The Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina) is a medium-sized Australian bird. It looks like a crow, but it is only distantly related to crows and ravens.
The Pied Currawong is black with white bars on its wings and tail. It has booted feet (feathers on its legs). It has a hooked tip on its long, sharply-pointed beak. It has bright yellow eyes.
The Speckled Pigeon (Columba guinea) is also called the African Rock Pigeon. It is a common medium-sized African bird.
The Speckled Pigeon has rufous (red-brown) wings and back. Its wings are speckled with white spots. Its upperparts and underparts are blue-grey. Its head is grey with red patches around its eyes. Its neck is brownish, streaked with white. Its beak is pale and its legs are red.
What is the difference between the Black Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina ceciliae) and the Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum)?
The Black Crowned Crane has a black neck, and the Grey Crowned Crane has a soft slate-grey neck.
The Black Crowned Crane has pinkish-white cheeks, and the Grey Crowned Crane has white cheeks.
The Black Crowned Crane has a pink throat pouch, and the Grey Crowned Crane has a red throat pouch.
The Black Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina ceciliae) is a rare bird native to the wetlands of eastern and western Africa. It is a subspecies of the Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum).
The Black Crowned Crane has a black neck, and a white and pink naked (featherless) head. Its wings are mainly white. Its head has a crown of stiff golden feathers. Its cheeks are pinkish-white, and it has a pink throat pouch. Its beak is short and grey, and its legs are black.
The House Crow (Corvus splendens) is a medium-sized bird.
The House Crow is a slender black and grey crow with a large black beak and a long tail. It has a black crown, face, and chest. Its back, wings and tail are black, with a glossy tinge of green, blue, and purple. Its nape, neck, and lower chest is dull grey.
The Wattled Starling (Creatophora cinerea) is a small African bird. It is also called the Locust Bird.
The Wattled Starling is grey-brown with black wings and a black tail. It has a white rump and short wings. It has a pale pink-white beak, pale pink-grey legs, and dark eyes.
When males are ready to breed, the skin on their heads becomes yellow with twisted black wattles (hanging or drooping skin).
The Red-Rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) is a small bird from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The African Red-Rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica emini) is from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, and Zambia. Unlike the European swallows, which are migratory, the African Red-Rumped Swallows are resident (they do not fly to another location in winter).
The Red-Rumped Swallow is a blue-black with a rufous (red-brown) rump with rufous patches on the sides of its head. It has rufous underparts with a pale throat. Its tail is plain and forked. It has dark eyes, a small grey beak, and pink-grey legs.
The Straw-Tailed Whydah (Vidua fischeri) is an east African bird in the Viduidae family.
The Straw-Tailed Whydah is mostly black with a sandy-buff coloured forehead and crown. It has four long, thin, straw-coloured central tail feathers. Its beak and feet are pink-red.
The Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture (Gyps rueppelli) is a large critically endangered vulture from Africa. They are related to the White-Backed Vulture.
The Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture has mottled brown or black feathers with a whitish-brown underbelly and thin, cream-white fluff covering its head and neck. The base of its neck has a white collar. Its eyes are dark or amber, and its crop patch is deep brown. Its head does not have feathers. It has sharp talons and a powerful dark black.
Continue reading “CREATURE FEATURE: Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture”
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
The Capped Wheatear (Oenanthe pileata livingstonii) is a common small migratory African songbird.
The Capped Wheatear has a black cap, black cheeks, and a black chest band. It has a white eye stripe and a white throat. It has white underparts, with buff patches. Its wings are brown with black streaks. Its tail, beak, and legs are black.
The Red-Winged Starling (Onychognathus morio) is a medium-sized African bird in the Sturnidae family.
The Red-Winged Starling has iridescent black feathers with rufous (red-brown) flight feathers. The female has an ash-grey head and upper chest. It has dark eyes, a thick black beak, and black legs.
The Golden Palm Weaver (Ploceus bojeri) is a small Africa bird. It is in the Ploceidae family.
The Golden Palm Weaver is bright yellow with pale light-brown streaks on its wings. It has a bright golden face with a thick short black beak. Its eyes are dark and its legs are pink.
The Black-Faced Sandgrouse (Pterocles decoratus) is an east African bird. The sub-species Pterocles decoratus decoratus is found in southeast Kenya and eastern Tanzania.
The Black-Faced Sandgrouse has a small, pigeon-like head and neck, but a sturdy compact body. Its has long pointed wings and tails, and short cream-coloured legs. It is chestnut-brown with black markings. It has a brown chest with a white belly separated by a black band. Its head is chestnut with a black eyebrow, a white line above the eyebrow, round dark eyes with a white eye-ring, and a short orange beak.
The Bateleur Eagle (Terathopius ecaudatus) is a large African bird. It is a raptor and an accipiter (birds with powerful hooked beaks and powerful sharp talons).
The Bateleur Eagle is dark-black with a short, chestnut-coloured tail. It has extremely long, pointed wings that are white underneath. It has grey or brown shoulders, and a chestnut back. It has a yellow beak and a brilliant bare red face and base of bill (called the cere). It has an enormous head. Its legs are short and bright red.
The Red-Collared Widowbird (Euplectes ardens) is a small bird found in eastern and southern Africa.
The Red-Collared Widowbird is black with a long tail. It has white streaks on is back, wings, and undertail. It has a brilliant red crescent-shaped patch on its neck (collar) and crown (cap). When it is not breeding season, the male has brown feathers. Females are brown with a short tail. It has a grey beak and grey legs.
The Rufous-Naped Lark (Mirafra africana) is a short-tailed bird from Africa.
The Rufous-Naped Lark has rufous (red-brown) wings and back of neck. Its body is brown with contrasting dark streaks. It has a cream-coloured underbelly. It eyes are hazel brown with a creamy-buff eyebrow. Its beak is blackish to pinkish with a straight lower beak, and longish, curved upper beak. Its tail is dark-brown. Its feet are pink to pink-brown.
The Australasian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus) – also written as Swamp Hen – is a wetlands bird native to Australia and southeast Asia. It belongs to the Rail family. It is related to rails, moorhens and coots.
The Australasian Swamphen is black with a purple throat and chest. It has a red frontal shield above its thick red beak. Its feet are pink-red with four long toes. Its toes are not webbed. Its eyes are orange-brown.
Ostrich eggs are the largest of all bird eggs, relative to the size of the adult female.
Ostrich eggs are shiny and cream-coloured with a thick shell that has small dents all over it.
What is the difference between the Common Moorhen and the Dusky Moorhen?
The Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) and the Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) are both medium-sized wetland birds from the Rail family.
The Common Moorhen has yellow legs. The Dusky Moorhen has orange-yellow legs.
Continue reading “What is the difference between the Common Moorhen and the Dusky Moorhen?”