori Bustard, various pigeons and doves, cuckoos, coucals, owls, nightjars and kingfishers.

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

Email jason@fisheaglesafaris.com

@fisheaglesafarishouston

#FishEagleSafaris