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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A truly superb bird

As promised earlier this week, I'm posting a few photos of one of the birds we saw on Sunday. I will post about the many others later on.

During our birding morning, I'd spotted an obscur-ish little brown bird with long legs and a strong pointed beak sitting on a rock. Grant stopped and I managed to take more than a dozen photos of this bird.

Now I need to explain something here. I love all the birds we look for, look at and see: doves, pigeons, swallows, swifts, martins, starlings, sparrows, weavers, canaries, cisticolas, prineas, wheatears, mousebirds, barbets, bee-eaters, kingfishers, flycatchers, sunbirds, shrikes, robins, thrushes, wagtails, tinkerbirds, woodpeckers,  bulbuls,  orioles, owls and all other raptors, storks, water birds and dozens more. Grant, on the other hand, looks out for and loves barbets, tinkerbirds, woodpeckers, wagtails, sunbirds, flycatchers, shrikes,  bee-eaters, kingfishers, storks, owls and large eagles. When I squeal and point to a bird not on his list of "interesting and colourful" birds, he says, "Oh, it's just a little brown bird" (known as LBB's in birders' language)  and drives on.

However, on our way back to camp on Sunday, I spotted this LBB . Grant did stop and I did get a number of very clear photos. I've mentioned before in my bird posts, that I always send the photos to my sister-in-law,  an excellent birder who normally identifies our "mystery" birds by cell phone or e-mail. I was thrilled that I had these photos to send to her (which I did and which she identified, but I'll post about this interesting bird later) Said SIL also says she loves seeing the birds in different parts of Africa through our eyes.

In time the LBB flew off and before I even lowered my camera, another strikingly beautiful bird took its place on the rock. A starling. Not just any starling: the Superb starling, East Africa's best-known starling, arrived to give me a show. The first photos display only the iridescent blue-green of this bird but when Superb Starling number one had had enough, he flew off and another immediately Superb Starling took its place. It posed beautifully while I clicked away. To me (ever the romantic) it was as if the first starling saw me photographing the LBB and as soon as it could, it also came into the spotlight and demanded my attention. As soon as the first starling finished its act, as if waiting in the wings,  the next one took its place.

S T R E T C H a wing
A good shake to settle the feathers
Ewgh! Scratching an ear while doing a balancing act

Preen the ole chest-hairs!

One off! That's it, folks 


 Enter the real star: the Superb Starling poses for the camera
Isn't he beautiful?

For more beautiful birds around the world, click here

22 comments:

  1. Wow what great photos. Wonderful job. You sure love them don't you. I love the ones just outside my kitchen nook.
    QMM

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  2. Hi Jo, I love seeing the birds in Kenya.. They are so different from ours.. WOW--that is a gorgeous Starling. Ours are not nearly that pretty...

    Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  3. Indeed very beautiful. I love taking photos of animals too when ever I get the chance. Needs the patience and time. Thanks for sharing

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  4. Simply Superb! The colors are so sharp, that blue is wow. Thank you Grant for stopping for a LBB. That preening shot is superb.

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  5. Superb is the word, Jo. And amazing. What fabulous colours. I love it. We just have ordinary starlings and I love them for the way they walk around looking so pleased with themselves. I don't dare tell them about their Superb cousins in Kenya.
    -- K

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  6. He IS beautiful BUT

    HE'S A BLOODY STARLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    X

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  7. What a lovely story, Jo and what a stunning bird! Your pictures have come out beautifully and I love your captions :)

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  8. Beautiful photos and I like the way you describe looking at the birds! I'll definitely have to come back to find our what the LBB was!

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  9. He's the best looking starling that I have ever seen.

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  10. YES-it is a beauty! Great photos!!

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  11. Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving such nice comments. I am amazed with all of the pets you have! I love this starling. I don't believe I have seen one before.

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  12. what a beautiful species -- really great captures! thanks for sharing!

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  13. He certainly lives up to his name Jo.
    Superb indeed!

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  14. Beautiful bird and lovely images. A really "superb" bird indeed.

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  15. The superb starling put on quite a show for your camera, Jo! He's a pretty boy.

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  16. Yes, the superb starling is indeed beautiful!

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  17. Hi Jo,I have read back all of your posts since you landed in East Africa. I am not on the computer too much lately so I am falling behind on blogs, but the posts are all so interesting I had to keep reading!

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  18. Beautiful! Almost looks like a cousin to our Robin.

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  19. Oh-me-gosh, beautiful??? doesn't cut it with me, he really is SUPERB!

    Great sequence of fab shots.

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  20. A great story with a wonderful pay off! I love the acronisms and I will definetly adopt LBB instantly. That is to funny. I have heard of the Superb Starling but had never seen a picture. Great intreaguing post!!! ;-)WBW

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  21. You and your camera take amazing photo close-ups, these are wonderful, Jo.

    hugs,
    Pam

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  22. Great pictures of the Superb Starling.

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo