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

Continued from Page 1

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.