200 different Animals for a Non-birder on a Winter Trip?

[Lisbeth]

The crowned hornbill is great, but the trumpeter hornbill is not kidding either

[Toko]

Had the Trumpeter sighting of my lifetime with three of them and still not birding, but watching them with my morning cigarette

[Lisbeth]

I am sure that they disappeared immediately smelling the sigarette Pfuieee!!

[Toko]

Nope. That's the trick, you must look like a non birder, just a person outside for a smoke. Then they keep on doing their thing.

[Lisbeth]

[nan]

I am not a big fan of sitting on the same stoep and driving the same roads every day, rather try to get around and see more different habitat and landscapes which comes with more diversity.
Honestly I can not relate to our wonderful greenies who stay in KTP for more than 7 days and see the same animals and landscapes every day I think they get so bored that they invent crazy pass times, such as identifying cheetah


did you realy saw a Suny

[Toko]

Welcome to the world of travelling, nan

I have seen several Suni, but usually only for half a second or sometimes they stay for several seconds, but are somehow blurry

Here Suni at full gallop, looks like a running hare

[Toko]

African Grey Hornbill Lophoceros nasutus

This is a lovely Toko surrounded by Sjambok Flowers - a first for me. I keep record of Tokos and their preferred trees and I think this Toko has choosen an unusual spot and he is just in awe and watching the blooms, maybe looking for the nicest flowers to pick for his wife.


Kruger National Park, 24 August 2014

Lophoceros nasutus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously placed in the genus Tockus.

Identification: Size medium (length 43-48 cm); generally dull greyish above and on throat and breast (Redbilled and Yellowbilled Hornbills boldly mottled black-and-white on wings); rest of underparts whitish; tail brownish, tipped white; dark bill of ♂ diagnostic (other smaller hornbills have bright yellow or red bills); ♀ has dark lower jaw; eyes dark (Yellowbilled Hornbill has yellow eyes, Redbilled Hornbill may have either yellow or brown); whitish streak down back in flight. Iris brown; bill (♂) black, cream wedge-shaped patch on upper jaw, 3-4 diagonal white ridges on lower jaw, (♀) tip of upper jaw reddish, base creamy yellow, tip of lower jaw reddish, rest black with 3-4 diagonal white ridges; gular skin (♂) dark grey, (♀) light green; legs and feet black, soles white.
Immature: Browner than adult; bill with white patch at base of upper jaw as in ♂; lacks casque.

Distribution: Occurs throughout the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa it is locally common in Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern Namibia, Mozambique, northern South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal; in South Africa absent from most of highveld, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape, Southern Namibia and treeless Kalahari sandveld.

Habitats: Bushveld, savanna, woodland.

Habits: In pairs when breeding; otherwise gregarious in small groups or large dry-season concentrations of 100 or more birds. Forages in trees, rarely on ground; hawks insects in flight. Flight undulating, buoyant and dextrous; tail raised on alighting. Frequents grassfires. When calling flaps wings and points bill upwards.

Food: Insects, solifugids, rodents, frogs, chameleons, seeds, fruit, peanuts.

Breeding: Season: September to December (mainly October-November) in Zimbabwe, February-March in Namibia (after rains), October to November in Gauteng. Nest: Natural hole in tree, lined mainly with bark flakes; 3-4 m above ground; usually with chimney or funkhole above entrance. Clutch: 3-5 eggs. Incubation: 24-26 days by ♀ only. Nestling: 43-49 days; ♀ breaks out of nest 19-24 days after first egg hatches; nestlings re-seal entrance unaided.

[Toko]

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill Tockus leucomelas

Another adorable Toko


Marakele National Park, 18 August 2014

Identification: Size very large (50 cm); sexes alike, but male larger and with larger bill. Yellow bill and pink facial skin diagnostic. Eyes yellow.
Immature: Bill smaller and more dusky; eyes grey becoming brown.

Distribution: Inland southern Africa (western and southern Angola, southern Zambia, northern Namibia, Botswana, north-central and north-eastern South Africa, Zimbabwe, western and southern Mozambique, and Swaziland).

Habitats: Any woodland, savanna, open grassveld, agricultural lands.

Habits: In pairs or groups of usually not more than 8 birds (2-4 adults and 1-3 immatures); mean group size 3,6 birds. Neighbouring groups chase each other in aerial pursuits. Forages on ground, walking with stiff rolling gait on terminal phalanges of toes; digs with bill for food. Vocal mostly early morning; also late afternoon. Flight powerful with deep wingbeats, little gliding. Roosts in groups at ends of branches, head tucked into shoulders, bill pointing upwards.

Food: Entirely carnivorous; reptiles (including tortoises), frogs, snails, insects; also mammals up to size of hare.

Breeding: It nests in natural tree holes up to about 12 m above ground, lining the chamber with dry leaves and small bark flakes. The entrance is sealed by the female from the inside with her own faeces, leaving a vertical slit 5-15 mm wide. Egg-laying season always follows good rains, usually peaking from September-October. It lays 2-6, usually 3-4 eggs which are incubated by the female for roughly 24 days; the male feeds the female through the narrow slit. The chicks stay in the nest for 42-47 days, remaining near the nest for a few more days before joining their parents in foraging trips. When the oldest chick is 19-27 days old the female leaves the nest for the first time since laying the eggs.

[Toko]

Southern Red-billed Hornbill Tockus rufirostris

Rotschnabeltoko


Mapungubwe National Park, 21 August 2014

Identification: The Southern Red-billed Hornbill is a large bird, at 42 cm in length, but is one of the smaller hornbills. This species has mainly whitish underparts and head and grey upperparts with a black stripe on the back of its head. It has a long tail and a long curved red bill which lacks a casque. Eyes are yellow or brown.

Distribution: Angola and n Namibia to Mozambique and e South Africa.

Habitats: Common in open, wooded savanna with sparse ground cover.

Habits: This bird form flocks outside the breeding season. It can become quite tame around human habitation and frequently invites itself around picnic spots at meal-times.

Food: This species is omnivorous. It feeds mainly on small insects, such as beetles, ants, termites, flies and grasshoppers, but it also eats larger arthropods - like centipedes and scorpions, small reptiles but also birds' eggs and nestlings, notably shrikes, boubous and queleas, small seeds and fruits. It might even scavenge dead rodents. The Red-billed Hornbill does most of its foraging on the ground, rarely hawking prey aerially.

Breeding: Egg-laying season is after the good summer rains, from September to March, peaking in October-December. The Red-billed Hornbill nests in natural cavities in trees, anything between 0.3 to 9 m above ground. The female seals herself in her nest with a palster made up of her own faeces, mud, and even fruit pulp, leaving a small entrance hole 3-4 cm wide. This narrow aperture is just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and later to the chicks. This species lays 2-7 -usually 3-5 eggs-, depending on rainfall and food availability before laying. Incubation is done solely by the female, since she is trapped in her own nest, starting with the first laid egg. It lasts 23-25 days. At the beginning, the male is the sole food provider for the female and the chicks, but as the inhabitants of the nest become too big to fit inside, the mother mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall to keep the young ones in and any predators out. Then both parents feed the chicks which will stay in the nest for some 39-50 days altogether. When they are ready to come out themselves, they break the wall another time. They remain near the nest for a few more days before joining their parents in foraging.