Travel photos – Africa – Birds

Jo Bryant, , ,

These are just a few of the birds I met along my African trip from south to north.

For more information on the birds click on the photos.

Cape Vultures
Helmeted Guineafowl

I think this may be the”Greater Blue-eared Glossy-starling“.

What do you think?

Is this a Hamerkop?

Love to know what you think.

Ostrich
The Southern Ground Hornbill

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I have shared this post over at World Bird Wednesday.

Published by Jo Bryant

I was born in the land of Banjo Paterson, gum trees, and weather extremes. I am a freelance photographer. I love to make images that make people happy. To capture forever a precious moment. I am also a freelance writer/editor. I live in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, but still like to claim my Australian heritage. I graduated with a Bachelor of Communications in 2008. I am writing my first novel. I love to write poetry, short stories, and also write for the web. And there is nothing that is on a par with a sunny summer's day spent at Waihi Beach.

61 Comments

  1. Love the blue bird. Is it a hummingbird? What the heck is that last bird?
    Incredible photos Jo. Loved the vultures just hanging out on that fallen tree. Your shots are so good!

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    1. I’m not sure – they were taken in 1984 – and I am getting around to putting the negatives on the computer and fixing them up after years of storage. I will have to look them up or ask someone who may know. I used to know what they were but the old grey matter has taken a few hits in the ensuing years. LOL

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  2. I love birds. There is something about them that seems to free us, don’t you think? And more than just their wings…they invite us to look to the sky….above and within.

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    1. I agree with that totally. It was funny but so many others thought it was strange to be taking photos of birds when there were lions, elephants and so on. But I loved these guys.

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  3. Great photos. I loved Africa and would love to go back – think my love affair with birds really started there. Also have finally put up the 7 Links award (and thank you again for that!). Hopefully it will bring you a few more people too. Take care. Cheers Cheryl

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    1. Thanks Cheryl,
      Will pop over to check out your links – i would love to go back – especially to the gorillas. I’d love to take my kids one day and share that with them.

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    1. It is a lot of work – fixing them up, but really worth it when you see the photos again as they should be. At the moment I just have a dinky sort of programme – but one day when I can afford Photoshop I will really fo at it. 🙂

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      1. What program do you use to do it with? Ive got a giant manila envelope of negatives. I sorta miss the days of 800 speed film and 35 milimeters.

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        1. It is a friend’s. It is called a Digitech XC4881 Scanner Neg.Film/Slide. It comes with the software which is ArcSoft Photo Impression 6 – you pop the negatives in a slide – then acquire them through the scanner, save, and they have this little photo edit tool in ArcSoft. You can fix up colour to some extent – brightness/contrast and so on. But the best feature is this little healing tool. You can click on a part of the photo and then click on damaged areas. It copies the good area and even copies the textures. Amazing. Love it !!!

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  5. Hello! I looked at my book for the birds. I see that you named most of them. My book refers to the Ground Hornbill as the Southern Ground Hornbill. However, I’m not sure if this is because I was in the southern part. Unfortunately I never saw the blue bird. I wish I did since he’s beautiful. I’m wondering if the unnamed brown bird is a type of Heron. Also, just an interesting fact, in Chobe the Guinea-fowls are also referred to Chobe chickens. They are all over Chobe National Park. I’m sorry, I wasn’t much help. But you have convinced me to hurry up and buy my book on birds.

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    1. When you get it – let me know. 🙂 I have found a photo of a Starling that MAY be the blue bird – still looking into it. But I can’t seem to find anything on the one in the water. Bummer. I will keep looking though. 🙂 Thanks for trying. 🙂

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      1. I’m sorry. I wish I had the email for one of the guides I traveled with. He would be able to help. I was amazed by how much he knew.

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        1. I am sure one day I will figure it out. 🙂 Thanks for trying so hard to be of help. I find it difficult to be really sure that these are what I think they are – the photos are a little to obscure with markings or distinct features to be 100%.

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  6. Great shots and I am all for just making up names for the birds. It’s fun and messes with people’s minds. I think the bright blue one is a Neon Teal Bunting. (See how that works!)

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  7. I have no idea on the Bird names JO, I’m just sitting here, open mouthed, staring at them….Aren’t they all marvellous? and the blazing blue one is just simply stunning. Many thanks for sharing, and many thanks too for dropping by my site. I shall call back if I may, at a better time so I can absorb all you have on show. have a good day … xPenx

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    1. Thank you Gisel, I appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to comment. I spent some time working in Boppard in the 80’s – love to know if that is near you…

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  12. Oh, in that case I might never get to put my negatives on disk. It sounds like it might take months of work. Even my music collection is badly organized, for that reason.
    p.s. raising the number of nested comments in admin/discussin will allow more replies to replies.

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    1. Oh Sara – what would I do without you – nested comments attended to. Nah – I put 1000 on in a day, hmmmmmmmm, maybe a day and a half. And wow – it is so cool to see them again, fix them up. Just do it. You’ll be glad you did. 🙂

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  14. What neat pictures! I actually love vultures – I think they’re so cool. Around here (Minnesota, USA) we get Turkey Vultures. I honestly don’t know why people think they’re creepy. They’re amazing!

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    1. They are amazing – these little guys are so often overlooked for the bigger game. i hope I have identified most – htough there are a couple I’d like to check on. I keep hoping someone will look at them and say – it is a …………………..

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  19. Wonderful pictures Jo. It is wonderful you’ve had the chance to visit Africa and see so many unusual sights. The vastness and variety of life on our planet is best appreciated with ones own eyes. Fortunately for the rest of us we can see some of these miraculous animals by way of wonderful photographs like these and experience the wonder of it through your words. Thank you for sharing!
    ;-)WBW!

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    1. It was great to find your site with all of its wonderful connections – thank you for your kind comment. I agree that we are fortunate that we can at least see some of these sites even if we do not do it personally.

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  21. I can confirm your hammerkop. Did you see its nest? I recently learned (when I made a WBW post about them) that they build enormous nests, 2-3 metres in diameter.
    You have a great collection of birds you saw, beautiful.

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  28. Great post Jo and welcome to World Bird Wednesday! I think your bird IDs are right on. Thanks for giving the links to their wiki pages too. The Hamerkop’s nest (photo on wiki) is very impressive. Thanks for sharing your trip photos!

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    1. Hi Larry. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment – I appreciate it. I like it when there are links to things I don’t know on other people’s pages – so I like to allow people th opportunity to investigate further if they want – glad to hear from someone that they appreciate that.
      🙂

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