Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Serengeti, Oct 2009

Bird name: Tawny Eagle
Latin: Aquila rapax
Other:
Family: Accipitridae • Eagles

A couple of nice shots of Tawny Eagles, sent in by André, taken in the Serengeti. These large eagles breed in Africa and Asia, and all the way to India.

Aquila eagles can be identified by their feathered legs. The Tawny Eagle is known for its slightly scruffy appearance.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Serengeti, Oct 2009

Bird name: Yellow Billed Kite
Latin: Milvus aegyptius
Other:
Family: Accipitridae • Kites, Birds of Prey
Range:
Similar:

The Yellow-billed Kite was thought conspecific with the Black Kite, but is increasingly regarded as a separate allopatric (i.e. divided geographically, in evolutionary terms) species, confined to Africa.

As you can see from these photos, sent in by André and taken in the Serengeti, the Yellow-billed Kite has a yellow bill, whereas the Black Kite has a black-tipped bill.
More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Serengeti, Oct 2009

Bird name: Magpie Shrike
Latin: Urolestes melanoleucus
Other: African Long-tailed Shrike
Family: Laniidae • Shrikes

Here are a couple of Magpie Shrikes seen in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

Identified by their long tail feathers and black and white markings.More photos...

copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Serengeti, Oct 2009

Bird name: Marabou Stork
Latin: Leptoptilos crumeniferus
Other:
Family: Ciconiidae • Storks
Range:
Similar:

The Marabou Stork is a huge bird, with a wingspan of about three and a half metres. It often scavenges at rubbish tips and at carcasses with vultures. This rather grizzly-looking bird is sometimes called the undertaker bird.

Marabou Storks are found in sub-Saharan Africa. André took these photos in Amboseli and Serengeti National Parks in east Africa.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Serengeti, Oct 2009

Bird name: Yellow Billed Oxpecker
Latin: Buphagus africanus
Other:
Family: Buphagidae • Oxpeckers

These Yellow-billed Oxpeckers are picking ticks off an Eland in the Serengeti in Tanzania.

The Yellow-billed Oxpecker can be differentiated from the Red-billed Oxpecker by the yellow base to its bill. It lives in a wide band of sub-Saharan Africa.More photos...

Photos copyright: monacoeye • 2009 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Red Billed Hornbill
Latin: Tockus erythrorhynchus
Other:
Family: Bucerotidae • Hornbills

Thanks to André for sending in photos (below in “more photos”) of the Red-billed Hornbill in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

The Red-billed Hornbill is found in sub-Saharan Africa.More photos...

Photos copyright: AS/monacoeye • Serengeti • Oct 2009 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Von Decken’s Hornbill
Latin: Tockus deckeni
Other:
Family: Bucerotidae • Hornbills

Here is a male Von Decken’s Hornbill in the Serengeti in Tanzania. The male has red on the bill whereas the female has a black bill. The range of Von Decken’s Hornbill extends from Tanzania into other parts of east Africa.

The Hornbills sometimes get their own 56-species order, the Bucerotiformes. Otherwise they are placed in the Coraciiformes with Kingfishers, Rollers and Bee-eaters. Superb birds!More photos...

Photos copyright: AS/monacoeye • Serengeti • Oct 2009 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Little Bee Eater
Latin: Merops pusillus
Other:
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters

The Little Bee-eater is found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa.

There are 24 species of Bee-eater worldwide, mostly in the genus Merops. Bee-eaters live in the Old World from Africa to Australia, with the highest number in Africa.

They almost exclusively eat insects, usually catching them on the wing, with a predilection for bees and wasps. Insects with stings are knocked against a hard surface then rubbed, with the bird’s eyes closed, to discharge the venom.

Thanks to André for sending in these pictures from Tanzania.More photos...

Photos copyright: AS/monacoeye • Serengeti • Oct 2009 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Yellow Throated Sandgrouse
Latin: Pterocles gutturalis
Other:
Family: Pteroclididae • Sandgrouse

The Yellow-throated Sandgrouse lives in sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of 16 species of Sandgrouse which now have their own order Pteroclidiformes - previously they were lumped with Pigeons in Columbiformes.

Glad to have these photos of the first Sandgrouse on the site, sent in by André. I spent a fruitless afternoon last year marching around La Crau in southern France, in search of the elusive Pin-tailed Sandgrouse.

The general distribution of the other members of the Sandgrouse family is Africa and Asia, with two species in southern Spain, one of which, as mentioned, sometimes ventures into France.

These Yellow-throated Sandgrouse were seen in the Serengeti in Tanzania. The female is pictured above and has strongly contrasting feathers and facial stripe. The male, below left, is duller with a dark neck stripe and also with facial stripe.

More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/TC/monacoeye • Tanzania

Bird name: Grey Headed Kingfisher
Latin: Halcyon leucocephala
Other: Gray-headed Kingfisher
Family: Alcedinidae • Kingfishers
Range:
Similar:

These Grey-headed Kingfishers were seen on the Serengeti River and Lake Manyara in Tanzania. Their range covers much of sub-Saharan Africa into southern Arabia.

The Grey-headed Kingfisher hunts insects and small lizards - not fish.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Kenya • Oct 2009

Bird name: Ostrich
Latin: Struthio camelus
Other:
Family: Struthionidae • Ostrich

The Ostrich is the largest ratite, an ancient group of flightless birds originating in Gondwanaland. They have no keel on their sternum (ratis is Latin for raft), so would not be able to fly even with more developed wings.

Ostriches are native to many parts of tropical Africa, particularly east Africa. Males are generally black and white and females brown.

These ostriches were photographed in Amboseli and the Serengeti.

More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Tanzania • Oct 2009

Bird name: D'Arnaud's Barbet
Latin: Trachyphonus darnaudii
Other:
Family: Lybidiidae • Barbets

D’Arnaud’s Barbet is a small east African bird. The Barbets’ closest relatives are the Toucans and then the Woodpeckers. Photographed here by André in the Serengeti.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Ngorongoro • Oct 2009

Bird name: Speke’s Weaver
Latin: Ploceus spekei
Other:
Family: Ploceidae • Weavers

This seems likely to be a Speke’s Weaver, taken at Ngorongoro in Tanzania, but ID needs confirmation.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Serengeti • Oct 2009

Bird name: Speckle Fronted Weaver
Latin: Sporopipes frontalis
Other:
Family: Ploceidae • Weavers

The two different birds which look like Speckle-fronted Weavers to me, but need checking. Above taken in the Serengeti, below at Lake Manyara.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Serengeti • Oct 2009

Bird name: White Headed Buffalo Weaver
Latin: Dinemellia dinemelli
Other:
Family: Ploceidae • Weavers

A nice photo of a White-headed Buffalo-weaver seen in the Serengeti in Tanzania. Quite common in East Africa.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Lake Nakuru • Oct 2009

Bird name: Superb Starling
Latin: Lamprotornis superbus
Other:
Family: Sturnidae • Starlings

The aptly named Superb Starling lives in East Africa, seen here above at Lake Nakuru in Tanzania.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Olduvai Gorge • Oct 2009

Bird name: Secretary Bird
Latin: Sagittarius serpentarius
Other:
Family: Sagittariidae • Secretary Bird

The curiously anthropomorphic Secretary Bird, which looks a bit like a dancer with one outstretched leg (below), or a cartoon character looking for clues (above), photographed here in the Serengeti.

The Secretary Bird is a bird-of-prey in the Accipitriformes order, but in its own family, the Sagitarridae, which, in evolutionary terms, is older than the hawks, eagles and falcons, but not as old as the old-world vultures.

The Secretary Bird is a like a hawk on crane’s legs, hunting for food on foot, stamping on small prey or striking with its bill.

More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Serengeti • Oct 2009

Bird name: Lilac Breasted Roller
Latin: Coracias caudatus
Other:
Family: Coraciidae • Rollers

Great photos from André of the colourful Lilac-breasted Roller, which is found in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsular. These photos were taken in the Serengeti, in Tanzania.

There are 11 species of Roller in the Old World, three of them now featured on this site!More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: • Oct 2009

Bird name: Water Thick Knee
Latin: Burhinus vermiculatus
Other: Water Dikkop
Family: Burhinidae • Thick-knees

You can hardly blame André for not wishing to get any closer to this Water Thick-Knee on the banks of the Serengeti River!

Water Thick-knees tend to live by the side of lakes and rivers, throughout sub-Saharan Africa.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Serengeti • Oct 2009

Bird name: White Bellied Bustard
Latin: Eupodotis senegalensis
Other: Senegal Bustard
Family: Otididae • Bustards

A nice shot of a White-bellied Bustard taken in the Serengeti, by André. The first Bustard on the site…More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Tanzania • Oct 2009

Bird name: White Browed Coucal *
Latin: Centropus superciliosus *
Other: Rainbird
Family: Cuculidae • Coucals

* ID needs confirmation

This presumed White-browed Coucal was photographed near Lake Victoria, in Tanzania.More photos...

Photo copyright: AS/monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Serengeti • Oct 2009

Bird name: Southern Ground Hornbill
Latin: Bucorvus leadbeateri
Other:
Family: Bucerotidae • Hornbills

The Southern Ground-Hornbill is the largest species of Hornbill - over a metre in length. Seen here in the Serengeti.More photos...