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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Winter birding in Mwadui

This week we drove out through the mine and into the bush and no matter what we see, Grant always stops and I photograph the bird or animal. As in the case of the two oft-seen and common birds in the next two sequences of photos, they turned out to be juveniles!
African Sacred Ibis (Juvenile)


The African Sacred Ibis is a large white bird with a black decurved bill. While the adult's head and neck is naked while the juvenile has a white-feathered neck which appears mottled. 
A clear view of the African Sacred Ibis (Juvenile) 

Just around the corner from where we saw the African Sacred Ibis Juvenile, we came across another small body of water with another juvenile in it! I photographed this bird about ten days ago in another small pond on the airstrip. The water there has since dried up and this resourceful bird moved to another place!
 Yellow-billed Stork (Juvenile)
While I snapped away at this young bird, I noticed that it used one foot to agitate the water and so stir up any tasty morsels of creatures lurking below

While we're on the "Yellow-billed" birds, I'd like to post a very, very common - in fact quite pesky - raptor here in Mwadui: the Yellow-billed Kite. However, no bird is too common or "nasty" for me to miss a photo op when they pose so beautifully on the airstrip beside our vehicle. 
 Yellow-billed Kite; a handsome bird ...
 ... with a fearsome profile

Driving along through the bush, we stopped to photograph mousebirds, Grey-capped Social Weavers, a Dark-Capped Bulbul and a Silverbird.

In my bird book, the Silverbird is listed along with Black and other flycatchers. It sits beautifully while you click away  

At our favorite largish reeded dam of water, we spotted a moorhen swimming quickly into the reeds.
 Common moorhen just visible in the reeds

As I watched the Common Moorhen disappear between the reeds, another duck appeared in my line of sight. This was a new waterbird for me and Grant. We sent it off to Jez who returned with the verdict: Lesser Moorhen. A lifer for us. 
 Lesser Moorhen 
Lesser Moorhen and juvenile

 Lesser Moorhen Juvenile

I'm linking my post today with Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart Monckton. Please visit his interesting blog by clicking here

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

12 comments:

  1. wow! just an awesome bunch of birds! LOVE the stork! wow!

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  2. hi. wonderful series in this post. I never knew there was a lesser Moorhen so that was especially great to see the shots of both adult and chick.

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  3. ...a lovely variety Jo but I think my favourite might be the stork

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  4. Jo, beautiful series of birds and photos. I love the Ibis and Stork.. And the Silverbird is a beauty! Thanks for sharing, have a happy day!

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  5. Oooooo, I like the stork. On my way to work yesterday there was a flock of Sacred Ibis flying overhead. Wish I had my camera

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  6. The yellow billed kite is beautiful. Also love the flycatcher and the moorhens which are so similar to ones we have in Australia!

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  7. I love seeing such different birds from those common where I live. The Ibis and the Yellow-billed Stork are so cool.
    I did love the Raptor (Kite) as well. They do have very intense looks, so regal.

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  8. Wonderful birds! I love the kite. It's a very handsome bird.

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  9. Great shots Jo, we don't get storks in Australia except in the far North. Nice to see them. Your flycatcher looks so like an American robin, depending on size of course.

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  10. WOW, what a stunning collection of birds and pictures Jo. I love watching the Yellow-billed Kites soaring around.

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  11. Just a delightful post with all the different birds. I like the kite with the appearance of a bad feather day.

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  12. Nice collection. I like to watch the Yellow-billed Kite soar.

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