Posts in Category: birds
African Scopes Owl
African Scopes Owl, Kruger National Park, South Africa
When we stopped for lunch our first day in Kruger National Park in South Africa, our Ranger/Driver asked if I had seen the Owl. Of course I had not so she showed me a tree with incident tape strung up around it and an African Scopes Owl sitting in a fork tight against the trunk, just above eye-level. Apparently it had been there for some time. I maneuvered around the taped off area to find an open line of sight for this shot.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed in Lightroom.
Magpie Shrike
Magpie Shrike, Balule Game Reserve, South Africa
At the end of a long dry winter in South Africa, one of the most present birds of the bush wherever you go, is the Magpie Shrike. Most locals, including our guides, still call it by its old name, the Long-tailed Shrike. And, indeed, the first thing you are likely to notice is the exceptionally long tail. I saw hundreds of them before pulling up alongside this one in the game viewer at Balule Game Reserve for a portrait. They are conspicuous, not only for their tail, but because they tend to perch in the tops of small to medium height brush and trees, where they can keep a sharp eye out for insects on the ground around them. Like most birds with long tails they use the tail for quick side-ways maneuvers and abrupt turns in flight, when pouncing on prey.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Lightroom.
Oxpeckers on a Giraffe. Happy Sunday!
Red-billed Oxpeckers on a Giraffe, Kruger National Park, South Africa
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
Oxpeckers have a mutulistic relationship with many of the large herbivores of Africa. The Oxpeckers feed on tics, lice, and flies from the hides, and especially from around the wounds, of everything from Antelope to Zebras. They benefit from the constant food source, and the herbivores benefit from having parasites removed, and wounds kept clean. it is rare to see a group of Giraffes, or an individual hippo or rhino, without at least a few attendant Oxpeckers. Some animals seem more attractive to Oxpeckers than others. The thick hides of Elephants, for instance, don’t seem to have much interest, while almost every Kudu I saw in Kruger National Park had at least one Oxpecker riding along. This Giraffe was infested with Oxpeckers…which probably means it was infested with ticks or lice.
The relationship is so close, in fact, that I was genuinely surprised to see Oxpeckers in a tree, doing regular bird stuff…flying around, harassing other birds…apparently even fly-catching over the tree-tops. I don’t know why it surprised me. They are birds, after all…closely related to the host of Starlings in Africa, and seen in the same mixed flocks…when they are “off-duty”.
Evolutionists would, of course, look to a long history of slow change that somehow turned a Starling-like bird into the Oxpecker of today. They would have to explain how the association developed between bird and herbivore, and why the bird, alone among its iridescent blue brothers, has become the color of dusty herbivore hide, not to mention the function of the red bill in survival and reproductive strategies. They would have to come up with naturalistic reasons for a lot, and there would be a lot, I think even they would admit, that they just could not explain. And it is not that I, as a man of faith, have a “better” explanation. It is easy to say I see in the Oxpecker an example of intelligent, of loving, design and creation. But that would really be taking it backward. I don’t believe in an intelligent loving creator because I see evidence in the Oxpecker. I begin with belief in the creator, through a personal encounter in Jesus, and then can see the Oxpecker in no other light. That is how it is with the generous eye. You see the world in the light of creation, and everything you see speaks of intelligence and love. It is, in fact, easy with the Oxpecker on the hide of the Giraffe…it is not so easy when we look at the worst of human behavior…but it is possible, and it is something I strive for each day. Happy Sunday!
Morning at Marc’s
White-bellied Sunbird, Black Tit, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Citrus Swallowtail, Marc’s Treeehouse Lodge, South Africa
My last full, non-travel, morning in South Africa I was at Marc’s Treehouse Lodge, operated by Viva Safaris. It is on a private Game Reserve west of the Orpen Gate at Kruger National Park. I decided to forego the scheduled activity and just spend the morning wandering around the grounds of the Lodge with my camera to see what I could see. I was very thankful to the staff at Marc’s for letting me do that. I stayed fairly close to the cabins and tents at the Lodge, as Marc’s is an unfenced camp and there is always the chance of the wandering Cape Buffalo or even Leopard on the grounds. I was looking mostly for smaller birds, as that is what I was missing from my African experience and all the game drives in high vehicles. As I mentioned in previous posts, South Africa and Kruger in particular, are well into a major drought, and it is the end of a long dry winter there, so birds were scarce, even in the trees along the river below the camp. I did see Pied Kingfisher and Little Bee-eater, both amazing birds, and that would have made my morning, but it was really the Sunbirds I wanted closer looks at. I was able to photograph the White-bellied Sunbird in the collage above several times that morning, and glimpsed at least two others during my walk…Scarlet-breasted and one of the yellow ones. (I got a record shot of the Scarlet-breasted the next morning before boarding the van for Johannesburg.) I love the Sunbirds…colored like a hummingbird and filling much the same niche…but with size, flight, and song of a finch. The Southern Black Tit was working the trees just at the edge of the sandy bed of the river, and the Yellow-breasted Apalis was in the vegetation around the pool just below the lodge where the giraffes come to drink. The Citrus Swallowtail was basking by the same pool. I was happy to ID this as the Citrus Swallowtail of Southern Africa and not the much more common, and closely related, Lemon Swallowtail, which is a problem butterfly in North Africa…invasive as far east as China and some of the South Pacific Islands, and as far west as Central America. I also photograhed a Red-capped Robin-chat, but was not able to get a really sharp image in the dense thicket it preferred. All in all, a very worthwhile morning.
All shots with the Sony RX10iii, at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Red-billed Hornbill
Red-billed Hornbill, Trimisana Lodge, Balule Game Reserve, South Africa
Hornbills are by far the most numerous and visible birds in the South African bush at the end of a dry winter. The most see is the Yellow-billed Hornbill…familiar to most as a main character in the Lion King. Thus is a Red-billed Hornbill. I was two days in Africa before seeing one.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
American Pygmy Kingfisher Panama-style
American Pygmy Kingfisher, Snyder Canal, Bocas del Toro, Panama.
You have a pretty good chance of seeing at least 5 of the 6 possible Kingfishers for Panama along the banks of the Snyder Canal in the Changuinola district of Panama. And the 6th is at least a possibility…but it is only seen occasionally. On our trip there last week we saw Ringed, Green, Amazon, and Pygmy…but no Green Rufous Kingfisher…for 5 out of 6. The American Pygmy Kingfisher has to be one of my favorite birds. It packs more attitude into its tiny body than birds 10 times it size 🙂 Along the Snyder Canal we are in bigger boats so a close approach is not always possible, but I am happy with this shot from further out.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 800 @ f4. Cropped and processed in Lightroom.
Keel-billed Toucan
Keel-billed Toucan, Snyder Canal, Bocas del Toro, Panama
We were stopped along the canal to photograph another bird when our sharp-eyed boatman spotted this Keel-billed Toucan almost right overhead. It was pretty well buried in the foliage but by squirming around in the boat I managed a decent shot. This is closer to a Toucan than any other sighting in Panama by a factor of 50, so I am happy with it.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed and cropped in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Passerini’s Tanager
Passerini’s Tanager. Snyder Canal, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Before we got to Swan Island and the Red-billed Tropicbirds yesterday, we spent most of the day motoring quietly along Snyder’s Canal… the first Panama Canal…built to move bananas from Plantation to port. It was only used for about 5 years before the United Fruit Company built a railroad that was much more efficient. Along the shores of the old canal today you can get close views of many of the lowland and forest species. This Passerini’s Tanager came right out to the edge to take a look at us as we floated a dozen feet off-shore.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed and cropped slightly in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Red-billed Tropicbird
Red-billed Tropicbird. Swan Island, Bocas del Toro, Panama.
At the end of a long day in a boat in the Snyder Canal in Bocas del Toro, Panama (as part of the ZEISS VICTORY SF Experience at Tranquilo Bay Lodge) we chanced the off-shore waves to go out to Swan Island to the Red-billed Tropicbird rookery. Sea bird rookery is more accurate as Brown Boobies and Magnificent Frigatebirds also nest and roost there. The Tropicbirds, however, are certainly the stars of the show. Super elegant, graceful, impressive in every way. Today there had to be a hundred birds circling the island and the nests in holes in the cliffs. It had clouded over but there was still enough light for effective photography.
My Sony RX10iii actually did a pretty good job with the fast moving birds…better than I expected. My custom bkrds-in-flight mode…ISO set to auto, minimum shutter speed 1/1000th, and wide area focus to pick up the birds against the background. This shot was processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Golden-collared Manakin
Golden-collared Manakin, Tranquilo Bay Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama
There are two reliable lecking areas quite near the cabins at Tranquilo Bay Lodge in Bocas del Toro, Panama where we enjoying birds, butterflies, reptiles, etc etc. This is a Golden-collared Manakin. I sat and perspired for an hour in the rainforest before two males came 🙂 They did not do their lecking dance, probably because there were no females nearby.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.