Galana's. Third big year.

[Kitsafari]

thank you but I couldn''t load the video?  it said it was "private"

[Galana]

Hmm. Try cut and pasting the URL into your browser rather than clicking the 'link'..

[Dave Williams]

Worked for me! Are you sure that your No 368 isn't an exotic fruit!!!!!

Some cracking birds along the way there Fred, agree about the Crake, another on my wish list.

[Galana]

12 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Are you sure that your No 368 isn't an exotic fruit!!!!!

Some cracking birds along the way there Fred, agree about the Crake, another on my wish list.

Absolutely It flew in and later flew out. Zoom at extreme setting.

I am surprised both @michael-ibk and yourself have never seen African Crake. I can't recall a trip when I have not managed a sighting.

Thanks for the comment about good birds. Stick with me I can promise some more before I am done. I am now almost on home turf in South Luangwa and I know where the buggers live.

Next ten are to follow.

 

371. Hooded Vulture. South Luangwa. (Eating lion droppings but you don't need such detail.)

 

372. Square-tailed (Mozambique ) Nightjar. South Luangwa.

 

373. Southern Red-billed Hornbill. South Luangwa. The yellow eye splits this from most other Red-bills.

 

374. Red-billed Firefinch. South Luangwa. This trip was/is short of the little jobs due to our driver not appreciating we needed to stop now and again as he toured the bloody lions. I actually nailed this one at a lion stop.

 

375. Broadbilled Roller. First in Kafue and then South Luangwa.

 

376. Woodland Kingfisher. Both parks were full of their songs after the rain.

 

377. Temminck's Courser. South Luangwa.

 

378. Bennett's Woodpecker. South Luangwa. Sorry about the quality. the little beggar would not keep still

 

379. Red-billed Buffalo Weaver. South Luangwa.  I don't care that the 2nd has not a red bill.

On the same dead wood as the Bennett's so the same quality.

 

380 Red-billed Impalapecker. South Luangwa. You would think it would wash its bill before meals.

The last photo reminds me of the old HMV Icon. (I really must kick the Lariam with my booze..)

 

All for now. The video link is now OK.

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by Galana
Corrected text.

[Soukous]

Happy New Year Fred. I'm not at all surprised that you managed to zoom past me in the closing straight.

 

and, with tongue firmly in cheek because I never thought I'd get this opportunity ... I believe that Heuglin's Robin Chat (#325) is now officially called a White-browed Robin Chat 

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

I believe that Heuglin's Robin Chat (#325) is now officially called a White-browed Robin Chat 

You are of course correct. I have just checked my three Field guides who confirm that is now the name to use.

And the Field Guides are 20 years old. I must keep up.

[Galana]

I hope today's batch may prove more interesting particularly as I 'owl' towards 400 and get a sniff of that Tortoise.

Here we go:-

 

381. Swallow-tailed BeeEater.  South Luangwa.

 

382. Yellow-billed Stork. South Luangwa.

 

383. African Spoonbills. Luangwa Wafwa,

 

384. Red-necked Falcon. Wildlife Camp and Lupunga Spur.

 

385. Western Banded Snake Eagle. Mfuwe bridge.

 

386. Sacred Ibis. South Luangwa. We saw only a few of these this trip.

 

Now for something completely different:-

Having got the driver to stop I saw these LBJs in the grass.

387. Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Larks. Lupunga Spur.

 

Unbelievable but true we had not seen an Owl all trip (apart from an unreachable Wood Owl our first night in Lusaka) and just like London buses three came along one after the other one night.

 

Normal pose.

But they can turn their head 180 degrees, this is still the front, and show two mock eyes on the back of their heads.

 

388. Pearl-spotted Owlet. Norman Car drive.

and...

 

389. African Scops. Norman Car drive.

and.....

390. Verreaux's Eagle Owl. sometimes called Milky and other times "Giant".

Again on the Normal Car drive the same evening. An Owling success?

 

 

 

[pedro maia]

Your cruising up, are you going to catch Dave?

 

I love the owls, always amongst my favourites.

 

 

[PeterHG]

A great batch again, @Galana! You certainly made up for the lack of owls so far.

[Kitsafari]

definitely a 'owling success! 3 in one go. I've never seen the back of the pearl spotted owl before - it's so darn cool to see those fake eyes. sure fooled me for a second. 

[xelas]

Indeed an owling success, congratulations also to Norman .

[Galana]

Today's trip takes us via EBC land further towards the round 400 with a couple of nice stops on the way.

 

391. Purple-crested Lourie/Turaco. Wamilombe trak, South Luangwa. Best I could do.

 

392. Greater Blue-eared Starling. South Luangwa.

 

393. It's Shikra honest. I saw it fly in but it refused to pose. Somewhere in EBC land.

 

394. Crowned Hornbill. Riverside track. South Luangwa.

 

Not often you can get the birds to fly towards you for a (hopefully) better shot.

395. Levaillant's (Striped) Cuckoo. Mopani Spur.

 

396. Allen's (Lesser) Gallinule . This is the female with green shield.. A good memory helped me nail this beauty. I knew a pair used one of the small ponds around Mopani from visits ten years ago. so I persuaded a reluctant driver to park up by a couple that looked familiar despite the passing of a decade or more.

Bingo. A pair were skulking but only the female showed clear enough for  a shot with stop wide open and as slow as I dared. My driver had never seen such a bird before.

 

397. Southern/Grey Crowned Crane. Mopani spur.

 

Owl now.

398. Pel's Fishing Owl. Mfuwe lagoon. Pushing the poor old camera to the stops.

 

399. African Skimmer. One shot with young. Riverside track.

 

400. Dwarf Bittern. Pool/puddle trackside. By coincidence one of my favourite birds from South Luangwa. I tried for days to find one but at last one evening we got the first and with a torch managed to light it up for a shot. Then next managed to catch one before it took cover. Wanted a full frontal to show the striped breast but it was not to be. Beggars can not be choosers.

 

I see Tortoise tracks in the mud near here.

 

[TonyQ]

Excellent additions, and congratulations on reaching 400!

[pedro maia]

Congrats on 400, Dave must be concerned...

 

Beautiful cranes shot!!

[michael-ibk]

Congrats on #400, some great birds! Beautiful shots of the Levaillant´s (never got close to them like that) and the Dwarf Bittern.

[Tdgraves]

Well done on 400

[Zim Girl]

Congratulations on getting to 400!

[Peter Connan]

Well done on the 400, and some magnificent birds to get there with!

[PeterHG]

Some excellent sightings again in the last batch: Pel's Fishing Owl, Skimmer, Dwarf Bittern and congratulations on reaching 400!

[Kitsafari]

congrats on the 400th! and an excellent shot of the dwarf bittern. you may have pushed your camera for the pel's (what a fabulous sighting!) but the camera still worked well under those circumstances. 

[Soukous]

African Skimmer too. Lucky you.

I was told none had been seen on the Chobe this year. I certainly didn't see any; maybe they just wanted me to feel better about it.

[Galana]

56 minutes ago, Soukous said:

African Skimmer too. Lucky you. 

Yes we were sort of lucky. We were on a boat in Kafue limping back with a duff engine when my companion snapped one on the 'beach' but never called it out so I missed it.

But happily up on the Luangwa as we stopped for a sundowner two flew by and we found there were others. Extreme range, as almost always this trip, but a useable snap nevertheless.

 

Thanks to @TonyQ, @pedro maia, @michael-ibk, @Tdgraves, @Zim Girl, @Peter Connan, who I always think of when I see Pearl-spotted Owls, @PeterHG @Kitsafari etc., for the congratulations on 400. The toughest year yet for me due to many circumstances. Anybody notice the virtual absence of 'easy' birds such as Weavers, Barbets and, most surprisingly of all, Sunbirds?

 

Running late today but the next batch is coming shortly.

Leopard, eating what looks like a Tortoise.

 

[pedro maia]

23 minutes ago, Galana said:

Leopard, eating what looks like a Tortoise.

 

 

Very subtle .

[xelas]

@Galana, my belated congratulations to your #400!

[xelas]

2 hours ago, Galana said:

Yes we were sort of lucky. We were on a boat in Kafue limping back with a duff engine when my companion snapped one on the 'beach' but never called it out so I missed it.

But happily up on the Luangwa as we stopped for a sundowner two flew by and we found there were others. Extreme range, as almost always this trip, but a useable snap nevertheless.

 

Thanks to @TonyQ, @pedro maia, @michael-ibk, @Tdgraves, @Zim Girl, @Peter Connan, who I always think of when I see Pearl-spotted Owls, @PeterHG @Kitsafari etc., for the congratulations on 400. The toughest year yet for me due to many circumstances. Anybody notice the virtual absence of 'easy' birds such as Weavers, Barbets and, most surprisingly of all, Sunbirds?

 

Running late today but the next batch is coming shortly.

Leopard, eating what looks like a Tortoise.

 

Must be the fruit desert after eating a juicy hare .