Tanzania, Day 5, birds, birds, birds

The Lilac-breasted Roller stole the show battling a purple grasshopper.

Watch as he works to get the grasshopper ready to eat, right in the middle of the road. It was like watching a miniature version of a Kingfisher with a fish. Plus, I love the color coordination!

We also had the chance to see a Rufous-crowned Roller up close a couple of times.

We got another close-up look at the Bee-eaters, and even a flight shot this time. We had seen a little green and orange bird flitting by several times and only here did we realize that it had been a bee eater each time.

Two new birds for us were the Black-shoulderd Kite and Dark-lored Babblers.

Here’s a d’Arneaudt’s Barbet and then a Brown Snake Eagle, all of these wonderful birds just sitting along the side of the road. Amazing!

The adorable Crowned Lapwings, mating. See if that last picture doesn’t make you smile!

An Ostrich just walking past the gazelles provided a good size comparison. It is pretty astonishing to see these huge birds strutting on by. Video courtesy of Jackie.

Another large-ish new bird to me was the White-bellied Bustard. Not as big as it’s cousin, the Kori Bustard, but quite pretty. Here was a pair of them together.

Other birds of the day were the African Pipits, Guinea Hens, Magpie Shrikes, and the normal array of picnic birds, below.

Picnic birds included a new one – the Grey-capped Social Weaver.

And I finally managed to get the Superb Starling in flight. What a color to see fly by!

Stopping by a watering hole, we saw an adult Yellow-Billed Stork with two young ones. (It was hard to get a good look at the adult.) There was also a Black-headed Heron and a family of Egyptian Geese. And that about covers it for the birds that day.