Bulletin 349 - South Africa 2020 #3 - raptors, tall birds, some mammals

I was enthralled with my first visit to Africa in November 2018 and so I scheduled another trip with the same guide Casper Badenhorst. As we had done the eastern part of the country from Durban to Kruger NP, we went to the Capetown area and the famous fynbos habitat.

There are a great number of raptors in Africa and always a treat to see these powerful birds. The 15" Greater Kestrel (Falco rupicoloides) is a resident in southern Africa. Like all kestrels it has the brown back, streaked breast and vertical black stripe on face

Greater Kestrel

The 23" Jackal Buzzard (Buteo rufofuscus) has a red chest and black belly. It is a resident bird in South Africa and I had seen it on my previous trip.This was my best photo of this bird.

Jackal Buzzard

The 19" Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is a winter migrant in Africa. It is a typical brown hawk with red barred breast. 

Common Buzzard

A great new bird for me was the 21" Pale Chanting Goshawk (Melierax canorus). It is a pearly gray hawk with red bill and long red legs.

Pale Chanting Goshawk

The last raptor of the trip was the 20" Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus). It seems small to be called an eagle, but I did not name it. I only saw it overhead but it was an easy ID with the white body and black and white wings.

Booted Eagle

I had photographed several species of storks on my previous trip, but the 45" White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) was a lifer for me. It is a winter migrant from Europe. It is white with black wings and a red bill.

White Stork

I also found a new crane for the trip. The elegant 45" Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus) is blue gray in color with black streamer tail feathers. It is listed as vulnerable as it has a very restricted range in southern Africa. Many were also poisoned by an insecticide used on wheat fields. It was nice to see, as it is the national bird of South Africa.

Blue Crane

The Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus) is an elegant large mahogany colored antelope with white face and legs.

Bontebok

The Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra) is one of 3 or 4 species of zebra. Mammalian nomenclature can be confusing. All zebras have the stripes of course, but notice this one, the stripes do not extend under the belly. Here is the Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) for comparison, and you can see the stripes go under the belly.

Cape Mountain Zebra

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

I have photos of 17 of the 65 species of  falcons

I have photos of 70 of the 254 species of hawks and eagles

I have photos of 8 of the 19 species of storks

I have photos of 7 of the 15 species of cranes

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 - 2020 David McDonald

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