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

Continued on Part 2