Tuesday 3 May 2016

WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY - More birds from Kruger National Park, S. Africa

All three birds below were seen at Kruger National Park, South Africa.  
Below is a male Golden -breasted Bunting.  It is 15 cm long.
Differs from Cabanis's Bunting in having a white stripe below the eye, entirely yellow (not yellow-and-white) throat, chestnut (not greyish) mantle and a warmer, orange-yellow breast. 


Female is duller, with a sooty-brown head. 
Juvenile resembles female, but is duller, with a slightly streaked breast. 


Voice: Song is a loud, whistled ‘weechee, weechee, weechee' or ‘sweet-cher, sweet-cher, sweet-cher'; also a nasal, buzzy ‘zzhrrrr'. 


Common resident in woodland and moist savanna.



African Wattled Lapwing (Plover)
34–35 cm
The largest African lapwing with a fairly large, yellow face wattle. At rest, appears mostly brown, with red, black and white forehead, streaked head and neck, blackish band across belly and white vent. 


In flight, has white wing bar between brown inner coverts and blackish flight feathers; tail has broad, black subterminal band contrasting with white tail tip and rump. 


I know these shots of the Magpie Shrike are in silhouette however I thought you might like to see them.  It is 40–50 cm in length (incl. tail).

A large, very long-tailed, black shrike with white scapular bars, white tips to flight feathers and a whitish rump. Female has slightly shorter tail and whitish flanks. Juvenile is shorter tailed, dull sooty brown, with buff tips to underpart feathers. Voice: Liquid, whistled ‘pee-leeo' or ‘pur-leeoo'; also scolding ‘tzeeaa' alarm call.  Common resident of acacia savanna with a short-grass understorey. 


I am linking this post with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

PLEASE look in tomorrow as I have a short video of something I have heard about however never thought I woud see and there it was in my garden!!

Many thanks for your visit and also to those who leave comments.

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful South African birds, love them.

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  2. The birds are beautiful! Have a great week!

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  3. Hi Margaret, thanks for the beautiful images and comprehensive information of the Cabanis Bunting. I saw this bird in the valley where we lived in Kenya (in the bottom of my garden - it was a birder's paradise!) The African Wattled Lapwing I saw in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya. And the Magpie Shrike I saw on our many bird trips around the diamond mines in Tanzania. Not one of these occur where we now live in SA. So thank you for sharing. I'm back into blog visiting again and thank you for visiting me while I've been otherwise engaged! Blessings Jo (Ambrose sent you a message: he says Tips only "looks" at the birds...)

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  4. Lindo e belas fotografias.
    Um abraço e uma boa semana.

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  5. A very interesting post. I like to look at birds and other animals i havent seen before. South Africa is wonderful I think, I only have been in Kenya when I was 8 years old but never again. Thank you for showing. Marion

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  6. Hello Margaret, lovely birds and photos. The Bunting is beautiful and I love the Lapwing.
    Enjoy your day and the week ahead!

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  7. I enjoyed seeing each of these beautiful birds. They are so different from any we have over here.

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  8. I so love all these birds, so different from those we have in Europe, but the Golden-breasted Bunting is definitely my favourite, thank you dearest Margaret, your eye for Nature details is unique !

    Hope your week is off to a great start I wish you most wonderful days to come,
    sending blessings of joy to you

    Dany

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  9. What fabulous birds Margaret and your photos are brilliant.

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  10. The first bird you show is certainly very bright and beautiful.God has created such diversity in the bird world and elsewhere.

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  11. Brilliant photos Margaret. I especially enjoying being introduced to the Golden -breasted Bunting, a darling bird. Thank you for getting back to me on my question, really appreciated you responding. Enjoy your day :)

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  12. The Bunting is wonderful! You get the best pictures of the small birds -- I wish I were better at that. (And as long as I'm wishing -- I wish I could even see these beautiful birds -- even if I didn't get a decent picture I'd be ecstatic).

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  13. This was a real pleasure. Thank you.

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  14. I've never heard of ANY of these beauties!!! Love the colors of the bunting.

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  15. Goodness, the little one is beautiful and quite inquisitive!!

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  16. That's a great looking Bunting...........

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  17. Thanks for the nice compliment on my painting. Beautiful bird shots!

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  18. Beautiful birds!

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  19. another lapwing! This one looks cool also. Seems they all do.

    Love all your birds.

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