Category: Birds
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African Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene)
This medium-sized eagle was a great discovery for me in Botswana. The African Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene) hunts for insects and small animals in dead trees and rocks. It’s very mobile and devilishly active. African harrier Hawk (or Gymnogene) (Polyboroides typus), Gymnogène d’Afrique. Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010.
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Great White Pelican
Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), Pélican blanc. Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010.
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Hamerkop
I love this bird. It seems to be right out of the illustrations of a XIXth Century book about prehistoric wildlife (and it’s the only living species of the genus Scopus). I love its name. It seems a near impossibility (that’s probably why there are so many other possible names like Hammerkop, Hammerkopf, Hammerhead, Hammerhead…
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Jabiru Stork or Saddle-billed Stork
Jabiru Stork or Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), Jabiru. Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010.
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Yellow-billed Stork
Yellow-billed Stork (Mycteria ibis), Ibis tantale. Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010.
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Little bee-eater
Little bee-eater (Merops pusillus), Guêpier nain. Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010.
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Wattled Crane
Some may be hesitating slightly when they are told the exact name of this large bird. Isn’t it a hoax or a word play? But ornythologists love these names as complicated, as tortured as they come in Wattled Crane, without even listening to the sound and considering only yhe precise description of the brightly-coloured flesh…
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Great white egrets, in a tree
Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010. Great white egret (Ardea alba), Grande aigrette.
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Coppery-tailed Coucal
Moremi National Park, Botswana, May 2010. Coppery-tailed Coucal (Centropus cupreicaudus), Coucal des papyrus.