Birds

The first set of birds are storks--a couple beautiful and one not so beautiful. Picture 1 is the Openbilled Stork, with a slight space between upper and lower mandibles, so shellfish can be opened. Picture 2 is the Saddlebilled Stork, with the black "saddle" across his bill. Picture 3 is the not-so-attractive Maribou Stork, which stands 3-4 feet high.

Picture 4 is the African fish eagle, which Rick spotted while canoeing in the delta.

Picture 5 is a Kori Bustard, the largest flighted bird in the world, weighing up to 45 pounds. They're usually on the ground, but we actually saw one take flight and it was surprisingly graceful. It may be hard to see, but this male actually has the feathers on his head and tail fluffed up to attract a female--makes him much better looking!

The next two birds are pretty song birds. Picture 6 is the Lilacbreasted Roller, which is much more brightly colored than the picture shows--gloomy day. Picture 7 is a Shaft Tailed Whydah. The long tail feathers grow in the breeding season to attract females and then drop off after breeding season.

Picture 8 is a sad story. This is a juvenile Spotted Eagle Owl and it is about a foot high. Unfortunately, you can see his broken right wing, which means he'll soon be jackal dinner.

Pictures 9, 10 and 11 show a large ostrich family. Sometimes ostriches have a single partner and some male ostriches have a harem. This male obviously had a harem! There are about 20 chicks, which are the size of a small goose or large duck at  this point. There's a dominant female in the harem who owns the nest. Other females lay their eggs in the nest, the dominant female arranges the eggs so hers are better protected and then she and the male sit on the eggs until they hatch--the male at night, since he's black and less easy to spot in the dark. Once hatched, this pair raises the chicks and the other females wander off. While we watched, a bat-eared fox tried to grab one of the chicks and the female ruffled her feathers, ordered the chicks behind her and fought the fox off. Fun watching!!!