25/02/2020 Birds from Africa again thanks to my friends.

I have blogged photos from my friends Christelle and Patrick before and this one is because of the great excitement of having an African Spotted Eagle Owl on their roof yesterday morning.

In Christelle's words, "Since about 4am the little birds were making such a noise, I asked P to check if there was a snake around and he discovered this handsome boy sitting on the roof... luckily the camera is never far from me .. it does not take much to make my day." It certainly would have made my week let alone my day.

African spotted eagle-owl (Bubo africanus)...

As above...

As above...

As above.

And a few photos that Patrick took while we were birding with Tim Cockroft in October.

Bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus) it is a bushshrike...

As above...

As above.

Red-fronted tinkerbird (Pogoniulus pusillus)...

As above.

Brown-hooded kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris) juvenile.

Joining up with 

Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin

Cranes migrating North.

I went for a walk today and the sky was alive with the sound of cranes calling.  Most photos were far away and not the best, but it is so worth the sight one sees in the sky

Common Crane (Grus grus)...

They were milling around a lot as there were several small groups, I suspect they were waiting for all to get together before moving on again.

and a little closer and in formation.

I also saw a starling, very far away and up quite high 

Common starling (Sturnus vulgaris),

and a few wood pigeons in flight

Common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus)

Joining up with 

Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin

Some more of the photos from our November trip to South Africa.

Southern yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) ...

Yellow-billed hornbills feed mainly on the ground, where they forage for seeds, small insects, spiders and scorpions.

White-backed Vulture. (Gyps africanus).

Burchell's starling (Lamprotornis australis) or Burchell's glossy-starling. Sadly this was taken in the shade so you cannot see the true gloss.

Cape glossy starling (Lamprotornis nitens).

Crested francolin (Dendroperdix sephaena)...

As above.

South African ostrich (Struthio camelus australis) male.

Southern white-crowned shrike (Eurocephalus anguitimens)...

As above.

Saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis)...

As above.

Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) .

I think this is a yellow-billed kite (Milvus aegyptius).

Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin

A few of the January birds seen here in the Garden in the Charente.

I will return to going through the South African bird photos very soon, but I have not felt brilliant this week and have got far behind - again!  Feeling better now thanks to a prescription so will try to catch up ASAP.

European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis). The only one I have seen this year and the only photo I managed to get.

Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus).  The other morning there was not a bird in sight.  Looking closely I found the culprit, a sparrowhawk hiding in the fruit trees!!

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).

House sparrow (Passer domesticus) female...

As above ...

and a male.

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). We have discovered that they like hazelnuts.  We have masses from our tree so we have been busy breaking and bagging them for the little guys.

Queuing waiting to get to the nuts...

as above...

As above...

Turning its back on me.

House sparrow (Passer domesticus) in silhouette.

Wild Bird Wednesday

and

I'd Rather B Birdin