Belated BY - 6th year! Herman&Kit

[Kitsafari]

here comes the not-so-great ones. 

128. Red-rumped Swallow

Edited October 4, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

129. Grey-capped Warbler (again ebird spells it as Gray)

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Peter Connan]

29 minutes ago, Kitsafari said:

127. Yellow-throated Longclaw

 

Erm..

No. 84?

 

And I think 122 and 125 may be the same species as well?

[Kitsafari]

@Peter Connan thanks for spotting the repeat! 

 

122 and 125 - my thinking is that they are not the same species. the yellow bishop has the yellow patch towards the rump while the widowbird's yellow patch seems higher on the back towards the neck. unless we ID=ed the bishop wrongly? the widowbird seems to have a longer tail too. 

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

122 and 125 - my thinking is that they are not the same species.

Mine too.

Sorry Peter.

[Peter Connan]

21 minutes ago, Galana said:

Mine too.

Sorry Peter.

 

I don't mind at all. In fact I am glad.

Sorry @Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

10 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

 

I don't mind at all. In fact I am glad.

Sorry @Kitsafari

 

@Peter Connan

not at all. if you hadn't prompted me, I wouldn't have gone to find out more in depth of the differences in the two species. so Thank you!

 

[Kitsafari]

That was it for eight days in MNC and OMC, a low count we thought. but we weren't really gunning for birds as it was the first return to Africa after the lost years of the dreadful lockdown. 

Before we flew back to Singapore, we spent a day at Modderfontein and Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens. Herman was keen to use Ernest Porter as our birding guide. A tall gentleman, Ernest is very active in protecting the Verreaux's Eagles, a pair of which breeds at the park. 

 

 

 

And yes we saw the eagles as they finally emerged at the end of the day, soaring very high above the hills (or mountains?), rendering my photos useless. Luckily Herman was there. 

 

130. Verreaux's Eagle

what a magnificent impressive raptor!

 

 

[Kitsafari]

131. African Darter

it was very far away but the only time we saw it on this trip. 

[Kitsafari]

132. African Palm Swift

 

[Kitsafari]

133. African Sacred Ibis

 

[Kitsafari]

134. Black Cuckooshrike

male

 

In this case, the female is more attractive

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

135. Blacksmith Lapwing

[Kitsafari]

136. Bronze Mannikin

[Kitsafari]

137. Brown-hooded Kingfisher

 

with its dinner, unfortunately, i didn't realise about that leaf.

[Kitsafari]

138. Cape Glossy Starling

[Kitsafari]

139. Common Moorhen

 

 

[Kitsafari]

140. Diederick Cuckoo or Dideric cuckoo as ebird spells it

A pair was displaying well with the male constantly feeding the female, until another male flew in to interrupt the courtship and got into a battle of whose wings were better. 

Female

 

male 

 

 

[PeterHG]

An impressive eagle indeed and great shots, too, of the Diederick Cuckoo!

[Galana]

Nice shot of the Yellow-billed Ducks too.

All round good trip.

[michael-ibk]

The wings-out Cuckoo is really cool!

[Peter Connan]

Lovely stuff!

 

Ernest is a great guy.

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @PeterHG @Galana @michael-ibk @Peter Connan

 

141. European Honey Buzzard

We were very pleased to see this. 

 

[Kitsafari]

142. Giant Kingfisher

Herman especially asked for this species but this kingfisher for  once refused to play nice. 

 

[Kitsafari]

143. Karoo Thrush