Elusive bou-bous, pretty malachites and a juvenile stork

Since being in Tanzania, Grant and I have heard, followed and tried to photograph the elusive Slate-colored Bou-bou. We can hear its distinctive call of the male's bell-like "bop-bop" followed by the female's higher-pitched "boop". And although we stop and can see the skulking form in the undergrowth, I am never able to photograph it. On Saturday night, however, while at the club, I heard the call and followed it to a nearby tree. There I managed a photo of a young bou-bou sitting quietly on a branch.

 A young Slate-colored Bou-bou 

The following afternoon while driving through the bush we heard and subsequently saw a bou-bou climbing up a tree trunk nearby. It was actually exposed and I managed a couple of photos before it disappeared into the undergrowth.

 A Slate-colored Bou-bou clambering up a tree trunk and affording me a better photo - or not!

The same Slate-colored Bou-bou seconds before it flew down into the undergrowth   

On the way back to town, we stopped at a small body of water where an eclectic group of birds was enjoying the last of the evening's sun rays. 

 A Hamerkop, a Yellow-billed Stork and a Sacred Ibis with a Malachite Kingfisher in the background in between the stork and ibis

Grant and I noticed that the Yellow-billed Stork's bill wasn't very yellow. When I downloaded the photos and referenced the bird in the book, I saw that we'd photographed a Yellow-billed Stork Juvenile. 

The Juvenile Yellow-billed Stork is brownish above washed with grey-brown below. The neck and head are speckled grey and white

I panned in on the Malachite Kingfisher in the reeds behind and was thrilled to see two of these beauties there

 

I'm linking to Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart Monckton and which you can access by clicking here