Bulletin 330 - South Africa #7 - Part 1 - Ground Birds, Thick-knees, Turacos, antelope

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As usual my birding luck was 100% and we saw almost every thing expected to be found and many that were not expected!

The huge 6' Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) needs no introduction. It is the largest bird in the world alive today (although some extinct species were much bigger). It can weigh up to 175 pounds and cannot fly. The male has a black body.

Common Ostrich - male

The female has a brown body.

Common Ostrich - female

Bustards and Korhaans are tall ground-dwelling birds. The 55" Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori) is another target bird in Africa. It weighs up to 45 pounds and is the largest bird in the world capable of flying.

Kori Bustard

The male, to display, inflates his throat and elevates his tail. Here is a male displaying.

Kori Bustard - male displaying

The 24" Black-bellied Bustard (Lissotis melanogaster) is brown with a black belly.

Black-bellied Bustard

Korhaans are in the same family and smaller than bustards. The 20" Red-crested Korhaan (Lophoris ruficrista) is similar in coloration to the above bird, but the male has red crest feathers he elevates in display.

Red-crested Korhaan

The 20" Northern Black Korhaan (Afrotis afraoides) has a black neck and head.

Northern Black Korhaan

The guineafowl are an endemic African family of 6 species. I saw both of the species in South Africa. The 23" Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris) is well known as this is the domesticated bird kept by many people in USA and elsewhere.

Helmeted Guineafowl

The 20" Crested Guineafowl (Guttera pucherani) has a similar colored body, but the bare skin on the head is gray and it has a curly topknot.

Crested Guineafowl

The pheasant family has over 180 species and includes everything from huge peacocks to small grouse and francolins. We saw 4 species on the trip. The 15" Swainson's Spurfowl (Pternistis swainsonii) is all brown with bare red facial skin.

Swainson's Spurfowl

The 15" Natal Spurfowl (Pternistis natalensis) has a brown back and wings and black and white rest of body. There is no bare facial skin. At one picnic area where we stopped to have our breakfast of muffins and coffee, there were several of these birds. I was able to hand feed them some of my muffin and one jumped onto my forearm!. A nice treat.

Natal Spurfowl

Continued on part 2

Bulletin 330 - South Africa #7 - Part 2 - Ground Birds, Thick-knees, Turacos, antelope

Continued from part 1

The 13" Crested Francolin (Dendroperdix sephaena) is brown above, beige below with dark streaking, white throat and a white line above the eye.

Crested Francolin

The smallest is the cute 9" male Coqui Francolin (Peliperdix coqui). He has black and white striped body, brown wings and an ocher colored head.

Coqui Francolin - male

Thick-knees are a small family of long legged waders that are mostly terrestrial. The 17" Spotted Thick-knee (Burhinus capensis) is brown and white with a large yellow eye ring and yellow legs

Spotted Thick-knee

The 15.5" Water Thick-knee (Burhinus vermiculatus) is pale with a dark line across the wing and pale legs

Water Thick-knee

The turacos are an African family of large showy birds with long tails. The 20" Gray Go-away-bird (Corythaixoides concolor) is a large gray bird with bushy crest and long tail.

Gray Go-away-bird

The 16" Purple-crested Turaco (Turaco porphyreolopha) is a dark multicolored bird with  bright red flight feathers that are beautiful in flight.

Purple-crested Turaco

The last is the 18" Livingstone's Turaco (Turaco livingstonii). It is a green turaco with a large crest tipped in white.

Livingstone's Turaco

Last bulletin we saw the duikers. We will look at three more antelopes now. 2 names will probably be familiar, but the third was new to me. The 28 pound Steenbok (Raphicerus campestris) is a small antelope with white rings around his eyes and very large ears. Only males have short straight horns. This one is so cute.

Steenbok - male

The 100 pound Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) is fawn above and white below separated by a dark stripe. The face is white with a black lateral stripe. Springbok is the name of all the South African sports teams.

Springbok

Lastly is the 130 pound Impala (Aepyceros malampus). This was the most common antelope we saw. Only males have the lyre shaped horns. Impalas are hunted by lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs and hyenas.

Impala - male

I have put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 15 of the 182 species of  pheasants, grouse

I have photos of 3 of the 10 species of thick-knees

I have photos of 23 of the 147 species of cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 329 - South Africa #6 - Part 1 - Starlings, Thrushes, Oxpecker, Sugarbird, Duikers

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As usual my birding luck was 100% and we saw almost every thing expected to be found and many that were not expected!

There are 118 species in the starling and myna family, all are in the Old World. Many of them are beautiful but the one chosen to introduce in America is not one of the beautiful ones. Any of these I would have preferred to the Common Starling in my yard at home. The 10" male Red-winged Starling (Onychognathus morio) is black with red outer wing feathers. The female is similar but dark gray instead of black.

Red-winged Starling - male

The 8" male Wattled Starling (Creatophora cinerea) is gray with black wings and tail, yellow on the face and black wattles below bill.

Wattled Starling - male

Many of the birds are iridescent and just glow in the sunlight. The stunning 7" male Violet-backed Starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster) appears to be just black above and white below, until the sun hits him.

Violet-backed Starling - male

The 8" Black-bellied Starling (Notopholia corrusca) is blue-black with yellow eye and dull black belly.

Black-bellied Starling

The last 4 are all the same genus. The 10" Pied Starling (Lamprotornis bicolor) is blackish-brown with white belly and vent.

Pied Starling

The 10" Cape Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis nitens) is also known as just Cape Starling. It is iridescent blue-green with a yellow eye.

Cape Glossy Starling

The 10" Greater Blue-eared Starling (Lamprotornis chalybaeus) is very similar and best told apart by voice.

Greater Blue-eared Starling

The last is the large 12" Burchell's Starling (Lamprotornis australis). It is similar but the eye is dark so that is the ID feature to look for.

Burchell's Starling

The oxpeckers are medium sized songbirds in their own family. They are endemic to Africa. They land on the big animals and eat any ticks or other insects they find. Interestingly, they may eat some flesh or drink blood in any wounds and may even open a wound themselves. So they help the animal with the insect load but are a bit of a parasite as well. There are 2 species and I only saw the 7.5" Red-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhychus). It is a dark brown bird with beige underside, yellow eye ring and thick bright red bill.

Red-billed Oxpecker

Here is a Nyala antelope with several of them on his back.

Nyala and Red-billed Oxpeckers

Continued on part 2

Bulletin 329 - South Africa #6 - Part 2 - Starlings, Thrushes, Oxpecker, Sugarbird, Duikers

Continued from part 1

Thrushes are a worldwide family of common birds and one of my favorite families. I saw 6 new species on the trip. Several of them look like pale versions of the American Robin.

The 9" Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus) has orange belly but darker throat.

Olive Thrush

The 9" Karoo Thrush (Turdus smithi) is duller on the orange belly and their ranges do not overlap.

Karoo Thrush

The 8.5" Kurrichane Thrush (Turdus libonyanus) was the most common of the 3. It has only white flanks and the belly is white. It also has a black malar stripe.

Kurrichane Thrush

The 8" Groundscraper Thrush (Psophocichla litsitsirupa) is brown above and light below with lots black spots and black streaked face.

Groundscraper Thrush

The next 2 are the same genus and both listed as secretive forest birds. They have very tiny ranges and are both on the 'target list' for South Africa birders.

I saw the 8" Spotted Ground Thrush (Zoothera guttata) in dense forest a couple of times, but was only able to get  a blurry photo, It looks like a Wood Thrush with 2 wing bars.

Spotted Ground Thrush

The 8" Orange Ground Thrush (Zoothera gurneyi) is found in montane forest and we only saw 1 bird. It is brown backed with an orange throat and breast and 2 white wing bars.

Orange Ground Thrush

Interestingly, the species name (gurneyi) of the bird above leads to the next bird. Sugarbirds are a family of 2 species of songbirds endemic to southern Africa.. They have very long tails and are associated with protea flowers. I saw one of them, the male 15" Gurney's Sugarbird (Promerops gurneyi). Here he is on a protea flower. It is a brown bird with a long tail and rusty cap and chest. It is found at high elevation. This was in the Drakensberg Mountains in eastern South Africa.

Gurney's Sugarbird - male

We saw the largest antelope and buffalo last time. This time we will look at some of the smaller antelope. The smallest antelope in South Africa is the Suni at a weight of 11 pounds. We saw one the first afternoon in a forest and I saw it first and thought it was a feral dog. I pointed it out to the guide as he had not seen it but unfortunately did not take photos as soon as I saw it. He said it was a Suni and it is so rare in South Africa, that it was only the second time he had seen it!. By this time it had run into dense brush and I never got a photo.

The duikers (pronounced diker) are species of antelope named for their habit of diving into brush when frightened. Duiker means 'diver' in Afrikaans. The smallest is the 12 pound Blue Duiker (Philantomba monticola).It is a forest resident that eats fallen fruit and leaves. 

Blue Duiker

The next is the 26 pound Red Duiker (Cephaloophus natalensis).It is also a forest dweller. The fur on the body is red. The front legs are shorter so they tend to hop and this allows them to run quickly for cover.

Natal Red Duiker

The largest is the 42 pound Common Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia). It is also known as the Grey Duiker.

Common Duiker
AKA Grey Duiker

I have put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 15 of the 118 species of  starlings

I have photos of 48 of the 167 species of thrushes

I have photos of 23 of the 147 species of cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 328 - South Africa #5 - Part 1 - Waterfowl, Finfoot, Cormorants, Darter, Rails, Buffalo, Eland

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As usual my birding luck was 100% and we saw almost every thing expected to be found and many that were not expected!

Africa is the second largest continent despite its representation on maps as North America looks larger, but you are projecting a sphere onto a plane. It is 25% larger then North America. So naturally it will have many more species of all things. I was surprised at the number of waterfowl (9) I photographed on the trip.

The geese included the huge 38" Spur-winged Goose (Plectopterus gambensis). It is a large black goose with some white on the wings.

Spur-winged Goose - male with 2 females

The 30" Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) is a large beige goose with a distinctive brown area around his eyes. This peculiar looking goose is often found as escapes in parks in the USA. It was nice to see the wild version.

Egyptian Goose

The last goose is the 12" African Pygmy Goose (Nettapus auritus). The male had rusty belly, white face and green back of the head and neck. This is an uncommon bird in South Africa as it requires a large body water with lots floating lily pads. The guide knew a single location, on a farm where there were large ponds for irrigation water. He was able to get permission to gain access. It reminded me of driving around the dikes at Anahauc NWR. This is one of the top target birds for South Africa.

African Pygmy Goose - male

Here is the pair together and the female has beige face and brown back of her head,

African Pygmy Goose - pair

The 18" White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata) is all dark brown except for the white face and is an easy ID. He is resident in South America as well as Africa, but I have missed him on all my SA trips. He was a lifer for me.

White-faced Whistling Duck

The 20" African Black Duck (Anas sparsa) is all black with some white spots on the wings. 

African Black Duck

The 20" Yellow-billed Duck (Anas undulata)  is a beige duck with a bright yellow bill.

Yellow-billed Duck

The 13" Hottentot Teal (Anas hottentota) is a beige duck with brown crown and bluish bill.

Hottentot Teal

The 18" Red-billed Teal (Anas erythrorhyncha) is a beige teal with dark brown cap and red bill.

Red-billed Teal

Lastly is the 18" Cape Teal (Anas capensis). It is all gray-brown with a red bill.

Cape Teal

Continue to part 2