David in Africa

Saturday, 7 October 2017

Tell it like it is!

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Welcome!

I hope you enjoy this blog. Let me know if you do. Thanks,
David.
P.S. Rumour has it that new items will be sent to your email or browser if you click below.

About me

David Scott. Pharmacy teacher who left Oxford to work in Nairobi University for 2 years, returned to pay for his pension, and then retired in 2015 to work in Malawi.

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Larger pictures

Please click on any main picture to enlarge a bit. The side pictures look better if you right-click and view image.

Looks British

but Barn Owls are one of the most widely-spread species

Crested Barbet

as seen on the cover of bird books

Maeve's Starling

Great sheen

African Hoopoe

With a face like this..

a Saddle-billed Stork

Yellow-bellied

Greenbul eying up lunch

Seriously big

White-headed Vulture (actually red, white and blue) armed and ready

Already mean

A juvenile Bateleur looking like it isn't to be messed-about with.

Peepo

A scarce variety of Black-collared Barbet peeking out of its nest.

Say hello

A Wire-tailed Swallow hitching a boat ride.

Malachite

A tiny but gorgeous Kingfisher, seen here in moulting plumage. Most days, I see one on my walk to work.

Another one

You just can't have enough Malachite Kingfishers

The other extreme...

A Giant Kingfisher at the lake.

And another...

A Brown-hooded Kingfisher at Majete Park

All ruffed up

A magnificent Swallow-tailed Bee-eater migrating through.

Another bad hair do

A White-crested Helmet Shrike, usually flitting in noisy flocks.

Green Pigeon

On a beach, picking up small stones to aid digestion of figs etc. I last saw one in Ethiopia.

UN Peacekeeper

A dodgy nickname because it has a blue helmet and runs around a lot. Helmeted Guineafowl really.

Red-billed

Red-billed Spurfowl in Etosha

Red-eyed

Bulbuls are widespread and identified by eye ring colour. The ones in Blantyre are black. All have a yellow vent. This is in Namibia.

Social and sociable

The Sociable weaver from the family of social weavers. Responsible for massive group nests, as below.

Avian flats

A small example of social weaver nests.

Hope springs...

eternal in the male Brown-throated weaver. Sadly his efforts will be rejected by the fussy female and his work destroyed.

Mrs Sunbird

Look at that bill!

Parrot

A Brown-headed parrot in Liwonde.

So gaudy

What does the colour suggest? Of course, a Green-winged Pytilia.

More colour naming

A Yellow-breasted Apalis, sort of yellow I suppose.

Cardinal Woodpecker

Surveying for drilling sites

Peeved or curious?

An enigmatic Collared Palm Thrush in Liwonde.

Blue-eyed boy

A White-throated Cormorant

Born in UK

maybe. Should return as an adult Barn Swallow later this year.

My first Malawian bird photo

Purple-crested Turaco making a noise

Livingstone's Flycatchers

with nesting material if you look close up.

A wet day

Pouring rain on Zomba plateau but through the window there is a hint of beauty in a Forest Double-collared Sunbird. Now the challenge is to get a better picture.

Blister Beetle

Not a bird, but worth including.

My favourite

A Lilac-breasted Roller. Kenya's national bird but also common in Malawi.

or is it this one?

The magnificent African Fish Eagle

Not bad for a brown bird

Common sandpiper

Not so common

A Bronze-winged Courser that is not often seen, especially in daylight

Variable Sunbird

and another in Ethiopia

Yep, it looks like a canary

but it's an African Citril

Kori Bustard

Looking smug at being the world's largest flying bird.

Black Korhaan

Another smug relative of the Bustard

Black-headed heron

Standing in a tea field

Carmine Bee-eater at Lamu

Mousebirds

A coupleof speckled mousebirds being sociable on the electric fence.

Reichenow's weaver

One of several names for this nice bird

A slaty-backed white eye considers his next move carefully.

Paradise Flycatcher

Bronze Mannikins looking cute

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