The more you get into wildlife, the more you get interested in birds. South Africa is home to some 951 different species of birds and some of them are really interesting. Before I came here I didn’t really care much about birds but now I find them fascinating. Without being too much of a bird-nerd I thought that I should show you a few of the cooler birds we saw in Kruger – most of them are raptors, so in other words, the more macho kind of birds…
First up is a Bateleur eagle. This is an adult, as you can see from the black and white plumage. They are brown as juveniles and don’t get their adult plumage until they are about six or seven years old. This one was kind enough to sit still in a tree not more than five meters away from our car. They do look pretty mean, don’t you think?
The Yellow billed kite is a common summer visitor and you see them a lot throughout South Africa. This is the only raptor here that has an all-yellow bill. This guy landed on the guardrail of a bridge, right next to our car.
This is a Tawny eagle, a rather common "true eagle". A true eagle has feathers on its legs, all the way down to its feet. Snake eagles for example don’t have feathers on their legs but have scales instead, to protect them from snakebites.
So, here’s the Brown snake eagle, notice the bare legs and the big orange/yellow eye.
This is a Gabar goshawk. It’s one of the smaller raptors but still, a beautiful bird.
The Southern ground hornbill is not a raptor but still, a formidable animal. They are ground birds (as implied by their name) and stand almost a meter high. This is a grown female (you can tell by the black patch on the throat) and she had company with her male partner one of her grown up offspring and their latest chick. Ground hornbills usually lay two eggs, the chick that hatch first will kill its younger sibling by stealing its food and trample it. This is known as siblicide (or Cainism) – otherwise mostly practiced by birds of prey. It may sound hard but it is just nature’s way of making sure that only the strong survive.
Finally, another ground bird. This is a Helmeted guinea fowl and my personal all-time favorite bird (even though they have a face only a mother can love). They are slanderously labeled as the most stupid bird in Africa. They quite commonly run in front of your car, trying to outrun you, not thinking about the option to turn off the road and head into the bush or to fly away. Granted, they may not be the smartest birds around (that would probably be the Fork-tailed drongo) but they are way more interesting and advance than people give them credit for. An interesting fact is that whenever we encounter a group of guinea fowl in the beginning of a game drive, we will have a really good drive with lots of nice sightings. Doesn’t sound very scientific, I know, but let me tell you, the guinea fowl magic hasn’t even failed once!
/ J
First up is a Bateleur eagle. This is an adult, as you can see from the black and white plumage. They are brown as juveniles and don’t get their adult plumage until they are about six or seven years old. This one was kind enough to sit still in a tree not more than five meters away from our car. They do look pretty mean, don’t you think?
The Yellow billed kite is a common summer visitor and you see them a lot throughout South Africa. This is the only raptor here that has an all-yellow bill. This guy landed on the guardrail of a bridge, right next to our car.This is a Tawny eagle, a rather common "true eagle". A true eagle has feathers on its legs, all the way down to its feet. Snake eagles for example don’t have feathers on their legs but have scales instead, to protect them from snakebites.So, here’s the Brown snake eagle, notice the bare legs and the big orange/yellow eye.This is a Gabar goshawk. It’s one of the smaller raptors but still, a beautiful bird.The Southern ground hornbill is not a raptor but still, a formidable animal. They are ground birds (as implied by their name) and stand almost a meter high. This is a grown female (you can tell by the black patch on the throat) and she had company with her male partner one of her grown up offspring and their latest chick. Ground hornbills usually lay two eggs, the chick that hatch first will kill its younger sibling by stealing its food and trample it. This is known as siblicide (or Cainism) – otherwise mostly practiced by birds of prey. It may sound hard but it is just nature’s way of making sure that only the strong survive.Finally, another ground bird. This is a Helmeted guinea fowl and my personal all-time favorite bird (even though they have a face only a mother can love). They are slanderously labeled as the most stupid bird in Africa. They quite commonly run in front of your car, trying to outrun you, not thinking about the option to turn off the road and head into the bush or to fly away. Granted, they may not be the smartest birds around (that would probably be the Fork-tailed drongo) but they are way more interesting and advance than people give them credit for. An interesting fact is that whenever we encounter a group of guinea fowl in the beginning of a game drive, we will have a really good drive with lots of nice sightings. Doesn’t sound very scientific, I know, but let me tell you, the guinea fowl magic hasn’t even failed once!/ J
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