Bulletin 334 - South Africa #11 - Part 1 - Owls, Nightjar, Hornbills, others, antelopes

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 you know already, owls are my favorite birds to photograph. I saw 3 of them on the trip, all in the daytime, at their roosts. When we did look for owls a few times at night, we only saw one of the same birds.

The 20" Spotted Eagle-Owl (Bubo africanus) has large ear tufts. He was roosting in a tree above his nest. We saw the same species on a night drive but he was much farther away.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

Here is another photo.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

And here is the downy baby in the nest.

Spotted Eagle-Owl

The 25" Pel's Fishing Owl  (Scotopelia peli) is a very large ginger colored owl with dark eyes. This is 5th largest owl in the world. Due to the lack of suitable rivers in the dry country of South Africa, this bird is rare and the #1 target bird for the country. In fact, my guide said it is the #1 bird for all of Africa. I was unfamiliar with the bird before the trip, when the guide told me about it. He said that he usually had to take clients to Botswana to find it. With my uncanny luck, I told him not to worry, we would see it. We found it along a river where he had never seen it before..just roosting in a big tree across the river. Incredible luck!

Pel's Fishing Owl

Here he is looking right at the camera.

Pel's Fishing Owl

The last owl is our familiar 16" Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba). He was sleeping under the roof of a restaurant, where we had lunch.

Western Barn Owl

We only saw a single nightjar, the 9.5" Square-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus fossii). This was another stroke of luck as we had stopped to look at another bird and the guide heard it call right beside the road. He was sleeping on the ground, under a bush. We were so close that I could not get the tail in the photo.

Square-tailed Nightjar

We have toucans in the New World with large bills. The equivalent family in the Old World are the hornbills. I was looking forward to seeing some of them for the first time. I can truly say I was disappointed as the toucans are beautiful and the hornbills are kind of ugly.

The 23" Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) is black and white with spotted wings and bare red facial skin.

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

The 17" Southern Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus rufirostris) is similar but with a red bill and pale face.

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

The 19" African Gray Hornbill (Tockus nasutus) has a gray body. The female shown here,  has red and yellow on the bill. The male has a gray bill.

African Grey Hornbill - female

The 21" Crowned Hornbill (Tockus alboterminatus) is all dark brown except for a white belly. The bill is red.

Crowned Hornbill

The 24" Trumpeter Hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator) is black with a white belly and a huge ugly gray bill. I think some plastic surgery is on order for this species?

Trumpeter Hornbill

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Bulletin 334 - South Africa #11 - Part 2 - Owls, Nightjar, Hornbills, others, antelopes

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The huge 50" male Southern Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) is actually in a different family from the above hornbills. This bird in listed as vulnerable and is now found mostly in nature preserves. It is black with white wing tips and the male has bare red facial skin and a large throat pouch. This is another species that the guide said we would be lucky to see, but we saw 3 family groups in Kruger NP. This species is very slow to mature and do not breed before 7 years. They produce young only every 3 years with 1 baby surviving. They may be the longest lived birds in the world with 40 years in the wild and up to 70 years in zoos. If you look closely, you can see the feathery eyelids on the bird.

Southern Ground Hornbill - male

Here is a juvenile with a yellow throat patch.

Southern Ground Hornbill - juvenile

The 11" African Hoopoe (Upupa africana) is identical to the Eurasian Hoopoe I photographed earlier. It is orange with black and white wings and a bushy crest. I manage to get a photo with his crest raised for the first time.

African Hoopoe

I photographed 2 species in the wood-hoopoe family. The 14" Green Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) has a dark green body, black wings, long tail and long curved red bill.

Green Wood Hoopoe

The other is the 10" Common Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas). It is a glossy blue-black bird with a long tail and the same curved bill.

Common Scimitarbill

The only trogon in southern Africa is the 12" Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina). The male looks similar to the trogons in the New World with green and red coloration.

Narina Trogon - male

The small family of birds called honeyguides are very interesting. They eat wax..mainly beeswax. Some species are reported to lead humans to a hive. The persons opens the hive to take the honey, and then the bird eats the remaining wax and larvae. The guide says he has seen this behavior himself. The birds are also parasitic, which means they lay their eggs in other birds nest.

The one I saw was the 6" Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor). He is gray with olive wings. Notice the genus name..indicator!

Lesser Honeyguide

In keeping with the theme of night creatures, I did get a photo 1 species of bat. There were several dozen roosting under the thatched roof of the entrance kiosk at one of the nature reserves. The 7" Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi) has a wingspan of 20". It is IDed by the 2 white spots on the head.

Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat

We saw several species of antelope in the Drakensberg Mountains, so many people probably miss these ones. The 35 pound Klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus) is confined to rocky areas. In South Africa, only the male has the short straight horns.

Klipspringer - male

The 38 pound Oribi (Ourebia ourebi) looks like our deer. Only the male has small straight horns. Here is the female.

Oribi - female

The 65 pound Grey Rhebok (Pelea capreolus) is gray brown with a white tail. Only the male has horns.

Grey Rhebok - male

The 150 pound Blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus) is dark brown with a white face. Both sexes have the curved horns.

Blesbok

The 550 pound Gemsbok (Oryx gazella) has a distinctive black and white face. Both sexes have very long straight horns.

Gemsbok

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

I have photos of 31 of the 216 species of  typical owls

I have photos of 10 of the 98 species of nightjars and nighthawks

I have photos of 15 of the 43 species of trogons

I have photos of 2 of the 3 species of hoopoes

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 333 - South Africa #10 - Part 1 - Old World Flycatchers and Chats, Giraffe

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.

The muscicapidae family is a very large (325 species) of small insectivorous songbirds in the Old World. I photographed 20 of them on this trip. The ones named flycatchers are usually just plain colored, but the chats and robins can be very colorful.

The 4.5" African Dusky Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta) is a drab gray-brown bird with a white eye-ring.

African Dusky Flycatcher

The 6" Ashy Flycatcher (Muscicapa caerulescens) is gray above and pale below with a black line through the eye and white eye arcs.

Ashy Flycatcher

The 5.5" Gray Tit-Flycatcher (Myioparus plumbeus) is all pale gray without any eye ring. Of course these similar birds are most easily IDed by voice

Gray Tit-Flycatcher

The 5" Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) is a plain brownish bird. It breeds in Europe and winters in Africa.

Spotted Flycatcher

The 8" Fiscal Flycatcher (Melaenornis silens) can be IDed by sight as clean black and white with a white wing bar.

Fiscal Flycatcher

The 8" Southern Black Flycatcher (Melaenornis pammelaina) is totally black and thus an easy ID.

Southern Black Flycatcher

The 7" Pale Flycatcher (Melaenornis pallidus) is beige with darker wings.

Pale Flycatcher

The 7" Brown Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas signata) is a forest bird IDed by white eye line and arc and no wing bars.

Brown Scrub Robin

The 6" Bearded Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas quadrivirgata) has a striped face and rufous flanks and rump. It also is found in forests.

Bearded Scrub Robin

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Bulletin 333 - South Africa #10 - Part 2 - Old World Flycatchers and Chats, Giraffe

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The last of this genus is the 5" White-browed Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas leucophrys). It is red brown above and white below and it has 2 white wing bars. it is the common scrub robin of the savanna.

White-browed Scrub Robin

The group called robin-chats all have orange rumps. The 7" Red-capped Robin-Chat (Cossypha natalensis) is all orange with gray wings and tail.

Red-capped Robin-Chat

The 8" Chorister Robin-Chat (Cossypha dichroa) is dark gray above and orange below with the orange rump and a black face. It is endemic to South Africa.

Chorister Robin-Chat

The 7" Cape Robin-Chat (Cossypha caffra) is all gray with an orange throat and tail.

Cape Robin-Chat

The 6" White-throated Robin-Chat (Cossypha humeralis) is a beautiful black and white bird with an orange rump and tail.

White-throated Robin-Chat

The 7" Capped Wheatear (Oenanthe pileata) is the only resident wheatear. The black and white head and breast make an easy ID.

Capped Wheatear

The 5" Familiar Chat (Oenanthe familiaris) is a plain pale brown chat.

Familiar Chat

The 7" Ant-eating Chat (Myrmecocichla formicivora) is a plain dark brown bird.

Ant-eating Chat

The 6.5" male Buff-streaked Chat (Campicoloides bifasciatus) is a dapper black and white bird with a buffy underside. The female is brown. It is endemic to South Africa.

Buff-streaked Chat - male

The 5" male African Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) is an easy ID with his black, white and rufous colors.

African Stonechat - male

Continued on Part 3