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Monday, August 13, 2012

Sunday afternoon birding

As usual yesterday evening, Grant and I drove out of town to the outskirts of the mine for a spot of birding. No sooner had we driven a few hundred meters, when I asked him to stop. There on a power line, sat a kingfisher. This gloriously coloured bird sat so still that I managed to get a series of photos.

Grey-headed Kingfisher - my first spotting of this bird in Tanzania

We saw and stopped to photograph many other birds, including a few raptors which I am still trying to identify, but I will post about them later. Meanwhile we traveled along the dam - which is our turning point - and spotted a flock of herons in and near the water.

Black-headed Heron

At the dam, Grant stopped so that I could photograph whole families of duck and some solitary dab-chicks.

White-faced duck glide serenely between the lily pads and blooms

On our way back, we stopped to watch a coucal hopping from branch to branch in a shrub near the road. 
 White-browed coucal

As mentioned above, these are just a few of the birds we spotted yesterday. I will post about the others later this week. 

Here's wishing you all a wonderful week ahead. 


8 comments:

  1. What wonderful bird you have around Jo! Love the kingfisher and the coucal.

    Things may be starting to look up a bit here. Thanks for your kind thoughts.

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  2. Nice shots. That Kingfisher looks terribly out of proportion with a small body and big head and bill.

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  3. Interesting birds, Jo. My husband has talked about birding for a long time, and is actually going out with a Naturalists' group soon, so I'm hoping he'll have found himself a hobby. He's pretty good with a camera, too.
    K

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  4. love the first little fella... big head...small body!

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  5. Great captures of the birds. The kingfisher is so pretty and colorful.

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  6. These are lovely shots, Jo! It's so nice to get a taste of Africa through your blog when I can't go there myself...:)

    Have been out of touch but will try to do a better job of visiting...have a great week!

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  7. These are great bird close-ups you have captured, Jo! You captured the details of their coloration and feathers. I love the Grey-headed kingfisher with its sky-blue feathers and bright orange bill.

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  8. So beautiful. We are off to Botswana soon and I am really looking forward to seeing some African birds again!

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