This is the third post on birds seen in my recent trip to Amboseli with WildEye. We did not specifically go out to photograph birds but there is a wide variety and the swamp areas in Amboseli are ideal for wetland loving avians.

“Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.” ~ Unknown

A yellow throated spurfowl declaring his presence early in the morning on a rock next to the side of the road. He was so intent on his calling that he ignored us completely. Francolin and spurfowl were previously all called francolin. Although the birds all look similar scientists have discovered that they are not even that closely related. As a generalisation, a francolin is smaller and has yellow legs. It also flushes when disturbed and has a musical call. By comparison, a spurfowl is larger and has orange, red or black legs. It sits tight or runs when disturbed (rather than flushing) and roosts in trees at night. It also has a harsh call.

A pair of White-backed pelican flying in to join the rest of the flock. They look bulky and heavy but are graceful fliers. Wings of pelicans flap efficiently when flying close to the surface of water. As it nears the water surface, the water partially blocks the trailing vortices of air off the wings and decreases the amount of downwash generated by the wing. This reduction in downwash results in more lift and less drag when flying.

A small flock of white-backed pelicans flew in to patrol a small open waterway in the swamp in front of us. They paddle in formation indicating they were hunting but the hunt never became serious.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

In typical male weaver fashion, this Taveta Golden weaver was performing under his nest to attract females. In the time we watched he was not successful with the female weaver, but he certainty caught our attention. I think this is a Taveta golden weaver because of the range-chestnut colouration on his upper chest and top of his crown.

“Observation is the greatest source of wisdom”.~ Unknown

It must have been a wet night because this an immature martial eagle has his wings slightly open to dry them. This was already a big raptor but his partially open wings make him look every larger.

Water thick knee eating on his knees. The Water thick knee does not have the spotted colouration across its back and wings which is seen in the Spotted thick knee but has a grey panel on its wing feathers with a dark brown streak above and below it. This Water thick knee is usually also found close to water.

A White Browed coucal is also drying itself in the early morning sun. This character found a prominent position from which to call to its partner. This coucal has the characteristic red eye of the coucal but also has a noticeable white eye brow. Its white and brown streaking extending from its head down to its dark brown back is also a diagnostic feature.

A closer look at the head of a Greater flamingo. The unusually shaped beak is characteristic of this species. The Greater flamingo is much larger than its lesser cousin. It is also much whiter than the very pinker Lesser flamingo. The Greater flamingo has a pinkish bill with a black tip and it has bright pink legs. When it comes to the colour of their eyes, the Greater flamingo’s eyes are yellow, whilst the Lesser flamingo has red eyes.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Flamingoes feed with their heads down and their beaks fully immersed in the water filter feeding. A flamingo’s beautiful colour comes from the algae, diatoms, and small crustaceans that they eat, which are rich in the carotene pigment. You can see from the wetness of the head and top part of the neck that this flamingo has been feeding with its head completely under the water. Flamingoes obviously hold their breath while feeding under water.

Red billed teal. We saw many of them at the edge of the swamp. This duck is not migratory, but will fly great distances to find suitable waters. We also found Hottentot teal in the swamps. They are smaller than the Red-billed species and have a blue bill. A teal is a dabbling duck, meaning it feeds on the lake bed by upending itself with its tail in the air. I am always impressed by how immaculately teal present themselves.

A male Painted snipe fully exposed in the sunshine. His colouring is exquisite but his larger female is even more beautiful. The sides of the female’s head, neck and throat are a rich chestnut brown, and she has a distinct black band across her breast; the male is paler and greyer.

“How important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomena to the preservation of moral and intellectual health! The discipline of the schools or of business can never impart such serenity to the mind.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

A Marabou stork presents a strong contrast to the Painted snipe. The head and neck of these birds is mainly bald so that their feathers don’t get covered in blood when they are foraging and eating. Marabou storks have big, rounded air-sacs, one hanging from their throat and one on their upper back which help them to cool down.

A Kori bustard with unusual dark malar facial markings. This Kori bustard appeared to be looking at me from one eye. As surprising as it may be, birds can look straight ahead and to the side at the same time.  They have both monocular and binocular vision. This gives the bird an advantage of a large field of vision which helps detect predators.

A first for me, an Eastern Chanting goshawk. The name goshawk comes from the old English for “goose-hawk”. A piece of dead tree trunk was the only prominent perch in the area. Although at low vantage point this goshawk was on the look out for prey. You can see dark and eastern chanting goshawks in Kenya. The Chanting goshawk is so called because of its piping calls during breeding season. The Eastern Chanting goshawk has a yellow cere and yellow beak with a black tip, and orange legs. This large, long-winged, strongly patterned raptor is usually found in open country and forages on the ground, chiefly for lizards, but will also take small mammals, birds and large insects.

Hunting in the swamp below Observation Hill this Goliath heron had been standing dead still in the shallow swamp waters until it ruffled its feathers. Male and female Goliath herons have similar colouring but are dimorphic only regarding size with the male being larger. Birds ruffle their feathers when they are cold to trap more air in their feathers to give more insulation. They also ruffle their feathers after preening to realign the feathers.

This Yellow-throated spurfowl was declaring to the world that it had survived the night and that this was still its patch.

“I love nature partly because she is not man, but a retreat from him. None of his institutions control or pervade her. There a different kind of right prevails. In her midst I can be glad with an entire gladness. If this world were all man, I could not stretch myself, I should lose all hope. He is constraint, she is freedom to me. He makes me wish for another world. She makes me content with this.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

I hope the last three posts have given a smattering of the avian potential in Amboseli. This is truly a wonderful scenic park in which to see birds. The variety is vast and so are the quantities of birds especially the wetland species.

” The world is full of magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper”. ~ Eden Phillports

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

The variety and quantity of birdlife in Amboseli is astounding. The swamps provide an ideal environment for wetland loving birds and the grasslands give the seed eaters ample room. The tortilla acacias provide excellent vantage points for raptors which are perch hunters. The abundance of wildlife in Amboseli is complemented by it varied ecosystems. April is one month in the “long rains” three month season, a time when Amboseli is painted with verdant green.

“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere”. ~ Chinese proverb

There were many Squacco herons hunting from the banks of the lakes and in the swamps. They have an ability to sit dead still for extended periods and then execute lightning strikes at unsuspecting fish and frogs.

The lakes and swamp waters in Amboseli are not deep so provide an ideal environment for flamingoes, both Greater and Lesser types. There were large flocks which were scattered across the vast wetlands in the long rains. In the drier phases, the flamingoes tend to concentrate in the remaining few open patches of water and move in tightly packed formations and can often be seen performing there captivating dances where they all move together with head up in the air and as they shuffle forward moving their heads from left to right in unison.

“Many look but few see. Many travel but few experience. Many learn but few understand. Many seek things but few value experiences. Many talk and give opinions but few sit quietly and listen and observe.”~ Mike Haworth

Another visitor to the open waters in Amboseli is the White-backed Pelican. We saw small flocks of around 10 pelicans. Despite their cumbersome looking size they are superb fliers and tend to fly low over the water taking advantage of the air cushion between their wings and the water. I am always intrigued by their ski landings which they execute with precision. With toes up, their large webbed feet make ideal landing skis.

When ever flamingoes fly by there is the sound of camera shutters. Thankfully they do not fly fast, so are readily photographable. Flamingoes fly with their legs, neck and head extended. The extended head provides balance along their longitudinal axis. Flamingoes lift their head up to see where they are going which looks uncomfortable but necessary because of the aerodynamics of their large bills.

“Art is an ocean and I am a dream sailor.”
~ Biju Karakkonam,

A pair of Black winged stilts standing on a small island in the shallow open water of one of the lakes. They are such delicate looking waders but can be very aggressive with each other over territory. I marvel at the strength of the joints in their long dainty legs.

A male Painted snipe exposed in the open next to an embankment road which traverses a large open water swamp area. This is a short legged long billed wader which gives its characteristic snipe like appearance. The female painted snipe is larger and more beautiful than the male. These snipe can usually be found in reedy swamps and marshes and are crepuscular meaning they operate mainly at dusk and dawn. These snipe feed on invertebrates and seeds which they find at the water’s edge.

The male Painted snipe though smaller and less colourful than the female is cryptically coloured which makes it difficult to see from above by predators . An unusual combination in the avian world. Many in raptor species female are larger than the males but few are noticeably more beautifully coloured than their male counterparts. I marvel at their unusual colour combinations.

Have you ever thought to question the intelligence of a Fish eagle. This character was perched on fallen log next to a causeway which was flowing strongly. His mate was circling and calling from above. He answered her frequently. Instead of perch hunting from a tree overlooking a dam or river this fish eagle was waiting for fish to be swept down through the causeway.

A pair of Great white pelicans about to take off in search of other fishing waters. While pelicans can and do fly high they tend to fly close to the water using a phenomenon known as the ‘ground effect’. When flying close to the water, an air cushion is created between the surface and the bird’s wing, which reduces drag and allows the bird to travel further at a faster speed.

Ever since I watched a flock of pelicans fly out of a storm over Lake Manyara in Tanzania, I have been intrigued by these birds. They do not look like they should be good fliers but they are superb and actively use the “ground effect” over large bodies of water. These pelicans tend to operate in small flocks and are capable pack hunters. They will paddle in formation in the water corralling the fish and once there are enough fish in one place a feeding frenzy ensues.

The Grey crowned crane does not use the ground effect but prefers to fly higher above the ground. It is interesting that both cranes and flamingoes fly with their heads and necks extended whereas herons fly with their necks pulled back towards their bodies. The position of the head and extension of neck has much to do with longitudinal balance while they are flying.

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” ~ Langston Hughes

It was an unexpected gift to find Collared Pratincoles on the grasslands of Amboseli. There were small flocks scattered across the grasslands not the large flocks I have previously seen on the banks of the Chobe river. Pratincoles like coursers feed mainly on insects. The Collared pratincole has a wide gap to catch insects in flight much like a nightjar. In flight, a single Collared pratincole looks like a large swallow but they usually fly in large flocks and often create wonderful dramatic murmurations in the sky.

Kenya is rich with starling species, 31 in total. This is a Superb starling and it name says it all.

One afternoon we travelled to the eastern part of the park which has open grasslands and there we found many small flocks of sandgrouse. We found many Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse feeding on seeds on the ground.

A male Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse sitting low amongst the tufts of grass trying to remain unseen. His cryptic back feathers make him difficult to see from above.

A male and female Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse. As soon as we got close to them they would lower themselves in amongst the grass in an attempt to hide. Once we got within their “fight or flight” safety zone which in most cases seems to be around 20 to 30 metres they would fly away. Sandgrouse are very fast fliers.

The Kori bustards in Amboseli looked similar to those found in southern Africa but seemed to be much less afraid of the approaching vehicle than their counterparts down south. This character opened its wings just to stretch. They forage by walking through the grasslands eating anything from insects to rodents, and reptiles to berries.

Dusk in Amboseli can be a magical and colourful time of the day. Looking west towards the sunset across one of Amboseli’s many shallow lakes, flamingoes flew in for their last feed before darkness. Their unique shape made some wonderful silhouettes in the golden sunset washed waters.

It is at times like this we do not take many photos but prefer to sit quietly in balmy warm temperatures, bathed in colour and just soak in the splendour of the scene in front of us. The colours and sounds orchestrate an experience showing us how wonderful this world can be.

At sunset under the African sky you will bewitched by the colours and enormity of the scene in front of you.!!

“Every sunset gives me a hope to live.
It reminds me,
You have captured more with your heart.
It reminds me
you are not alone,
surrounded by a beautiful world,
always there for you.”
~ Biju Karakkonam

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

One of the least talked about beauties of Amboseli is its birdlife. This park has swamps, vast wetlands, open grasslands, and tortilla acacia forests. Out of the total land area of the park, 30% is covered by the dominant woodlands. The swamps cover around 10% of the park. The ecosystem spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border in the wesetern part. It is crowned by the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro which is the world’s highest free standing mountain on its south west side.

“In today’s world, we consume resources at a pace beyond their making which is out of balance with the natural rhythms of the earth. We use resources wantonly beyond our need for our greed. We do not respect all life and seem to believe that our consciousness is the superior form of intelligence. Climate change is teaching humanity humility. We will have to work consciously for generations to right the balance. It will only come through the active understanding of the natural balance” ~ Mike Haworth

White-bellied bustards are often heard before they are seen. This bustard has a characteristic tawny back and white belly. The male has a blue-grey neck, dark facial markings and a pinkish beak. Most of the African bustards have cryptic colouring on their back for camouflage purposes. A pair of these bustards make a far-carrying, goose-like nasal croaking duet with the male calling “ahnghaa-nghaa” and the female replying “eh-e-e-er”, according to Bird of East Africa by Gale and Arlott. Bustards are classified in the same order as cranes. While they are much smaller than cranes they also have long legs and long necks are mainly terrestrial and never perch in trees. They are good fliers when their need arises.

Amboseli has several habitants. The open plain flora, the Acacia woodlands, the rocky thorn bush, the swamps that are dominated by the papyrus and Cyperus. The semi and permanent water catchment areas like swamps have their own distinctive plant species. 

“It is the diversity of life in front of us which makes our eyes dance, our minds race, and our heart sing.” ~ Mike Haworth

Sometimes it is worth slowing down and taking a closer look. Do your self a favour and just watch a cattle egret operating for a while. They are characters and opportunists. Some of them are happy to perch on an elephant’s back and go along for the ride, offering the rider a great perspective and view of the insect life the elephant disturbs as it is feeding.

The late afternoon is warm, still and the grasslands and swamps are bathed in colour. The sky is busy. It is deep blue, with its activity punctuated by lightning bolts and distant downpours. There is a deep sense of order and peace. The greater flamingoes are head down filter feeding. The filter of the Greater Flamingo traps crustaceans, mollusks, and insects an inch or so long. By contrast, the Lesser Flamingo’s dense filter is finer sifting out single-celled plants less than two hundredths of an inch in diameter. 

We come to Amboseli to see Mount Kilimanjaro, to see great tuskers and vast green spaces with big skies. Less appreciated but just as marvelous is the incredible birdlife in Amboseli. The colour and variety of birdlife in this park is is spellbinding.

Most lakes in Amboseli located on the western part of the park are seasonal and fill up during the rainy seasons from March to May and October to December. Large numbers of Flamingos are seen during these wet periods.

Mother and daughter – pink, tall, slender, and excellent flyers. An adult Greater Flamingo has soft pink to whitish-pink plumage in general, though there are moments when it becomes very white in color. Its underwings are coral red, while its flight feathers are coloured black. All flamingoes have the same shaped head but the greater flamingo has a light pink down-curved beak with a black tip. The juvenile Greater Flamingo appears grayish to white when it is born and does not develop its true pink colour until it is several years of age. Its bill also takes a while to develop its full color – it is yellow when the chick is first born.

This bird feeds on mud and will filter out any edible organisms in it. The bill is equipped with a filter system with hair-like structures that allows them to filter food from the water and mud they pick up. Various animals and organisms include shrimps, small fish, crabs, blue-green algae, mollusks, plankton, seeds, and insects. Sometimes, it consumes marsh grasses and decaying leaves. When forging in the algae laden shallow waters these pristine looking filter feeders can look decidedly dirty. They must rinse their heads and necks in clear water because you seldom see really dirty flamingoes.

Yellow-throated spurfowl. One of the things that has intrigued me about birding in Kenya is the variety of birds like spurfowl, barbets, starlings to name just a few. Like all spurfowls the male Yellow-necked spurfowl has large spurs on the back of its legs which it uses for fighting. The degree to which the spur has been worn down is an indicator of age. The next image shows a female Yellow-necked spurfowl because she has no spurs.

A female Ruff. This wader migrates annually from Russia to summer in Africa. The wetlands around the swamps in Amboseli are ideal foraging grounds for these birds. These waders feed on insects on the water surface and their beak is built for probing the mud for invertebrates. The female and the non-breeding male have grey-brown upperparts and mainly white underparts. Thankfully, the Ruff is classified as “least concern” on the IUCN Red List because of the large numbers that breed in Scandinavia and the Arctic.

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”~ Vincent van Gogh

A secretive African Snipe is not well researched because of its habitat, it prefers wetlands and swamps which are relatively inaccessible and it is crepuscular meaning it is mainly active in the twilight times of the day. It was a lucky sighting to see this individual hiding in the reeds next to the open water of a swamp. These snipe are cryptically coloured which makes them difficult to see in the reeds. During the breeding season male snipes perform dramatic flight displays which consist of steep dives that create an eerie, winnowing sound, which can last as long as 10 seconds. As the display proceeds, the volume of the sound increases steadily. Drumming displays are best seen and heard early in the morning or in the hour before sunset.

A breeding pair of Grey crowned cranes with two chicks. Generally, this crane breeds in the summer season when rain is plentiful to ensure an abundance of food. Like all cranes, the Grey crowned crane is an omnivore eating grass seeds, small seed bearing plants and insects. Grey crowned cranes are plentiful in Amboseli and their familiar “ooh up” can be heard all over the park. I love their spectacular mating displays which involve dancing and jumping with open wings, and the dancing is punctuated with respectful bowing to each other between the dance sequences.

We saw generous numbers of Pied avocets in the open water sections of the several swamps. The next pair of avocet were in a courting display where the female looked to be trying, unsuccessfully to get away from the male. This species of avocet is known to have impressive nuptial displays involving acts of dance, flight and song, If the male is successful, the egg incubation period would be around 22 to 24 days and the eggs would be laid in a nest built of grass and reeds on the ground. The nest is built cooperatively by both male and female.

“Ride the energy of your own spirit.” ~ Gabriella Bach

It was a bright overcast day and we were shooting into the brightness so I converted the images into black and white to suit the colouration of the avocets, though they do have light bluish legs. Surprisingly, these birds are known to live for over 20 years.

I am always intrigued by the shape of their beak. At first glance it does not look effective. Yet they successfully feed mainly on small crustaceans, insect larvae and small fish which they find visually and by by touch. This wader uses its beak like a scythe to forage for food as it wades through shallow water it sweeps its head from side to side much like a spoonbill in search for food in shallow water.

This post is the first of three showing a selection of the birds you are likely to see in Amboseli and we were not especially trying to photograph birds so a dedicated trip to photograph mainly birds in Amboseli would be highly productive.

“Photography is a love affair with life” ~ unknown

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

Amboseli National Park is positioned against the backdrop of ice-capped Mount Kilimanjaro offering one of the most iconic images of Africa. This park is just 392 square km located in Kajiado County, in south east Kenya. The park is part of the greater Greater Amboseli ecosystem which includes the Amboseli, Tsavo and Kilimanjaro ecosystems stretching from Mount Kilimanjaro down to the Chyulu Hills in Tsavo.

“To wander over the wildness of Africa is a privilege sought. To sense its spirit is inspirational. To watch its ways brings insight, understanding and acceptance.” – Mike Haworth

Mount Kilimanjaro towers over the park and has a direct influence on its weather and water resources. For photographers the majestic blue mountain back drop with a white snow cap is iconic. The eastern section of the park encompasses part of a large dry lake basin which is usually dry except during the long rains, when in some years it fills with shallow, alkaline water attracting a pink flush of flamingoes. 

Amboseli has an ample supply of underground water which is filtered through thousands of metres of volcanic rock from Kilimanjaro’s ice cap into two clear water springs in the heart of the park.

The salt marshes in the eastern section of the park, with their intense verdant green, stand out in contrast in the arid and dusty plain of the eastern part of the Park. The Enkongo Narok, Ol Tukai, and Olokeya marshes are the three largest.

The beauty of Amboseli lies in the these iconic scenes of elephants in the foreground and Kili in the background. Scenes that can be viewed from many locations because of the size of Kili and the size of Amboseli.

The elephant population in Amboseli National Park is estimated at around 1600 and this population is one of the few that has been able to live a relatively undisturbed existence in natural conditions. This rare situation is considered to be primarily due to two factors – the presence of researchers and tourists in the park, and the support of the local Maasai people.

The Amboseli Elephant Research Project is the longest-running study of wild elephants ever undertaken (five decades), and is led by Dr Cynthia Moss and her team. While large scale poaching of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s reduced elephant numbers by a third across the continent, Amboseli mostly escaped the devastation thanks to the dedicated work of research and anti-poaching teams and support from the local Maasai communities.

“Elephants form deep bonds with each other, which last for decades. Elephant survival is strongly affected by access to the social and ecological knowledge which older elephants hold; where to go, what to eat, how to avoid danger.” according to Dr. Cynthia Moss.

We saw many family herds of elephants most of which had youngsters. A sign of a healthy elephant ecology, and the youngster looked carefree which was a good sign.

“We live in an astounding world full of life, movement, patterns and colour. You have a choice embrace it or ignore it!” ~ Mike Haworth

Amboseli and Tsavo’s elephant populations are some of the last genetic repositories of Africa’s great tuskers. The likelihood of seeing some of these great tuskers is good. The tourist guides recommend that from April to June, during the long rains, is not the best time to visit the park. That was not my experience in April 2021. The rains are carried by thunderstorms. The rains can be torrential but are usually over reasonably quickly – the African way!! As the thunderstorms are building, photographers are treated to some of the most wonderfully dramatic deep blue, water laden, cumulonimbus cloud formations which provide a perfect backdrop to the shafts of light and rainbows over the swamps where the elephants are feeding and wallowing.

To see a great tusker is an indescribable experience. Firstly, there are estimated to be only 20 left (thanks mostly to poaching for Asian demand) and secondly they are huge. A “great tusker” is a massive bull elephant with tusks that reach close to the ground. Up until around the age of 20, both male and female African elephants grow at a similar pace. At around 20 the females stop growing, while males continue to grow until around the age of 40, which explains why male great tuskers can be about 80cm taller and two times heavier than fully grown females. An average East African big tusker bull stands at about 3.2m in height at the shoulder and weighs around 6 tonnes. Their tusks can weigh over 50 kg each. The biggest elephant bull ever shot in Africa, which happened in Angola, was around 4 metres tall and weighed about 11 tonnes. Elephant tusks are actually enlarged incisor teeth which first appear when elephants are around two years old and they continue growing throughout their lives. The next images show an elephant bull in musth with his temporal gland streaming and his urine streaming which often colours his hind legs.

Not all leaders of herds are males. In an elephant herd the matriarch is leader. She is usually the oldest and largest female elephant in the herd. Adult male elephants are solitary in nature but may associate with other bulls in small, unstable groups. Males will leave the family unit between 12 and 15 years of age. The adult bulls wander from herd to herd looking for receptive females. While they mix up the gene pool in the process they disturb the family herd dynamics. Some the of herd matriarchs are also particularly large and highly protective so it is not a one way exercise for the bull.

Elephants possess huge emotional intelligence and, across Africa, there are examples of communities and elephant populations living side by side in relationships based on mutual respect. Elephant conservation isn’t purely about monitoring and protecting elephants from poachers, it is about developing new and respectful relationships between humans and elephants.

“Memories and intelligence are portable, something elephants seem to understand very well. Family members are remembered with reverence and gentleness. Survival knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next with generosity of spirit. The oldest are often the wisest and most knowledgeable because they have the greatest sense of context.” ~ Mike Haworth

Elephants are among the most intelligent, socially intricate and emotionally complex non-human species according to legend and research. This intelligence is demonstrated in their remarkable memory, empathy and ability to work as a team. They live a long time and accumulate and retain social and ecological knowledge. They remember the scents and voices of other individuals and migratory routes, special places and retain learned skills for decades.

Explore, seek to understand marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike