It’s Sunday, and that means a selection of bird photos from John Avise. John’s narrative and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.
South Africa Birds, Part 5
This week’s post is Part 5 of a mini-series on birds that I photographed in South Africa during a seminar trip in 2007. It shows another dozen or so species from that avian-rich part of the world. PCC(E) willing, overall this will be a nine-part mini-series on the South African avifauna. Thus, the midpoint of this particular post marks the halfway point of this photographic safari.
Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis):
Fulvous Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor):
Goliath Heron (Ardea goliath):
Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus):
Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii):
Greater Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris afer), male:
Greater Double-collared Sunbird, female:
Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus):
Green-capped Eremomela (Eremomela scotops):
Grey Go-away Bird (Corythaixoides concolor) [JAC: this bird is named after its call, which sounds like, yes, “go away!”; see below]:
JAC: I put in a video in which you can hear its call, which does indeed sound like “go away”. It also makes a “kweh” call:
Grey-backed Cisticola (Cisticola subruficapilla):
Grey-headed Bushshrike (Malaconotus blanchoti):
Grey-headed Gull, adult (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus):
Hadida Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash):
This one is particularly grand – I love the binomials, and the “Go-away” is delightful!
I am reminded of the “wait-a-bit” thorn bush from Just So Stories – a clever name.
A lovely batch of photos! The Grey Go-away bird is perfectly named.
Another excellent selection! Thanks!
Thank you so much for this series–I am really enjoying it.
Beautiful!
The necks on those Greater Flamingos are just impossible looking. I loved looking at all these photos, thanks!
Really lovely! Yes, never having seen one, who would have predicted a flamingo or their life style.
I was surprised to see one American bird in this set, the Fulvous Whistling-Duck. It turns out that this bird occupies four continents!
Magnificent, as always! For dazzling colors it’s hard to top that sunbird, or the shrike which is so beautiful and voracious-looking at the same time.
The Whistling Duck is gorgeous!