Bulletin 341 - South Africa #18 - Part 2 - Bulbuls and other songbirds, antelope, lion

Continued from part 1

The 4" male Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) has a brown back, red bill and red face and breast.

Red-billed Firefinch - male

The 4" male Jameson's Firefinch (Lagonosticta rhodopareia) is brown above and has a pink face and breast.

Jameson's Firefinch - male

Waxbills are popular cage birds and I photographed 3 species. The sexes are the same color. The 4" Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild) is brown and gray with a red bill and red eye stripe.

Common Waxbill

The 4" Gray Waxbill (Estrilda perreini) is all gray with a red rump and black eye stripe.

Gray Waxbill

The 4.5" Blue Waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis) is brown above with an aqua face and underparts. Here is one with nesting material. It is a beautiful little bird.

Blue Waxbill

The 3.5" Bronze Mannikin (Lonchura cucullata) has a brown back, black head and pale undersie.

Bronze Mannikin

The 4" Red-backed Mannikin (Lonchura nigriceps) is similar, but the back is rufous. There is a completely black head and breast

Red-backed Mannikin

There are a few remaining mammals that I have not described yet. The Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou) appear dark brown to black with a black face and short curved horns. The males can weigh up to 450 pounds.

Black Wildebeest

The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) is dark gray with black straking on the shoulders and neck. The males can weigh up to 550 pounds.

Blue Wildebeest

The Red Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) is reddish brown with distinctive horns that curve upwards and then sharply posteriorly. The males can weigh up to 330 pounds.

Red Hartebeest

The Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is a medium sized reddish-brown antelope with white spots on the flanks and thighs. The males can weigh up to 110 pounds I did not photograph a male. This female went into the edge of a lake to eat the water lilies. The lake was full of crocodiles and I was expecting to see her grabbed and eaten. Fortunately, she finished her meal and went back to shore unharmed.

Bushbuck

One of the sights in Africa is the Dung Beetle. These beetles make balls for the manure of the large mammals and roll it to a chosen spot,. They bury the dung ball and lay their eggs in it. Here is a beetle pushing his ball along. They use their back legs.

Dung Beetle

Finally, the last Africa photo, the king of beasts. The Lion (Panthera leo) is the second largest of the cats. I learned that lions are very lazy animals as they only have to hunt every 4 or 5 days, so they spend most of the time sleeping and chilling out. The male has a mane as you know.

Lion - male

This is one of the few photos of a lion actually standing .

Lioness

Mostly we saw them lying down or like this pair sleeping.

Lions

Thanks again to my guide Casper Badenhorst for an amazing 16 day trip around eastern South Africa.

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

I have photos of 14 of the 153 species of  bulbuls

I have photos of 2 of the 129 species of white-eyes

I have photos of 6 of the 135 species of laughingthrushes

I have photos of 15 of the 141 species of waxbills, mannikins

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


I have photos of 5 of the 39 species of cats

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2019 David McDonald

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