The African Marsh Harrier (Circus ranivorus) is particularly common in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
African Marsh Harrier
Tag: botswana
Zazu from Lion King!!
Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus) is a relatively small species of hornbill found in savanna and woodland of sub-Saharan Africa. Zazu, a character in the animated film The Lion King, is a Red-billed Hornbill. He is also featured in the sequel, The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride and the mid-quel The Lion King 1½.
Tight rope walker….
The Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) is a colourful species of medium sized eagle with a very short tail (ecaudatus is Latin for tailless) which makes it unmistakable in flight. “Bateleur” is French for “tight-rope walker”. This name describes the bird’s characteristic habit of tipping the ends of its wings when flying, as if catching its balance…..
Southern African Rock Python…
We spotted this specimen while searching for paths to reach the elephant herds across the marsh. Even though the photo shows the specimen clearly the camouflage on these snakes is awesome.
Southern African Rock Python is Africa’s largest snake species and one of the world’s largest, the typical African rock python adult measures 4.8 m (16 ft). Rumors of specimens over 6 m (20 ft) are considered reliable, although larger specimens have never been confirmed.
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_sebae
The chase is on….
A photo I have posted before but the ID of the bird being chased was not known to me
Yeah! Whatever…
Yeah! Whatever… This is what this young male Lion seems to be saying. Classified as vulnerable were once widely distributed across entire Africa, Europe ad India. This map tells the sad story of it’s decline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_distribution.png
Saddle-billed Stork – a portrait!
This bird is represented in an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph that had the phonetic value “ba”
African Hoopoe, it’s different
The African Hoopoe is distinguished from the Eurasian Hoopoe or the Common Hoopoe by the colouring of the male (the females are similar). The male African Hoopoe is a richer cinnamon colour above, lacks the subterminal white band on the crest and has all black primaries. Habits and vocalisations are the same in both species.
Loxodonta is Greek for ‘oblique-sided tooth’
The African elephant is the largest living terrestrial animal. The genus Loxodonta in Greek stands for ‘oblique-sided tooth’
Rollers rolling
Rollers get their name from their impressive courtship flight, a fast, shallow dive from considerable elevation with a rolling or fast rocking motion, accompanied by loud raucous calls. Have been lucky enough to see this display many times in Indian rollers but could never capture it. This picture of Lilac-breasted rollers we were particularly lucky to get 2 pairs indulging in courtship display…