Bulletin 336 - South Africa #13 - Part 1 - Kingfishers, Barbets, other non-passerines, antelope

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.

South Africa is a dry country, so it seems strange to have so many kingfishers. However, some of them hunt lizards and insects rather than fish.

The 18" Giant Kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) is the worlds largest kingfisher. It is gray and white.This is a male with the brown breast. This was the only one of this species I saw.

Giant Kingfisher - male

The 11" Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a black and white kingfisher. I had a crummy photo of this bird in China, so I was glad to get a close up on this trip.

Pied Kingfisher - female

The 8.5" Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris) is mostly white with black and aqua wings and a brown crested head. He has a large bright red bill.

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Another of the same genus is the 7" Striped Kingfisher (Halcyon chelicuti) is similar but has a darker cap and lacks the aqua on the wings and tail.

Striped Kingfisher

The last is the stunning 5" Malachite Kingfisher (Corythornis cristatus). Just look at him. If you see this bird, you will know what he is.

Malachite Kingfisher

There were 2 pelicans on the trip. The 60" Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) breeds in southwestern Eurasia and winters in Africa

Great White Pelican

The smaller 52" Pink-backed Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens) is an African endemic bird.

Pink-backed Pelican

The 18" Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) is a long legged black and white wader with a thin black upturned bill. It is the only avocet in the area. I had photographed this bird before, but this was my closest ever to the bird and thus my best photo of the species.

Pied Avocet

There is a small family of birds related to shorebirds. In this family are birds called coursers and some called pratincoles. I had never seen any of them before, but photographed one of each this trip. The 8" Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii) is a warm brown bird with a black line through the eye and rusty cap. It forages on the ground like a plover.

Temminck's Courser

The 11" Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) hunts insects in the air. It has long pointed wings and a black collar.

Collared Pratincole

Continued on Part 2

Bulletin 303 - China #3 - Sandpipers and Avocet

I had an 8 day birding to trip in eastern China with a wonderful guide Lin Zhang based in Shanghai. He is perfectly fluent in English. We visited 5 different locales. His website is here. FYI making contact within China by email is a problem as the government blocks some email accounts coming in including gmail.  So I had to contact him using MS Outlook. His email is zhanglinas@hotmail.com.

As I was on the Asian side of the Pacific Ocean, I got to see birds that only show up in USA as vagrants. I was a few weeks early for spring migration, but did see a number of wintering birds, so I got a number of life birds.

The first is the 12" Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus). This is the only one in the Sibley guide. It has bright red legs and some spotting along flanks. In breeding plumage it is distinctive with solid black underparts.

Spotted Redshank - winter

And here he is in flight.

Spotted Redshank - winter

The 11" Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) was in breeding plumage. It has orange-red legs and a shorter bill.

Common Redshank - breeding

Next was the 12" Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) has gray green legs and a slightly upturned bill. These are winter plumage as they only have only slight streaking on breast

Common Greenshank

The 9" Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is very similar to our Solitary Sandpiper with dark wings. I had seen this bird in Hong Kong, but got improved photos this trip.

Green Sandpiper

And in flight.

Green Sandpiper

The 8" Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is almost identical to our Spotted Sandpiper, but does not have spots in breeding plumage. It has the similar white shoulder patch. I had photographed this bird in Hong Kong before, but I got a much better photo this trip.

Common Sandpiper

The last sandpiper is the 22"  Eurasion Curlew (Numenius arquata). It is pale gray brownish, with the typical long down curved curlew bill. He has a crab in his bill.

Eurasian Curlew

I also got a better photo of the 17" Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta). This is the only avocet in the area. It is black and white with an upturned bill.

Pied Avocet

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

I have photos of 44 of the 93 species of sandpipers.

I have photos of 4 of the 10 species of avocets and stilts


Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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