Eritrea fauna
I was hoping to do another leg of my Pilgrims Way today but it's raining heavily and has been for about 3 weeks, so it's extremely wet and muddy underfoot. I suppose the original pilgrims would have to keep going whatever the weather, but as I'm doing it primarily for enjoyment, I'm not going to make myself miserable by trudging ankle-deep in mud with rain seeping through my clothes etc. So Eritrea pictures it is...
Greater Kudu
The tour leader thought this antelope was a nyala, but after a bit of reasearch, I reckon he's actually a greater kudu. Magnificent chap, isn't he? We saw him on the Filfil Road in the Semenawi Bahri national park.
Hemprich's Hornbill
A pair of these birds was courting on the balcony ledges and roof of our hotel on the outskirts of Keren. Very noisy they were too. As you can see, the male let me get quite close. I thought they were hornbills and a bit of research has identified the species.
Hornbills
The same pair of hornbills photographed from the ground - not a great photo, but it shows that the smaller bird (female?) has two white throat patches absent in the larger. Descriptions of them I've found online say the genders are alike apart from size. So how do we explain the white throat patches?
Sacred Ibis
An unhappy cat, having to wait its turn to rummage through the hotel's rubbish. Honestly, have those Sacred Ibis no sense of decorum? Shouldn't rummaging through bins be beneath their dignity? (I did get some better pictures of the ibis which I will post another time.)
Senegal thick-knees
Thanks,
pondhopper, for the identification. I found this pair of brown wader-type birds on Green Island, near Massawa. They were perfectly camouflaged against the stony sand; I only saw them when they moved. I was lucky that this one stood proud against the green background so I could get a clear photo. They have very large eyes for the size of bird.
The hotel staff in Keren thought I was mad, going up onto the roof to photograph the hornbills and then going out the back to photograph the rubbish bins. When I turned round to go back to the hotel from the bins, a small crowd of staff/locals had gathered, watching me incredulously; they melted away on my return.
This entry was originally posted at http://mitzimaybe.dreamwidth.org/17853.html. I can rarely respond to comments on LJ, so if possible, please comment on the Dreamwidth article using OpenID instead; thanks.
Greater Kudu
The tour leader thought this antelope was a nyala, but after a bit of reasearch, I reckon he's actually a greater kudu. Magnificent chap, isn't he? We saw him on the Filfil Road in the Semenawi Bahri national park.
Hemprich's Hornbill
A pair of these birds was courting on the balcony ledges and roof of our hotel on the outskirts of Keren. Very noisy they were too. As you can see, the male let me get quite close. I thought they were hornbills and a bit of research has identified the species.
Hornbills
The same pair of hornbills photographed from the ground - not a great photo, but it shows that the smaller bird (female?) has two white throat patches absent in the larger. Descriptions of them I've found online say the genders are alike apart from size. So how do we explain the white throat patches?
Sacred Ibis
An unhappy cat, having to wait its turn to rummage through the hotel's rubbish. Honestly, have those Sacred Ibis no sense of decorum? Shouldn't rummaging through bins be beneath their dignity? (I did get some better pictures of the ibis which I will post another time.)
Senegal thick-knees
Thanks,
pondhopper, for the identification. I found this pair of brown wader-type birds on Green Island, near Massawa. They were perfectly camouflaged against the stony sand; I only saw them when they moved. I was lucky that this one stood proud against the green background so I could get a clear photo. They have very large eyes for the size of bird.
The hotel staff in Keren thought I was mad, going up onto the roof to photograph the hornbills and then going out the back to photograph the rubbish bins. When I turned round to go back to the hotel from the bins, a small crowd of staff/locals had gathered, watching me incredulously; they melted away on my return.
This entry was originally posted at http://mitzimaybe.dreamwidth.org/17853.html. I can rarely respond to comments on LJ, so if possible, please comment on the Dreamwidth article using OpenID instead; thanks.