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| Sunday, 20 February 2011 21:43 |
Birds of Namibia 3/3The last time we ended up close to Orupembe watching the beautiful Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters on the way back from the Angolan borders. The other day we continued south and spent the night in the Purros campsite – yes, the same Purros that we had passed through some 10 days earlier on the way towards Skeleton Coast park. As I already mentioned before, the campsites were the best places to watch birds – not only they accumulate birds from the neighbourhood, the birds are also quite tame being used to people presence. Familiar Chat (Cercomela familiaris), Orupembe
During the evening stroll around the Purros camp I have admired the beautiful local fauna but there were not so many opportunities for photography – one exception was this Grey-backed Camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura brevicaudata) perching on a thorny bush in the middle of the camp: Grey-backed Camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura brevicaudata)
When the dusk arrived and there was way too little light for good photography, I packed my camera into the bag and went back to have a dinner – the flock of Bare-cheeked Babbler (Turdoides gymnogenys) in the bushes nearby made me take the camera out again and try at least some pictures – with ISO pushed up to 1250 and times of 1/200 I made a series of shots of this Namibian bird that also frequents southern part of Angola. Bare-cheeked Babbler (Turdoides gymnogenys)
The other day in the morning I woke up early to catch the very first sun beams while the other campers were still asleep. Finally I got a decent shot of Red-billed Francolin (Francolinus adspersus) – bird that climbed up onto the elevated perch next to our sleeping place last night and screamed terribly into the night. Red-billed Francolin (Francolinus adspersus)
Outside the campsite I encountered a pair of Crowned Lapwing (Vanellus lugubris) Crowned Lapwing (Vanellus lugubris)
After the return to the breakfast table I found the colleagues surrounded by a flock of tame birds among which the most obtrusive was the Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (Tockus leucomelas). Some of the other birds included the common African Red-eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus nigricans) and two starlings – the near-endemic Pale-winged starling (Onychognathus nabouroup) inhabitating Namibia and South Africa and the beautiful shiny Cape Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis nitens)
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill (Tockus leucomelas)
African Red-eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus nigricans)
Pale-winged starling (Onychognathus nabouroup)
Cape Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis nitens)
Following days we have driven south towards Swakopmund with a stopover in Torra Bay where I „chased“ the White-fronted Plover (Charadrius marginatus), a common coastal wader of southern Africa, on the beach for more than an hour:
White-fronted Plover (Charadrius marginatus)
The trip to the famous Sossusvlei desert brought also a few observations and finally a good chance to portrait the rather shy Pied Crow (Corvus albus):
Pied Crow (Corvus albus)
On teh way back to Windhoek we took a break in Solitaire – not only it is the place where you get the best apple cake in Namibia (they say so ;-)), the campsite is also visited by a number of birds. In the morning a flock of hundred or so Sociable Weavers (Philetairus socius) was attracted by our breakfast. Sociable Weaver (Philetairus socius) is an endemic bird of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa: Sociable Weaver (Philetairus socius)
The very last days of our stay in Namibia we were in Windhoek arranging the transportation of geological samples to Norway – likewise at the beginning, the only place I could watch birds was the yard of Steiners’ house with a variety of species – e.g. another from the Weaver family White-browed Sparrow-Weaver (Plocepasser mahali) and unmistakable Blue Waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis) Blue Waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis)
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| Last Updated on Monday, 21 February 2011 08:40 |
