Whilst you often hear the distinctive ''victor, victor'' call, these birds don't often show themselves. In five years here I have only seen a couple of juvenile birds, with their distinctive dark brown back and yellow wash on their underparts. The adult birds have managed to elude me thus far This is a young female bird that is just losing the last of the yellow wash as it transitions into full adult plumage. I am going to claim it as an adult female! Now for some images of the handsome looking adult male I was staking out the pair of Woodland Kingfishers when this Bulbul looking bird popped into view for a couple of seconds. It briefly inspected this hole on a nearby tree trunk before flying off again. Just enough time for me to get in a short burst By way of comparison, an image from my library of a juvenile bird.
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Early in November I was alerted to the presence of these raptors when an adult was seen sitting on the nest, presumably incubating eggs. See post dated 12/11/2023. Recently I suspected that youngsters had hatched as the adult has not been seen sitting on the nest of late. Getting site of the chicks however has been challenging as the nest is quite deep and placed high up in a fork of the tree. Finally after many recent visits and a long stakeout at the site today my patience has paid off Much excitement, as two juveniles have eventually raised their heads above the rim of the nest Even more excitement as they finally stand up and are clearly visible Wing stretching in preparation for upcoming maiden flight I presume Looking to settle back down into the nest again
Spotted Eagle-Owl chick Kurrichane Thrush with a full shopping trolley Cape Vulture Yellow tag A 725, a White-backed Vulture seen on a Giraffe carcass Also present was Yellow tag A729. Given the close numbers I presume they were tagged on the same day / location A Wahlberg's Eagle feeding on emerging flying ant alates These are common breeding intra-African migrants, which spending their summers in the south and most of these eagles over wintering north of the equator I observed two of these eagles during a cloudy afternoon, here is the second bird Bearded Scrub Robin Little Grebe Southern Black Flycatcher African Fish Eagle Retz's Helmet-Shrike Woodland Kingfisher pair
These near endemics are back at the nest hole that they occupied last season. Here is a further update as they quietly going about their business.
After several visits to the area where the pair were first observed I finally found the nest hole in plain sight near the top of a pole. It now made absolute sense as to why they kept returning to perch on the overhead cables
For the last while there has been one Woodland Kingfisher calling continuously whilst perched in the dead tree in front of our house where they have had their nest in previous seasons. We were beginning to think the worst, and that the partner had perished. It was much to our delight then when we noticed a second bird had arrived overnight. There has been much activity at the nest ever since. A clean out has been carried out and now hopefully they will breed and successfully raise some chicks
A male Red-backed Shrike poses perfectly in early sunlight showing off his pink waistcoat Water Thick-Knee Barn Swallow Cinnamon-breasted Bunting female Fiery-necked Nightjar on nest Brown-hooded Kingfisher female Violet-backed Starling male Woodland Kingfisher Double-banded Sandgrouse male. A record shot taken with my mobile phone
Black-Chested Snake-Eagle Brown Snake-Eagle Wahlberg's Eagle African Harrier-Hawk Yellow-billed Kite Steppe Buzzard in gloomy conditions, but I will take it
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