Soukous birds in 2016

[Soukous]

Wire Tailed Swallows - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

[Soukous]

African Green Pigeon - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

 

[Soukous]

Black Headed Oriole - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

I know, it's a dreadful photo, but it's the only one I got

 

[Soukous]

Goliath Heron - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

 

 

[Soukous]

Spur Winged Goose - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

 

 

[Soukous]

Martial Eagle - Juvenile - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

 

 

A different Martial Eagle, but also juvenile

 

[Soukous]

Mocking Cliff Chat - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

[Soukous]

African Openbill - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

Luckily you can see the open bill even when they are in flight

 

[Soukous]

Crowned Hornbill - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

The only hornbill we missed out on was the Ground Hornbill

 

[Soukous]

Purple Crested Turaco - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

 

Edited June 4, 2016 by Soukous

[Soukous]

for those that like numbers....

 

In Tuli Block I managed to identify 83 different species

 

Arrow Marked Babbler

Pied Babbler

Crested Barbet

Little Bee-eater

White Fronted Bee-eater

Tropical Boubou

Dark Capped Bulbul

Cinnamon Breasted Bunting

Golden Breasted Bunting

Larklike Bunting

Kori Bustard

Burchell's Coucal

Temminck's Courser

Pied Crow

Cape Turtle Dove

Mourning Dove

Namaqua Dove

Red eyed Dove

Fork tailed Drongo

African Hawk Eagle

Bataleur

Tawny Eagle

Great Egret

Peregrine Falcon

Red Billed Firefinch

Marico Flycatcher

Crested Francolin

Natal Francolin

Grey Go-away bird

Egyptian Goose

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Hamerkop

African Harrier Hawk

White Crested Helmet Shrike

Black Heron

Grey Heron

African Hoopoe

Grey Hornbill

Red Billed Hornbill

Yellow Billed Hornbill

Hadeda Ibis

Giant Kingfisher

Malachite Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Black Shouldered Kite

Blacksmith Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing

Sabota Lark

Speckled Mousebird

Ostrich

Verreaux's Eagle Owl

Red billed Oxpecker

Yellow Billed Oxpecker

Meyer's Parrot

African Pipit

Three banded Plover

Red Billed Quelea

Lilac Breasted Roller

Double banded Sandgrouse

Crimson Breasted Shrike

Magpie Shrike

Whites crowned Shrike

Cape Sparrow

Southern grey headed sparrow

Little Sparrowhawk

Swainson's Spurfowl

Cape Glossy Starling

Meve's Starling

Wattled Starling

Black Stork

Saddle Billed Stork

Yellow Billed Stork

Horus Swift

Palm Swift

Lappet Faced Vulture

White backed Vulture

Black Faced Waxbill

Blue Waxbill

Masked Weaver

Red Billed Buffalo Weaver

White Browed Sparrow Weaver

Long tailed Paradise Whydah

Cardinal Woodpecker

[Soukous]

and in Gonarezhou I managed a few more, 105 in all.

 

Arrow Marked Babbler

Crested Barbet

Blue Cheeked Bee-eater

White Fronted Bee-eater

Tropical Boubou

Dark Capped Bulbul

Rattling Cisticola

Arnot's Chat

Mocking Cliff Chat

Senegal Coucal

Long Billed Crombec

African Darter

Cape Turtle Dove

Emerald Spotted Wood Dove

Mourning Dove

Namaqua Dove

Red eyed Dove

Fork tailed Drongo

White faced Whistling Duck

African Fish Eagle

African Hawk Eagle

Bataleur

Martial Eagle

Tawny Eagle

Cattle Egret

Great Egret

Jameson's Firefinch

Southern Black Flycatcher

Crested Francolin

Natal Francolin

Grey Go-away bird

Egyptian Goose

Spur Winged Goose

Crested Guinea Fowl

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Hamerkop

African Harrier Hawk

Goliath Heron

Grey Heron

Purple Heron

Greater Honeyguide

African Hoopoe

Green Winged Hoopoe

Crowned Hornbill

Grey Hornbill

Red Billed Hornbill

Southern Yellow Billed Hornbill

Hadeda Ibis

Sacred Ibis

Village Indigobird

African Jacana

Brown Hooded Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Blacksmith Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing

Senegal Lapwing

White Crowned Lapwing

Sabota Lark

Speckled Mousebird

Verreaux's Eagle Owl

Black headed Oriole

Red billed Oxpecker

Brown headed Parrot

Grey headed Parrot

Meyer's Parrot

Great white Pelican

Three banded Plover

White Fronted Plover

Red Billed Quelea

Lilac Breasted Roller

Double banded Sandgrouse

Common Scimitarbill

Crimson Breasted Shrike

Retz's Helmet Shrike

Southern White Crowned Shrike

Southern grey headed sparrow

Red Billed Buffalo Weaver

African Spoonbill

Swainson's Spurfowl

Greater Blue Eared Glossy Starling

Meve's Starling

Black winged Stilt

African Openbill (Stork)

Marabou Stork

Saddle Billed Stork

Woolly necked stork

Yellow Billed Stork

Mosque Swallow

Wire Tailed swallow

Brown Crowned Tchagra

Water Thick Knee

Collared palm Thrush

Purple Crested Turaco

Hooded Vulture

White backed Vulture

Blue Waxbill

Masked Weaver

Red Billed Buffalo Weaver

White Browed Sparrow Weaver

Long tailed Paradise Whydah

Bearded Woodpecker

Golden tailed Woodpecker

Stierling's Wren Warbler

[Soukous]

Oops, nearly forgot this one

 

White Faced Whistling Ducks - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

[TonyQ]

@@Soukous

It sounds like these are two really good places for birds - and your photos show them off so well. The Purple Crested Turacois an amazing looking bird!

[Tdgraves]

Black Headed Oriole - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

I know, it's a dreadful photo, but it's the only one I got

 

oriole-black-headed.jpg

@@Soukous that is a great photo compared to the one in my big year.....

[Soukous]

Retz's Helmet Shrike - Gonarezhou, 23-26 May

 

 

[Soukous]

@@Soukous

It sounds like these are two really good places for birds - and your photos show them off so well. The Purple Crested Turacois an amazing looking bird!

 

@@TonyQ

Yes, the two places compliment each other very well - totally different habitats

The Purple Crested Turaco was a first for me. I spent ages trying to get decent photos but they stayed far from my position. When I tried to capture them in flight instead of lifting off from the branches they just dropped like a stone and then flew up. I've got so many out of focus pictures as I tried to lock onto them.

[Peter Connan]

 

@@Soukous

It sounds like these are two really good places for birds - and your photos show them off so well. The Purple Crested Turacois an amazing looking bird!

 

@@TonyQ

Yes, the two places compliment each other very well - totally different habitats

The Purple Crested Turaco was a first for me. I spent ages trying to get decent photos but they stayed far from my position. When I tried to capture them in flight instead of lifting off from the branches they just dropped like a stone and then flew up. I've got so many out of focus pictures as I tried to lock onto them.

 

 

Well, that's better than I've ever managed, despite having tried on several occasions!

[PeterHG]

@@Soukous

That Purple CrestedTuraco is a wonderful bird! I've only ever managed to take a pic of its head through lots of branches. An impressive list of birds you've seen. I spent a few days in Tuli Block in 2014 and had a great time there. Not as many birds as you, though...

[Soukous]

For those that like the techie stuff, all photos in Tuli Block and Gonarezhou were taken with a Nikon D7100 plus 300mm f4 lens. On about 50% of the shots I was using a 1.4x tc as well.

The only exception, I think, was the Crowned Lapwings, for which I used a 70-200mm lens.

 

Everything was hand held.

[Soukous]

I'm obviously getting a bit desperate as I find myself photographing blackbirds....

 

 

 

[Soukous]

A coot with it's young.

 

 

 

[Soukous]

and a wee Chiffchaff

 

 

I treated myself when i got back from my last safari and bought a 2x tc that I could attach to my 300mm lens.

This was my first effort. I'm happy with the result but it will be a while before I can confidently handhold for extended periods.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Soukous

[TonyQ]

@@Soukous

I would say that your extender works well! That is a lovely photo of the Chiffchaff.

And very nice to see local birds.

[Soukous]

I'm going to apologise in advance for the dubious quality of the next few images.

They were taken through the double glazing of my kitchen window.

 

The weather here has been particularly dismal for the past few days, putting paid to my plans of field trips. But, with my camera all ready to go i thought I may as well see what landed in my own garden.

 

I'm still getting used to my new 2x tele converter and the fact that I need to focus manually. Not easy when a wagtail decides that he just won't stay still

 

I know I have already posted a Pied Wagtail Post #2) but that was an African Pied Wagtail Motacilla aguimp

and this one is a European Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba