Thursday, February 7, 2013

A variety of Birds continued

As promised, this is a continuation post on yesterday's.  

A Black Bishop male calling

Driving along the airstrip we eventually turned onto the "haul road" (where material is carted/hauled from the mine to the processor) and stopped when I spotted a little raptor on top of the power line pole. I took several photos thinking it was a goshawk or similar until I downloaded it and realised I didn't know what I had on the screen. I sent the photos on to my sister-in-law in South Africa who ID'd it  me. Thanks Shell! 
 A Grey Kestrel in profile

Don't you love its square head? 

And its stern full-face look! 

As we entered town  I saw a couple of hornbills hopping along the branches of a tree beside the road.   Of course we stopped so that I could get photos. 
 The African Grey Hornbill

Ditto

As I was standing in the open door on the vehicle running board leaning the camera on the roof to take the above photos,  I noticed another bird silhouetted against the sky in the top branches of the tree. 

Black-headed Heron

I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far.



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10 comments:

  1. Joyful07 February, 2013 04:35

    Beautiful bird photos, Jo. I'm glad you are at last getting to see a great variety of birds in your new home. Hugs. xx

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  2. This Is My Blog - fishing guy07 February, 2013 07:13

    Jo: What a wonderful show, the birds of South Africa are just wonderful. They are so colorful and so expressive..

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  3. Firefly the Travel Guy07 February, 2013 08:25

    The black bishop and SA's red bishop must be brothers

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  4. Stewart M07 February, 2013 11:23

    Great posts - the Grey Kestrel does have a square looking head - strange.

    Would love to see the horn bill.

    The parrot in my picture is not the same bird as the one that hit the window of our house. That one ended up dead!

    Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW.

    Stewart M - Melbourne

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  5. eileeninmd07 February, 2013 11:29

    Wonderful birds, Jo! Your Black Bishop is gorgeous, so colorful. Neat sighting if the Grey kestrel, that square head is cool. And I love the hornbill, it is a bird I would love to see in the wild. Thanks for sharing your birds. Great photos. Have a happy day!

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  6. Gattina07 February, 2013 18:40

    I start to believe that you have been a cat in your former life ! My cats love birdwatching too ! Love the Grey Kestrel !

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  7. Carol07 February, 2013 20:05

    Hi Jo! This is a wonderful series of photos. Love the grey kestrel. T he birds in South Africa are beautiful!

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  8. Betsy Banks Adams07 February, 2013 23:58

    Of course, my favorite is still the Black Bishop--but that Hornbill is a beautiful bird also... Thanks, Jo.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  9. forgetmenot08 February, 2013 02:35

    Amazing captures--what fun to see such a variety of birds (and get such great pics of them). Mickie :)

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  10. forgetmenot08 February, 2013 02:35

    Amazing captures--what fun to see such a variety of birds (and get such great pics of them). Mickie :)

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