This is the fifth post from my recent trip to the Chobe river in October. It is purely about birds, but I have excluded Fish Eagles and African Skimmers from this collection of images as I have two previous posts from this trip focused purely on these birds. This post is designed to give you a small sense of the incredible variety of birds you can expect to see along the Chobe river.

“Of course I realize that photography is not the technical facility as much as it is the eye, and this decision that one makes for the moment at which you are going to snap, you know.”
~Ben Shahn

A Goliath Heron wading in the deep. They seem to be unperturbed by the fact that there are plenty of crocodiles in the water.

This particular character waded out to fish. The Goliath Heron has excellent binocular vision and can adjust for the refraction of the light through the water, so is a deadly accurate spear fisherman.

Most Herons are accomplished spear fishermen. That said this fisherman missed – this time!

We saw the odd Long-toed Lapwing close to the river’s edge. At certain times of the year you can see hundreds of them along the Chobe river.

The ubiquitous Reed Cormorant, this one was perched on an overhanging reed for a little aerial perspective. This is unusual as they normally perch on more substantial branch of a dead tree or on rocks overlooking the water.

This Cattle Egret was having a quiet word with a Buffalo bull who was chewing the cud in the grass out of sight on one of Chobe’s islands.

Up river at Pygmy Geese corner we found this Buffalo bull munching away at the aquatic vegetation in the shallow water. As the Buffalo moved it disturbed insects which this African Jacana was very interested in. 

When a Yellow-billed Stork raises its head after probing the river bed for food it always has this surprised look. This character was a little scruffy but they have striking colouring. During the breeding season their colouration becomes more vivid as their white plumage turns pinkish on the upper wings and back; their ordinarily brown legs turn bright pink; their bill becomes a deeper yellow and the face becomes a deeper red.

Pied Kingfisher with lunch. Yes it did get that size fish down its throat. What always amazes me is that they don’t choke and can still breath during the protracted process of swallowing.

Another Pied Kingfisher looking for supper. Usually we see many Pied Kingfishers along the Chobe river but for some reason we saw very few Pieds in mid-October. This was unusual but was perhaps in anticipation of a change in the weather.

Down near Puku Flats we found a few Carmine Bee-eaters.

This Carmine Bee-eater was showing off its gorgeous colouring.

A pair of Carmine Bee-eaters on their hunting perch.

Carmine-Bee-eater just landing with its catch. These Bee-eaters hunt from a perch. They have excellent eyesight and are incredibly fast and agile fliers.

Having caught their prey they beat it to death on a branch before swallowing it whole.

In as much as we saw unusually few Pied Kingfishers, we saw more Goliath Herons on this trip than I have ever seen on all of my previous trips along the Chobe put together. Again nature has a reason for this but I do not understand the subtleties causing these population fluctuations.

A Goliath stretch.

Having speared this fish a Goliath Heron was in the process of manoeuvering it so that it could swallow it whole.

Collared Pratincole – one of the early visitors. Later in the year huge flocks of these Pratincoles can be seen along the Chobe.

These Collared Pratincoles flock in murmurations much like starlings. They are spectacular to watch.

Giant Kingfisher – a perch hunter looking for a meal of fish or crab.

Giant Kingfisher busy eating a freshwater crab. It has already partly demolished it but beating it to death against the log it was standing on.

Juvenile Malachite Kingfisher

Juvenile Malachite Kingfisher, it has not yet got the red colour in its bill.

Adult Malachite Kingfisher not much bigger than the juvenile but much more colourful.

Adult Malachite Kingfisher

Purple Heron with breakfast

Water Thickknee

Bathing time for this Water Thickknee

African Jacana looking for insects in a Water Lily flower

African Jacana looking for insects and small snails on the lily pads and under the leaves of the aquatic vegetation.

African Jacana – the lily trotter flies to the adjacent raft of lily pads

African Jacana – got to keep moving or else sink.

African Jacana – lily trotting

African Openbill with a mussel gathered from the riverbed.

This African Spoonbill stopped its mussel hunting to wait for the waves from a passing boat to subside. 

” For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.”

~Henri Cartier-Bresson

This African Openbill was alarmed by an incoming noisy White-crowned Lapwing.

This Openbill had cracked open the mussel to extract the edible portion. They are remarkably effective mussel crackers.

A side view of an Africa Openbill showing its unique bill.

Sacred Ibis in flight.

Sacred Ibis coming in to land near Puku Flats.

Squacco Heron hunting in a reed bed at the edge of the river.

“You learn to see by practice. … The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can’t be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.”
~Eliot Porter

Squacco Heron hunting close to a small herd of Impala.

Squacco Heron moving to another feeding spot.

Yellow-billed Kite scavenging on a dead fish on an island in the Chobe river.

A Yellow-billed Kite comes into investigate a dead fish on the river bank.

Yellow-billed Kite – masterful fisherman and thief.

Yellow-billed Kite in full glide – with fingers gently feeling the wind.

Black-crowned Night Heron – full frontal

Black-crowned Night Heron in the late afternoon getting ready for its crepuscular hunting.

“There is so much more to the things that we think we know from afar. The closer you get the more complex it is, not the simpler it is to understand.”
~Susan Meiselas

Glossy Ibis making it clear to passers by that this was its feeding spot.

Glossy Ibis side view.

Adult Black-winged Stilt in flight

Black-winged Stilt hunting for edibles in the shallows around an island in the river .

White-crowned Lapwing which can be confused with its Wattled cousin. Both have yellow wattles but the Wattled Lapwing as a red patch on its forehead above its bill and only a white patch on its forehead. The Wattled Plover’s neck is streaked whereas the White-crowned has a grey neck and white throat and belly.

This White-crowned Lapwing was letting us know in no uncertain terms that it did not want us around.

African Darter or Snakebird. It is so called because when it is hunting in the water its neck and head stick out of the water and it looks very snake-like.

The ubiquitous resident Lilac -breasted Roller. There is a pair who have their nest in a tree stump next to the trio of Jackalberry trees close to the park entrance.

You will always find an African Spoonbill close to water because their bill is adapted to feeding in water.

The Spoonbill’s spatula-like tip of its bill is very sensitive. It swishes its slightly open bill back and forth in the water. As soon as something touches something moving it snaps its bill shut. They use their feet to disturb fish, frogs or aquatic invertebrates from the sediment on the riverbed.

  

A Marabou Stork probing the water for something to eat. Marabou is a French word that means “ugly, misshapen old man”. Ugly certainly, we nickname this stork “Dr Death” because they can be seen standing in the trees outside Skukuza camp in Kruger park in South Africa at dusk with their heads hunched on their shoulders and they look quite sinister. Marabou Storks are kleptoparasites. who feed on carrion. There bills are not shaped to tear meat off a carcass so they wait for vultures or predators to do the work and then feed off the scraps. They can often be seen harassing vultures to get them to drop the meat they have just torn off a carcass.

The ugliness lies mainly it its pigmented face and bald head with little tufts of hair. It lacks any significant head feathering so that it can easily wash off fluids from carcasses that coat their head and neck.

The swollen sac at the lower end of the throat is not a crop or gular pouch, as seen in pelicans. It is a gular air sac and functions as a thermo-regulator.  The gular sac can be filled with air in hot weather to increase surface area for heat dissipation (with the capillaries dilated). Conversely, the capillaries are constricted and the sac inflated to be warmed by the sun on cold winter mornings. It is likely that it also serves as a dominance indicator (depending on size and possibly colour) in social interactions. This sac is generally used when threatened and during courtship.

This Marabou is scooping up water in its bill much like a hawk or Ostrich.

This was first time I had ever seen a Marabou Stork bathing. It was particularly hot that day so it was probably also cooling itself.

Grey Heron in its Flasher Pose. They normally strike this pose facing the sun. The sunning or wing drying stance does not appear to be strictly for thermo-regulation or drying in the Herons. At times this pose looks to be for cooling purposes. It was very hot that day so its open wing pose, with open mouth and rapid breathing and vibration of the throat looked to be for cooling. The heating up of the feathers seems to also force out pests which are easier to remove when preening.

This was the first time I had seen a Grey Crowned Crane along the Chobe river. A pair were walking and looking for food amongst a herd of Buffalo.

I hope I have given you a sense of the incredible variety of birds you are likely to see along the Chobe river. Photographing from the boat gives an all together better perspective and the birds seem to accept your presence more.

“The process of photographing is a pleasure: eyes open, receptive, sensing, and at some point, connecting. It’s thrilling to be outside your mind, your eyes far ahead of your thoughts.”
~Henry Wessel

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This is the fourth post from our recent trip with CNP Safaris to the Chobe river, and focuses on Elephants. The Chobe river is one of the major southern African rivers. It flows along the northern border of Botswana and meets the mighty Zambezi just east of Kasane, continues along Zimbabwe’s northern border with Zambia, through Mozambique and down to the Indian Ocean.

“We admire Elephants in part because they demonstrate what we consider the finest human traits: empathy, self-awareness, and social intelligence. But the way we treat them puts on display the very worst of human behavior.”
~ Graydon Carter

We would leave the lodge around 6h30 and cruise straight to the little office at the park entrance to sign in and then head up river to just enjoy the big sky, peace and serenity that envelopes you at this time of the morning. We usually have a look in Jacana Alley, which is the inlet close to the three large iconic Jackalberry trees. One of which is home to a Fish Eagle family. October is not Jacana breeding season so it was relatively quiet but we found this lone bull Elephant. He was standing shoulder deep in the river eating the new grasses. It was very quiet and peaceful and somehow everything seemed right with the world while we were watching him feeding.

After June, the river level drops and the water level can fall one to two metres below the level of the islands. In certain spots, this provides photographers with wonderful perspective when the bulls are grazing close the edge. Those massive ears act as fans and radiators and the dual system is required in the summer months when it can be very hot along the Chobe river.

We came across a few Elephant bulls who were feeding on the grasses on the island. They kick loose tufts of grass and then pull them out of the ground with their trunks. They wrap their trunk around the tuft and pull. Having removed the tuft, they hit it against the ground to remove the loose soil and delicately placed it in their mouth. It is impressive how dexterous these massive mammals are with their trunks.

The water levels do not worry the larger Elephant, especially the bulls. They just wade through and if it gets too deep they have a snorkel and crocodiles are not a threat.

Family herds are a common sight along the Chobe. They vary from in size from small groups of four to as many as fifty. You don’t often see Elephant down at the river in the early mornings as they are usually feeding inland. Unfortunately, the Elephant herds have expanded to such as extend in northern Botswana they have decimated the bush for some distance from the water. The result is that most of the animals now have quite a “trek”  between food and water.

“Elephants have long term supportive bonds between family members, so it’s not just a species facing extinction, its massive individual suffering.”

~Jane Goodall

October was especially hot, around 40 degrees centrigrade, so by the afternoon the Elephant were hot, well fed and needed to drink. Once they had slated their thirst, it was time for a little beauty treatment – even the boys!! They use their trunks to suck up a dollops of mud and then squirt it over themselves. The mud seems to be soothing and provides some sunscreen and protection from biting insects.

When big bulls are slowly making their way towards you is always an impressive sight. The older bulls seldom take much notice of the boats. They must have seen it all before – many times! Elephants have a number of ways in which they communicate. Long distance communication is either infra-sonic (low frequency) or seismic (vibrations felt through their feet). To get a sense of the range of frequencies used by Elephants it may be useful to compare them with the range used by people. A typical human male’s voice in speech fluctuates around 110 Hertz (Hz, or cycles per second), a female’s voice around 220 Hz and a child’s around 300 Hz. Among Elephants, a typical male rumble fluctuates around an average minimum of 12 Hz (more than 3 octaves below a man’s voice), a female’s rumble around 13 Hz and a calf’s around 22 Hz (Source http://www.elephantvoices.org/).

Further up river just next to Puku Flats, we found a small family group of Elephants crossing one of the deeper channels. As you can see from the dry patch on top of the Elephant’s head, in the next image, the river must have been quite deep at one point. The calves have to swim but get helped and pushed along by the adults. They are very protective of their young when crossing a channel because that is the time the calves are vulnerable to a crocodile attack. The females have a lot invested in those calves, they carried them in their wombs for almost two years.

Bronzed, refreshed and ready to take on the world, these three Elephants have just crossed a deep channel to feed on the grass on the other side. The Elephants could have walked around the inlet but that was probably one to two kilometres so they just crossed the channel instead – quite human like!!

Up at Elephant Valley we found more of our beloved Elephants but they were not alone. A small group of young Sable Antelope had also come down to drink. The adults were fine with their neighbours but one young bull decided they should not drink near them and began chasing off the Sable. This particular young bull had been eating soil from a steep bank. The white soil is rich in minerals which is why he had white over his legs, trunk and forehead. The calcium-based minerals must be one of the key reasons Elephant Valley is so attractive the antelope and Elephant.

Elephant Valley is a superb spot to watch game come down to drink. It is incredible to see how ordered and patient the Elephant families are at this spot. One family will wait, even though they must be thirsty, until the family drinking at the water’s edge are finished. We humans could learn a thing or two from our pachyderm friends.

The Elephant mothers are very protective over their families and the youngsters know to stay close.

The next image was taken of a lone bull Elephant on an island in the main river about a kilometre downstream from Chobe Game Lodge. This is the island we moored at to take the Skimmer shots which I showed in a post in late October. Something disturbed this lone Elephant feeding on the grass on the island.

Large game moving onto these islands can be problematic for the Skimmers as they lay their eggs in a scrape in sand on these islands. Lone Elephants are not too much of a problem but if there are many they can stand on the eggs or chicks. Buffalo are usually the main problem as they do not seem to be nearly as careful where they walk. The startled Elephant eventually left the island. It was a short walk through shallow water to the mainland. On the way he passed a watchful Goliath Heron.

“Of all African animals, the Elephant is the most difficult for man to live with, yet its passing – if this must come – seems the most tragic of all. I can watch Elephants (and Elephants alone) for hours at a time, for sooner or later the Elephant will do something very strange such as mow grass with its toenails or draw the tusks from the rotted carcass of another Elephant and carry them off into the bush. There is mystery behind that masked gray visage, and ancient life force, delicate and mighty, awesome and enchanted, commanding the silence ordinarily reserved for mountain peaks, great fires, and the sea.”
~ Peter Matthiessen, The Tree Where Man Was Born

On another occasion down at Lechwe Plains, we found these two youngsters drinking from the river. Their mother had been drinking with them and once finished walked over to an Elephant around 50 metres away which had died close to the water’s edge. It seemed from her very gentle smelling and touching of the bones that she was paying her respects to her fallen neighbour or perhaps a fallen family member.

Not only is the river a place to quench their thirst but it is also a playground. This young bull was having an absolute “gas” playing in the water. He was swishing his head back and forth stirring up the water. You can see all the veins in his ear which carry the blood to be cooled on this big surface area.

He would then lift his head up and smash it down into the water making a huge splash. He did this over and over again was obviously enjoying himself.

Beauty treatment is an essential part of an Elephant’s life and all the family members participate. This particular family group were revelling in the mud throwing it all over themselves and each other.

As you can see they thoroughly covered themselves in mud. They also covered whoever was standing next to them too. There is little or no noise other than the sound of sloshing around in the mud and the slapping of  large dollops of mud all over their wet bodies.

The next image shows one of four bulls in the area which saw what all the fun around the mud bath and came to join in. The females know only too well to take the youngsters away when the big guys arrive. The bulls can often be seen driving their tusks into the mud and digging up the earth to increase the supply of mud.

 

This was one of the bulls which heard all the action and was coming over to join in. You can see from the watermark on this bull that he had just crossed a fairly deep part of the river. 

“Elephants are living treasures. Nature’s gardeners. Nature’s great teachers. Tragically some people don’t give a damn. They prefer the dead treasure to the living one. The ivory. We must challenge this so-called ‘trade’ with all our might and shame on those who would condone it.”
~Virginia McKenna, OBE Founder & Trustee Born Free Foundation

One evening, at the end of a very hot day, we were slowly making our way back to the lodge as we had to be out of the park by 18h30. On the far side of the river we saw a small herd walking, with purpose, down to the river and it looked like they were going to cross. The fading evening light shining from behind us cast a bluish, mauve hue, which I thought was gorgeous.

This group stopped at the water’s edge to assess the whole area before the one of the large females led the group into the river to begin their crossing.

We moved down river to photograph into the setting sun. As you would expect, the colour of the light changes significantly. You can see the youngsters are clustered in the middle of the herd as they cross to protect them from crocodiles and give them assistance. The babies would have to swim as it would be too deep for then to walk across. The adults give them a helping push when they are struggling.

It was probably a three hundred metre crossing, shallow at first but much deeper in the main channel. There was quite a haze so it the light was lower than normal at that time of the evening. We had to pick our shots as everyone else on the river at that time had the same idea. In the early mornings we have the river almost to ourselves. The afternoons on the river can be like coming into Auckland harbour on a Sunday evening after a beautiful sunny day.

The perspective from the boat is ideal and we could move around until we were facing the setting sun, which created different, warmer colours and gave a very different feeling to the image.

The Elephant family passed a pod of Hippos while wading through the shimmering, golden water. The Elephant calf looked to be almost holding onto its mother’s tail, which enabled the mother to constantly feel that her calf was still with her.

Having successfully crossed the Chobe river in the fading light they walked over a sand ridge and were gone into the fading light for some peace away from all the boats.

The beauty and splendour of the scene was breathtaking. As raw and harsh as nature can be it, can be equally beautiful and serene.

“If Africa’s poaching crisis were a novel it would read like a chilling thriller filled with penurious poachers and Asian King Pins, determined conservationists and dirty politicians, pimps and prostitutes, war lords and white-collar criminals, and rangers risking their lives against all odds to protect what little wildlife we have left.”

 ~Jamie Joseph, Founder of Savingthewild.com

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be!

Have fun,

Mike

This is the third post from my recent trip to the Chobe.

Elephant Valley is about six or seven kilometres upstream along the Chobe river from Kasane. It is so called because of the frequency with which you are likely to see Elephant herds coming down to drink. The valley is created by a gap in the ridge along the Chobe. Of course, Elephant are not the only species which come down to drink there. It is a thirsty land at the end of spring while everything waits for the first rains. We often also see Baboon, Kudu, and sometimes Jackals drinking from this spot.

“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.”

– Aaron Rose

The surprise was that we got to see Sable Antelope on two separate occasions at Elephant Valley. Many people pass this spot and never get to see Sable Antelope. Here are a few images from those two sightings. I know I put out a post on Sable before I went on this trip but these are my favourite antelope, perhaps because they have such usual colouring, look so majestic and are fearsome scimitar swordsman.

On this occasion, we saw a small herd of young Sable which had come down to drink. They had to compete with the Elephants and of course size counts.

The Sable steered well clear of the Elephants but that did not stop one young bull giving the young Sable a scare.

Elephant Valley is a perfect ambush location for predators. Not that we have seen a kill in this spot but the vegetation on the sides of the shallow valley slopes are perfect ambush spots. The animals that come down to drink here know how dangerous this spot is and usually drink quickly and leave.

“I am not interested in shooting new things – I am interested to see things new.”

~Ernst Haas

The Sable come down to drink in a small herd which gives them more ears and eyes to scan for danger.

The Sable are skittish. They are well aware of their vulnerability in this spot, so when one of their own spooks the rest jump.

Invariably, they do not wait to find out what gave them a start but just galloping away from that immediate area.

These Sable were thirsty so they did not go too far but far enough to get out of possible harms way. After the immediate dash, they stopped and turned around to assess what is going on. Sable are grazers and browsers but all the Elephant in the park have destroyed much of the bush adjacent to the river so the gazers must move some distance away from the river to find food. They are therefore usually very thirsty when they arrive at the river.

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.”

– Le Corbusier

You can see the ambush spots all around them and so they stand equidistant from each of the bush clusters. This tells me they are acutely aware of the dangers around them and are continually measuring their options.

This group seems to work in a co-operative way. They all looked out in different directions.

One of the advantages of moving in a small herd is that you can post sentries to keep an eye out for danger while the others have their heads down drinking.

It does not take much to startle them and they are off.

On this particular occasion it was a Black-backed Jackal which startled them. After a short gallop, they stopped and returned to crowd the Jackal away from that spot. They were not afraid of this small irritation. The real issue is that the Jackal’s yelping can alert larger predators to the Sables’ whereabouts.

Sable, like many antelope, are very wary of drinking directly from the river. They all know that the river is seething with crocodiles. It is in this context that it is unusual to see a Sable kneel down next to the water’s edge to drink. Crocodiles strike very fast from their unseen underwater attack positions and a kneeling Sable would probably not be able to get away fast enough.

“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.”

~Diane Arbus

As you can imagine there are many scents wafting around this drinking place. One particular scent on this piece of driftwood caught this young Sable’s attention

“In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.”

~Alfred Stieglitz

Sable have unusually large eyes. They are diurnal, but I am not sure whether they have especially good night vision.

This Sable which had moved away from the group got spooked and ran away from the water’s edge on a number of occasions. Time and time again it would trickle back down to the water’s edge to drink.

“Light, that first phenomenon of the world,
reveals to us the spirit and living soul of this world
through colour.”
~ Johannes Itten

Confidence and safety in numbers.

Some of these young Sable were starting to get their adult colouring. Their coats were changing colour from a reddish-brown to jet black. Another indication of their age is the curve of their horns. The horns of these youngsters were not especially curved so I think they were young adults. The curve in the female’s horns is not a full as the male.

The Sable’s horns are lethal weapons and their ability to use them would impress any swordsman. They are quite capable of impaling an attacking lion.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
~Albert Einstein

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This is the second post from our recent trip to the Chobe and Zambezi rivers in mid-October with CNP Safaris. This post is focused on African Skimmers and dedicated to fellow photographers Peter and Susanne Scheufler who were especially charmed by the African Skimmers, so much so that Peter’s nickname is now “Skimmer”. Both are great photographers and I am sure they have much better images than I, but I wanted to share some of the wonderful sightings of African Skimmers we were privileged to see.

“If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
― David Livingstone

There are three geographically separated species of Skimmer and are all from the genus Rynchops. All three species look similar but with colour variations. The Black Skimmer (Rynchops Niger) is found in North and South America. It has a dark bill tip and to all of its plumage and a black nape in breeding plumage. The African Skimmer (Rynchops Falvirostris) is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the adults have a yellow tip to their red-orange bill. The Indian Skimmer (Rynchops Albicollis) is similar to the African species but has a white collar. These differences disappear in the non-breeding season when all Skimmers have white collars around their neck. I intend focusing on the African Skimmer because this is the species we saw.

The African Skimmer is an attractive long-winged, short-tailed tern-like bird. The back, nape, crown and top of the wings are black. Their neck and belly are white as is the underside of the wings and tail. When standing on the ground their little vermilion coloured legs look disproportionately small making them look like a tern. Their feet are structured for standing on sandbanks rather than perching on branches.

Their bill is one of the most unusual and interesting aspects about this amazing bird. The top mandible is red-orange and considerably shorter than the bottom mandible, which is also red-orange at the base but the colour fades from red-orange to a yellow becoming almost translucent at its tip. The bill is vertically narrow where the lower mandible narrows further into a blade and this is for cutting the water’s surface. The African Skimmer has relatively big deep-brown coloured eyes, which have enhanced night vision.

Another special adaptation is that this bird has unusually long and relatively narrow wings. These long albatross-like wings enable these birds to be acrobatic in flight and turn very sharply in any direction.

Another special feature of these birds is that when skimming over the water, they are able to fly with a half wing flap rather than a full up and down wing stroke – a sophisticated flight adaption –  and they are able to hold their head steady in this flight mode.

At times the flying displays these birds provide make it look as if they are doing it for the pure exhilaration of flying. It is amusing to watch the juveniles when they start to fly. It is as if their wings are too powerful and they initially struggle to control their flight and when landing, until they get the hang of it, the lower mandible ends up digging into the sand and the youngster comes to an abrupt halt, unharmed.

The African Skimmer is found across much of sub-Saharan Africa, but is absent from arid and semi-arid areas given its reliance on small fish as a food source. The African skimmer is found from Senegal to northern Congo River, Uganda and southern Nile Valley, southern Tanzania to the Zambezi Valley, Angola and the Okavango Delta and along the Chobe and Zambezi rivers and in isolated parts of South Africa such as KwaZulu-Natal.

“Wild rivers are earth’s renegades, defying gravity, dancing to their own tunes, resisting the authority of humans, always chipping away and eventually always winning.”

~ Richard Bangs

They live along large tropical rivers with sandbanks, lake shores, and coastal lagoons. In Southern Africa, the African Skimmer is generally uncommon but can be seen in localised spots in the Caprivi Strip in eastern Namibia, northern Botswana, northern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique.

  

On this particular trip it was unusually hot. Even the Skimmers needed to swim to cool down. Some of the adults ventured to the water’s edge and submerged themselves in water and repeatedly putting their heads under the water – wary of the ever-present threat of crocodiles big and small.

After having “dunked” themselves under the water they would jump up and flap their wings vigorously to remove the water.

Other adults took to bathing in the middle of the river. Here they would “belly land” in the water and take-off again and in the process completely soaking themselves. This did not impair their flying in any way at all. 

When not bathing or protecting their nests, there were other times when a pair of Skimmers would break off and fly in formation in what almost looked like a chase. It was difficult to know whether it was combat or a ritual mating display.

The displays were acrobatic, fast and usually high in the sky giving the birds time to recover the aerodynamics over their wings.

It was spell-binding  watching these acrobatic, aeronautical wizards in full display.

   

Their aeronautical displays were something to behold.

“Night and day the river flows. If time is the mind of space, the River is the soul of the desert. Brave boatmen come, they go, they die, the voyage flows on forever. We are all canyoneers. We are all passengers on this little mossy ship, this delicate dory sailing round the sun that humans call the earth. Joy, shipmates, joy.”

~ Edward Abbey

The displays would go on for some time and at the end, amazingly, these birds did not seem to be tired or panting heavily, even in the extremely hot conditions.

Sometimes in the ritual displays, the pair would fly vertically at high-speed until they almost stalled before peeling off .

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

This unusual bird seems to prefer large rivers and lakes with expansive, exposed sandbars and islands which they use for roosting and breeding. The African Skimmer is a partial intra-African breeding migrant. It arrives in southern Africa when the water level of rivers starts falling in the period from around mid-year, especially along the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. This is when the river’s sand bank become exposed again.They move north  after breeding, when rivers start rising again from in the new year.

The truly remarkable aspects of a Skimmer are its bill and method of fishing. Skimmers use their “half-wing flap” method to fly very close to the water’s surface. They lower their bottom mandible into the water while flying and the blade-like foremost part of its lower mandible cuts through the water. Its lower mandible is highly sensitive and snaps shut on any fish that is not quick enough to get away.

African Skimmers are usually seen hunting over calm waters because that they fly so close to the water surface. They feed mostly at dawn and dusk when the water surface is usually calmer.Although the African Skimmer is active throughout the day, it is largely crepuscular (active in the dawn and dusk) and even nocturnal. Its good nocturnal vision and use of touch to catch fish enables its hunting success in low light and darkness.

Skimmers do hunt in open water but are more often found hunting along the edge of reed beds and along rivulets where the water surface is calmer.

Skimmers hunt in the late afternoon, and often at night to avoid competition with other fish hunters. They will, however, hunt throughout the day to make up for the demand when feeding chicks. It takes about three months for the chick’s lower mandible to grow long enough for fishing, during which time they are reliant on their parents for food. Food is caught almost exclusively by skimming the water in flight with mouth open and lower mandible submerged.

   

What is unremarkable about this method of fishing is that the probability of the Skimmer hitting a log or a crocodile or something solid is quite good, yet they survive. The reason is that when their lower mandible strikes something, their head recoils absorbing the impact as their head and bill folds under their body.

 

Skimmers are social birds, nesting in colonies, but they usually forage alone and sometimes in small group. Skimmer’s nest on sand banks and are highly protective parents. They have a number of threats which range from egg raiding Marsh Harriers, to Water Monitors and even Herons and Marabou Storks. Skimmers take no chances, anything venturing close to their nest will be attacked from Elephant and Buffalo to innocent Blacksmith Lapwings who have to duck to avoid the Skimmer’s attentions.

We found many African Skimmers up at Kalizo, on the Caprivi strip in Namibia. The sand banks were ideal breeding grounds for these inter-African migrants.

“In every man’s heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibration of beauty.”
– Christopher Darlington Morley

Skimmers are monogamous, nesting either solitary or in a small colonies, and sometimes along with other birds such as Collared Pratincoles, Pied Avocets and White-fronted Plovers.

The nesting parents, with eggs and chicks, were attentive and wary guards.

The nest is probably built by both sexes, consists of a simple relatively deep scrape in the ground. The nest is usually selected from multiple scrapes and is typically located  close to the water level on a riverine sandbar to keep the nest cool in the very high temperatures. The temperature averaged 44 degrees centigrade at midday and in the afternoons, when we were there.

The egg-laying season is mainly from August-October and usually  two to four eggs are laid, though I only ever saw one egg in the nests we found. Both parents take turns to incubate the eggs for about 20-22 days.

The eggs are cryptically camouflaged so we had to be very careful when venturing on to the sandbank to photograph them and the chicks. Needless to say the parents attacked us. Unlike Lapwings, which dive bomb you, Skimmers are skilled fliers and fly horizontally straight at you and veer off to the side at the last second.

At times when we were on the sandbank photographing the chicks the parents flew to an adjacent sand bank and pretended to be injured trying to lure us away from their chicks, much the same way Lapwings and some ducks do.

The chicks were well camouflaged and lay dead still. Certainly any predator flying past would not see these chicks from above as they blended in so well with the surrounding sand.

In the evenings at sunset, we would often see the Skimmers flying in pairs over golden, star-spangled waters.

Hopefully, in some small way, I have given you a sense of the wonder and privilege we feel when watching and being able to photograph these special cameos of wildlife.

“Advice from the river:

Go with the flow, immerse yourself in nature,

Slowdown and meander, go around obstacles,

Be thoughtful of those downstream,

Stay current,

The beauty is in the journey.“

~ Ilan Shamir

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

I was fortunate enough to spend five wonderful days on the Chobe river photographing wildlife from CNP’s photographic boat with some super people who were passionate about their photography and wildlife, and loved being out in the “bush”. This blog is the first of five and shows a few images of the many Fish Eagles we saw while on the boat cruising the Chobe river.

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

– Sir David Attenborough

The African Fish Eagle is not a ‘true’ Eagle but belongs to the Haliaeetus genus of Sea Eagles, alongside seven other species worldwide that include the American Bald Eagle and the Eurasian White-tailed Eagle. This is one of the most ancient genera among all living birds. Eagles are seen as living symbols of power, freedom, and transcendence and admired for it. Watching these incredible raptors in the wild it is not difficult to understand why!!

Adult African Fish Eagles are large raptors, readily recognizable, with their pure white head, neck, chest, and tail, dark chestnut brown body, and black primaries and secondaries. They have broad, relatively long wings, and a fairly short, rounded tail. The face is mostly bare and yellow, as is the cere, The eyes are a dark auburn and the feet are light yellow covered in what looks like scales.

African Fish Eagles are kleptoparasites, which is to say they habitually steal prey from other species. Common victims of this piratical behaviour include Goliath Herons and Saddle-billed Storks.

A Fish Eagle’s toes, similar to the Osprey, are coated in sharp barbs, called spiricules, which help it to grasp fish and other slippery prey.

Fish are not the only item on the menu of this versatile predator. Other prey includes ducks, terrapins, baby crocodiles, mongooses, small waterfowl and even – in the soda lakes of East Africa – Flamingos.

This bird’s conspicuous nature and charismatic presence ensure it figures prominently in the folklore and heraldry of several nations. You will find it on the coat of arms of Namibia, Zambia and South Sudan.

With its distinctive plumage and evocative cry, the African Fish Eagle is probably the most recognisable bird of prey in Africa. This was the male of a pair which had caught a large catfish and were feeding on it on the ground. It must have been too big to carry up to the safety of a large Jackalberry, of which there are many along this river.

“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”

~ Jimmy Carter

The Fish Eagle is a perch hunter. Usually it is seen perched majestically on a high branch on a waterside tree. From its elevated perch it can watch for fish moving close to the water’s surface. Once prey is sighted, the African Fish Eagle launches from its perch, swoops low over the water, and at the critical moment throws both feet forward to seize hold of its target with powerful talons. African Fish Eagles normally take their fish in long shallow dives and prefer snatching them from the surface in one fluent movement. They usually target surface-feeding fish such as tilapia and catfish and mostly catch individuals that weigh between one-and two kilograms. They have very powerful wings and talons to deal with this form of hunting. Larger fish are usually dragged across the water to shore. If the fish is too heavy, the fish eagle has been know to use its wings to paddle to shore.

Adult African Fish Eagles are normally seen in pairs, but on large, productive lakes and rivers such as the Chobe, nests and roosts can be only a few hundred metres apart, and many birds can be found together in one area. The nests are usually built in a large tree and constructed with sticks lined with grass and water reeds. It can be used year after year, growing in size over time with the addition of reeds, papyrus heads, bulrushes and sometimes Weaver nests.

This  raptor stands up to  0.7m tall and weighs up to 2.8kg. The female is the larger of the two. There is no sexual dimorphism in their colouring, only their size.

Calling and duetting, whilst perched or soaring, is an integral part of the breeding display, and is combined with dramatic aerial dives and falls, with pairs interlocking talons in mid air. I have still to capture this interaction with my camera – tomorrow!!!

African Fish Eagles can live up to 24 years. Their range is throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. These are confident raptors as shown with the adult Fish Eagle unfazed by all the Impala grazing around it.

“Nature is part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery, man ceases to be man.”
~Henry Beston

The African Fish Eagle is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List with an estimated 100 000 and 200 000 pairs in the world, probably because of their long life expectancy.

It is very seldom a Fish Eagle flies straight towards you. This was one such occasion. You really get the sense of the power of this eagle. 

It is also a reminder that the bird is three times the size when its wings are extended compared to when it is perched on a branch.  The wing are very wide apart, ideal for soaring and catching thermals which fish eagles often do and climb to great heights in these modest twisters.

   

The bird has broad, slotted wings. These wings are best for soaring and gliding because they can use warm air updrafts to fly using almost no energy. Birds with these types of wings include Hawks, Eagles, and Vultures.

“The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery – not over nature but of ourselves.”

~Rachel Carson

On our last morning on the Chobe, we came across this Fish Eagle which had caught a sizeable fish and was busy eating its breakfast.

It did not seem to fuss about us and we were not too close as we were using long lenses. Nevertheless, this character started to ruffle its feathers which seems to re-order them. They often do this before flying away.

Sure enough, shortly after its shake-down it took of prey in its talons.

I am not sure what type of fish it was feeding on as it had eaten most of it.

There was obviously enough meat left on that fish to make it worthwhile carrying it away,

There are many pairs of Fish Eagles along the Chobe. Though they do seem to congregate between the entrance to the park at Kasane and Puku Flats. If you travel up river beyond Puku Flats down towards Serondela you are not likely to see Fish Eagles.

“Only when the last tree has been cut down
Only when the last river has been poisoned
Only when the last fish has been caught
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.“
– Cree Indian Prophecy

A special thanks goes to Johan Greyling who was our guide on this CNP trip – you were great and  I continue to learn from you – thank you.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter -connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike