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Our birding trip to The Gambia in Nov/Dec 2023 is now available in the 'Trip Reports' section on the front page.



Giant Kingfisher.

Another early morning hike today up onto the high Beacons to see if there was any evidence of Ring Ouzel breeding. In a previous blog I photographed a male bird singing from a prominent position so I was hoping that breeding would take place there. I settled down in the heather with a cold wind blowing over the top of me. You have to try to keep low and find some shelter because exposure to these cold winds can really chill you when you are keeping still.
I had been there about ten minutes sipping small cups of coffee to try and stay warm when I noticed a female Ouzel about 50 yds away landing on a rock and then disappearing into what was obviously a nest – great news!!
You have to keep your distance from these shy birds and allow them to go about the business of rearing their young. It’s vital that their numbers increase and hopefully reverse their worrying decline as a breeding bird in the UK.
I decided to move on but as I was putting my flask away I saw a male bird perched on an isolated post in a grassy area with food in his beak, and then fly over to the nest and deliver food, obviously to the young. There must be young there if both the male and female are back and fore the nest.
I assembled my camera and lens on the off chance and stayed low waiting to see if the male bird would go back into the grassy area where he was obviously looking for food for the young. I couldn’t see him return to the area and I didn’t want to disturb him by rising up and looking over. I waited, and then yes there he was again on the post with more food, I looked through some wispy grass and shot him, he looked at me briefly and then just flew over to the nest site, so not bothered – great!
I walked on down the track away from the grassy area to allow him to return, which he inevitably would in time. It’s not acceptable to try and get more shots of a bird in this situation and risk disturbance! I descended down the mountain with just my single image of the male bird, but more than happy in the knowledge that successful breeding is taken place.



Lovely Bird!

Canon R5 / Canon Rf 100-500 / Canon 1.4 teleconverter

500/sec / f10 / 1120mm / ISO 1000

Some people may baulk at an f10 aperture but using an aperture of this small size creates a deep 'Depth of Field' resulting in a sharp image right across the subject from the beak to the tip of the tail.
These cameras also handle high ISO numbers very well.
With its light weight, easy handling, small size and super sharp image quality the above set-up is a first rate combination for the photographer on the move.

I had a very early stake-out this morning on a hillside in the Brecon Beacons looking for Cuckoos. This area is not the most productive but some years it’s possible to find a Cuckoo there. The alarm went at 04.30 on a dry and wind free morning, which is a pleasant change. Everything had been packed up in the car last night ready for an early start and I was at the location by 05.15. I was able to drive onto the hill with my 4X4 because the ground is very firm at the moment and it is also common land with no animals grazing so no chance of disturbance. I had spoken to a local farmer yesterday to let him know that I would be there early so he knew there was nothing untoward happening. It’s always a good procedure to do this if possible because I find if you are reasonable with people in general they will reciprocate.
I knew what area this Cuckoo was frequenting because I had been watching him from the road a couple of days previous. After parking underneath a substantial tree to break up my outline I draped a very big piece of ‘Camo’ net right over my vehicle and sat inside with my Canon 600 f4 on a beanbag on the door with the lens poking out. This is a location where it’s not possible to get really close to the birds because the ground drops away quite steeply and it would be easy to have an accident like rolling over, which I most certainly do not want!
The light started to build but it was slow because of the cloud cover. I had some coffee and just sat there waiting – at least I was in comfort, feeling warm and not worried about any potential rain. I could hear him calling now, they’re always about early, and then the daily routine of the Cuckoo begins – being harassed by a plethora of small birds eager to drive him away from their nesting area. It was seven o’clock before I first saw him as he perched on the top of one of the trees I had been watching – creatures of habit!
I took a few shots and I knew realistically that this was as close as I was going to get because of the aforementioned geography.





He didn’t stay long though before he was driven off by his pursuers.

In a small bare bush next door a Stonechat perched and sung for a few minutes – pretty birds.



The Cuckoo flew past a few more times with a string of small birds in close pursuit, reminiscent of a child’s kite with tail streamers. Then surprisingly he just landed in the middle of a small Holly tree quite close to me, obviously fed up with the annoying small birds.



I quickly shot him before he was driven off again, which indeed wasn’t long.
As predicted rain had now began to fall, so I quickly pulled the 'Camo' netting off my vehicle, packed my kit away and reversed back up the hillside. It was now nine o’clock and I made my way back home in the ever increasing rain, time to call it a day.

Foliage is growing fast now and finding, and for me photographing birds is becoming increasingly more difficult. Walking alongside a local lake margin I could hear Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Redstart and both Reed and Sedge Warblers, but none were visible. Further along I came across an overgrown bramble patch which is always an environment birds seem to like and sure enough I could hear Common Whitethroat singing. These little warblers are not easy to photograph because they can be quite shy and uncooperative. They hide in dense undergrowth most of the time, but with patience a birder/photographer can get some views as they pop up and sing briefly from a twig or small branch.
I waited for some time missing a couple of brief appearances before I finally managed to lock the focus on and catch it perched on a dead twig. It’s a bit awkward capturing these but with patience…..

]

The male Sparrowhawk is a truly stunning bird and we are fortunate to have a mature bird visiting our garden, albeit infrequently. The small birds in the garden are not so fortunate though, as what looked like a Goldfinch, found out earlier today. Mercifully for the Goldfinch it was all over in a split second, but I’m afraid it’s a price they pay for persistently feeding out in the open. The other garden birds eat seed and then immediately retreat to cover.
The deep colour of this male bird shows his maturity – it's tough out there!!






https://youtu.be/j-IwEWjE_xs

Cuckoos are enigmatic, period! That’s why it feels so satisfying when you get one in front of your lens. There’s always a sense of satisfaction about capturing such an awkward subject. To compound the issue females are far less photographed than males, almost all the images you see are of male birds and this is because a lot of people (photographers) know the males call but they don’t know the females call, and therefore they don’t realise they are there. The females call is totally different, a lot quieter and therefore far less carrying.

They say that every picture tells a story and the image below of a female has a story;

First story;
I was sat in my portable hide on a warm June day waiting for some Cuckoos I had been watching to hopefully perch in the bushes opposite. I was quite tired because I had been up early and to be truthful I was drifting in and out of sleep. Sitting in a comfortable chair in a hide with little happening can be quite soporific.
I had obviously drifted off because when I woke up I was looking up at the canvas roof of my hide. I quickly orientated myself and reached down for my flask of coffee and after pouring a cup I settled back into my vigil. However, I didn’t realise what had happened while I was asleep, because after about thirty seconds I could, unbelievably, see a Cuckoo perched in front of me and a female at that, staring over her shoulder right at me. She obviously knew there was something different nearby by the suspicious look on her face, but she couldn’t make out what it was.
I very slowly put my coffee cup into the dedicated cup holder in the arm of the chair in my hide and panned my lens extremely carefully until it was pointing at her. I fired the shutter and realised that most fortunately I had captured the image. She didn’t stay long after and I never saw her again.



That’s sometimes the pure luck of wildlife photography!!

One thing you will always see with female Cuckoos is their rufous neck and collar. Apart from their overall rusty colouration these areas are where the colour seems to be concentrated. Both male and female Cuckoos also have ten tail feathers which they frequently splay, as you can see in this image.





Second story;

A male bird I had been watching for a week was proving to be extremely wary and unapproachable. I had been at a particular site before daylight on a couple of occasions and I had been undercover and totally hidden near to what I had assessed was his favourite perch – Cuckoos are very faithful to particular perches and sooner or later they will return there. As the hours literally turned into days this bird was proving to be the exception, he wouldn’t return to this perch no matter what. I had a theory that he recognized my car, which was parked a couple of hundred yards away, as being something alien which he didn’t like.
Another morning I was walking across a very boggy area to where this perch was and my welly just sunk into the bog and I couldn’t remove it. I had to pull my leg out and stand in the wet bog in my sock – not pleasant! Fortunately I always keep a spare pair of socks in the boot of my car, so after extricating my welly, with huge difficulty, I returned to the car re-dressed and started back again, taking care to avoid the same wet area of bog.
I resumed my position under cover and waited, he started calling again, or more accurately taunting (you can’t get me ‘Woo Hoo’). I waited and waited but no luck, I abandoned to rethink my strategy.
The following day I decided to get deeper into the copse of trees to try and view ‘His perch’ from a different angle, this time there was no photography involved. I rigged up a very large ‘Camo net’ across some bushes with a hole cut in it which looked straight at the perch, some forty feet away.
The following morning I was back there in the dark, I parked my car further away up the road, (probably bordering on being neurotic), but I wasn’t taking any chances, I was not going to be seen. I settled down in the copse, sitting on my stool with sandwiches and coffee, no hide this time just Camo. My lens was pointing at one thing, his perch. I was in such a position that I couldn’t move to photograph anything else even if I wanted to.
Then he started again Cuckoo, Cuckoo, and then his usual flying around. He perched in the high trees above me just as before, this time though I was confident he didn’t know I was there. I could hear him making his usual noises that all Cuckoos make, gasps, croaks etc. Ten minutes passed and there was no movement, now I was beginning to doubt my covert activities had indeed been as successful as I thought. Then there was a lovely moment, he just fluttered down like some giant butterfly onto his perch, and this time he was caught in the trap, I didn’t move, I didn’t have to because I had an IR remote shutter release on my camera, the shutter fired and I had him. It was such a nice feeling to finally overcome an inordinately crafty opponent.



These stories exemplify that sometimes it’s just pure luck, but with others it’s a product of hard work, field craft and perseverance.

Out walking again on a local hillside on another glorious spring morning, bees hummed from the hedgerows as I walked along and as the foliage thinned out Willow Warblers sang from seemingly every other bush. Further on the faint song of a Curlew drifted past, carried on the light warm breeze while Ravens ‘Pronked’ from on high. A very distant Cuckoo, the herald of spring, called from further up the valley. What a lovely place to spend time.
I sat down on a conveniently large flat stone, and while pouring a cup of coffee an Orange Tip butterfly busied past, no doubt searching for some garlic mustard. I was just enjoying this lovely scene sipping my coffee and nibbling some shortbread biscuits (a kind and thoughtful present to us from earlier this week).
However, there was about to be another present as a Yellowhammer came into view on a grassy mound just above me, I quickly got my 100-500 lens out of the bag and as he got to the top, in a very favourable position, I shot him.



These are lovely birds which in the past were very common on most farmland, sadly these days not so common or widespread.
A very nice end to the morning.

Very pleasant to be out walking on a fine spring morning today, the woods were alive with Wood Warblers, one of my favourite spring migrants. I love their ‘Spinning Coin’ song and their sharp ‘Peep Peep’ call. There are such a pristine looking bird - snowy white below and lemon and olive above.



It was a pleasure to walk through there.

Then at the end of the woods and out onto the open hill a Cuckoo called, my first this spring. He was flying around from tree to tree so I tucked in underneath some Birch trees and when he landed in a tree nearby I shot him – not close really but OK for a record shot.



I hope to get closer later this month, but you never can tell, so I took this opportunity when it came.

A very pleasant couple of hours and two of my favourite birds as a bonus – I’ll take that anytime!

The shy and difficult to approach Ring Ouzel is a favourite bird of mine. I have made no secret in previous blog posts of my admiration for these lovely birds. I am attracted to them because of the lonely, remote and difficult habitats they occupy. They are a bird of the high mountains, shunning the lower grasslands which would probably be more food laden and definitely more hospitable. They build their nests high up in the rocky gullies and boulder-clad hillsides of the Brecon Beacons. Their diet is virtually the same as the Blackbird, worms, beetles and other small animals in spring and summer, then changing to berries, notably Rowan, in the autumn, when on their southerly passage to their wintering grounds in Southern Spain and North Africa.
These birds are in serious decline as a breeding bird in the UK so in the spring you must treat their breeding grounds with respect. Do not approach birds that are alarm calling because that will mean they probably have a nest nearby.
With this in mind I decided to walk the higher Beacons yesterday to see if I could at least see one of these elusive birds. I started my ascent through the lower slopes with Willow Warblers singing frequently and as I climbed higher Stonechats started to appear. Two young Japanese tourists I passed on the way up were shod in lightweight canvas shoes, (which looked new) and were wearing just a thin top. This is totally inadequate for walking in the mountains, even in spring, but I see it so often. It’s OK if nothing happens, like the weather doesn’t deteriorate or you don’t step into cold wet mud or water or slip because of the lack of tread on your footwear. People dressed like this illustrate perfectly the reason why the mountain rescue service is kept so busy these days.
I pushed on finally reaching the top of the ridge, a cold brisk wind prevailed so I put another layer on under my jacket. I strapped my Canon R5 and RF 100-500 lens with a 1.4 teleconverter attached over my shoulder just in case I saw something. This gives me 1120mm of reach (500x1.6x1.4) but remains a very compact, lightweight and super sharp set up. I couldn’t even contemplate carrying my 600mm prime lens with a tripod and gimbal head up these slopes, it’s just too heavy and very awkward to set up in the wind - it’s asking for problems.
I walked along across the top of the ridge when suddenly a Ring Ouzel appeared on a fence post above me.



I was really surprised, I didn’t expect this, but I shot it immediately, however, I knew it wouldn’t be a good shot because there was a white background behind the bird because I was below it. It quickly disappeared though and I couldn’t see it after I had walked a little higher – I walked on. On a dry stone wall a Northern Wheatear flitted along in front of me, keeping its distance as I walked. High above a Peregrine Falcon swept across the sky and disappeared very quickly indeed. Ravens played on the wind, flying upside down at times, as they like to do for no other reason I assume than for fun.
I had now reached what I considered to be prime Ring Ouzel Habitat and I sat down in the heather for some respite from the wind. This heather is like a good quality mattress on a bed, it’s so comfortable you sink down into it almost like its been sprung. I was looking across at the top of a rock with a grassy mound above it, my gear was nestled in the heather by my side, a few spots of rain blew in on the wind but I was confident they were not going to come to anything. I poured myself a welcome cup of coffee and settled down on my very comfortable natural bedding. After a few minutes I thought I could hear a Ring Ouzel’s song, borne on the wind, I wasn’t sure but I’ve heard them singing enough times over the years to be put on alert. I was looking down into the valley some three hundred feet below and I could hear people’s voices, sound carries such a long distance, especially if the wind is in the right direction. The song became louder and now I was sure it was a Ring Ouzel, that lonely and evocative high pitched whistle which fits so perfectly into these remote surroundings. I looked left and unbelievably there it was, not fifteen yards away, sat on that grassy mound, one of my favourite birds – the elusive Ring Ouzel.



I gently lowered my coffee cup, picked up my gear and photographed him, it’s a lovely feeling when your lens focusses on your subject and I never get tired of it. There was no shutter noise to disturb him, a great feature of mirrorless cameras. I sat there in the heather with this elusive bird for twenty minutes as his gentle song drifted out into the valley and was then lost on the wind.



He seemed completely at ease with me and I cherish these little cameos because they may never happen again, these really are special birds.





Then, inevitably he just flew away, lost from sight and I decided it was time for me to go, because after sitting still for half an hour that mouintain chill was starting to embrace me.
I picked my way carefully down the mountain and after a hundred or so feet I could again hear a Ring Ouzel singing, I stopped to listen and it appeared to be coming from just below me. I carefully slid down the heather, peering over and yes there it was, another male bird singing.



He couldn’t see me because he was looking out over the rocks. I managed to just about get him in the frame, difficult because of the foliage this time, before he too flew away. This had turned into a special day and I happily descended down the rest of the mountain back to my vehicle.

https://youtu.be/k1FMtpBY5Yc

The Skylark’s song is heard by everybody who visits the uplands of the Brecon Beacons in spring and summer. They sing busily as they rise up, and then from the zenith and finally as they parachute back down to earth. This little bird’s song is an iconic and integral sound woven into our summers, be it a picnic, a horse ride, a game of golf, or just simply a walk, they provide the backdrop. Their song enhances a summer’s day, and albeit unwittingly sometimes, uplifts us.
So the next time you hear bird song from up high as you walk along on a sunny day, think of the Skylark, they may not be as colourful as some birds but they have a place in our psyche which is far more important.
As I walked this morning in typical Skylark habitat I could hear their flight songs and also their calling to each other. They were feeding on the dew covered grass, looking for insects, a nice sight indeed.

A quintessential spring migrant to Welsh deciduous woodlands is the Pied Flycatcher. These diminutive birds arrive in April and readily take to manufactured nest boxes in addition to their natural nesting spaces. They flit from tree to tree seeking out food in addition to dextrously plucking insects from the air. Susan and I visited a typical habitat for these birds last week on a beautiful Spring morning and managed to see and photograph a male.

They really are a lovely little bird.

Susan and I were out walking yesterday on a local hillside enjoying a beautiful spring morning. A breeze blew on the top of the hills but it was more refreshing than cold. The ground up high was firm underfoot, unlike the mud down on the low lying areas of the Brecon Beacons. Skylarks sang from on high and Meadow Pipits darted around in front of us as we walked along. As we were passing a fallen tree we could see four Northern Wheatears perched together on one branch. These are a beautiful spring migrant to the Beacons where they always favour high ground, where they breed. As we passed by one bird popped up onto an old fence post to check us out and I didn’t need any encouragement to take a photograph. This is the advantage of carrying a high quality compact zoom lens which weighs very little. The Canon R5 in the 1.6 crop factor mode coupled with the Canon RF100-500 f7.1 is ideal in these situations With the RF 1.4 extender fitted this gives a focal length of 1120mm. Full image stabilization on the lens and camera body makes hand held shots eminently possible.

Beautiful little birds.

There is a very small nature reserve close to where we used to stay in North Norfolk where if you were prepared to wait there was always a chance of a Barn Owl. These gorgeous birds were mostly seen in flight but sometimes, although not very often, one would perch on a fence post.
It was a late autumn evening and the marshes were bathed in a beautiful and subtle golden light, the light photographers dream about. We used to pass a couple of hours there on a regular basis in the hope of seeing these lovely birds.
We had waited patiently and had captured a couple of nice flight shots but we were calling it a day and making our way back to the vehicle via a marsh track bordered on both sides by dense bushes. These bushes prevented us from seeing anything on the reserve but also importantly nothing could see us either. As we neared the end of the track the bushes thinned and we could now see a white shape about twenty yards acroos the reserve, we looked closer and could now see a Barn Owl perched on a fence post. These opportunities don’t come around too often so I set up very quietly and just pushed the lens hood through the foliage and took a few shots. The Owl had heard me though and was in flight straight away disappearing over the hedgerow. However, it was too late because I had him, I say him because I think this bird is a male because of the total lack of spotting on the flanks and the really light plumage. Females usually have spotting on the flanks and an ochre breast band.
Stunning bird of our countryside!!

Soon Cuckoos will be arriving back in the Brecon Beacons, it’s usually mid-month before we hear their distinctive call from the surrounding hillsides. Personally I can’t wait, because then I know it’s time for me to check my favoured sites for these enigmatic yet characterful birds, these adjectives describe Cuckoos from a photographers point of view at least.
One day last week I was indoors cataloguing photographs - unable to venture out during this horrible spell of weather we are enduring. When I came to the Cuckoo master file I paused to look at some photographs from way back, and it jogged my memory.
It was 2012 and a beautiful late spring evening on a local mountainside. Susan and I had been watching four perhaps five Cuckoos flying around and perching on the sparsely populated Hawthorn trees. These were the halcyon days when Cuckoos could be seen in some numbers at this site.



I had tried to approach them for a photograph but they were having none of it, sometimes that’s the way it is. We had resigned ourselves to getting a few record shots and just enjoying the spectacle. The sun was getting lower and the light was becoming mellower as a result, the Cuckoos were still quite active chasing each other from tree to tree – unsurprising given their territorial nature.
As I have outlined many times previously, when male Cuckoos are chasing each other during a territorial spat they can and do perch in the most unexpected positions, sometimes relatively close to people. I have experienced this many times and can therefore say categorically that more than one Cuckoo in the same area greatly increases a photographer’s chance of success.
This scenario I’m pleased to say was repeated and Susan and I were treated to quite a spectacle with birds flying all around us calling as they flew - a special few minutes.
Surprisingly a man came along casually riding a mountain bike and he stopped and asked what we were looking at. He explained that he was on a management course locally and he was just out for a ride. I pointed out a Cuckoo in a tree because he said he had never seen one before. ‘So that’s a Cuckoo’ he said, with a degree of doubt in his voice, as two birds flew over us calling loudly – ‘Yes they are’ I said conclusively. He thanked us and rode off down the track.
The sun had lowered further and was now shining directly on some hawthorn trees behind us, illuminating them beautifully in a very nice early evening light. Cuckoos were still flying around and unbelievably one of the more inquisitive males landed right in one of these Hawthorns. I shot him immediately, however, he was still a bit further away than I would have liked. This is something that had always irked me with the resulting images from this particular day. I had forgotten about them until this week, but seeing them again brought my frustrations back.
However, there is now something I can do about it, and it’s called AI (Topaz). I am now able to crop in without the resultant noise problems.

My photographic memories of that evening are now far more pleasing.

The enigmatic Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is an extremely difficult bird to see in the Brecon Beacons, in fact damn near impossible! These diminutive woodpeckers are on the ‘Red List’ of birds in the UK after a massive 83% decline in numbers since 1970. Some explanations have been offered up as the reasons for this decline, primarily the ongoing loss of ancient and mature woodland which is thought to be a key factor, and also the removal of dead and rotting wood may have also had an impact. There are now thought to be no more than 2,000 pairs left in the UK which is an awful statistic.
These delightful little bird are usually found high up in mature trees searching for food by crawling around small tree branches, their flight is a series of very deep loops, much more exaggerated than other woodpeckers because of their very short wings.
They emit a chipping sound which is a bit weaker than their Great Spotted cousins.

Their drumming is also a more muted and subdued affair, lasting a bit longer than the Great Spotted's and is also much less 'Staccato' in nature.

Please click the link and press play to listen.

https://xeno-canto.org/842218

Quite unlike the harshness of the Great Spotted's.

Their song has been likened to a quieter version of a Sparrowhawk – a series of Kee Kee Kee notes.

https://xeno-canto.org/832184

Not to be confused with the Nuthatches delivery of somewhat similar notes.

https://xeno-canto.org/840562

Over the last week Susan and I have heard a bird drumming and singing in the same area but as yet haven’t been able to see it. Just seeing one would be great – photographing one would be another much more difficult matter.

Here is a photograph of a male bird I took in Bulgaria, where they don’t have the declining numbers that we have.



I really wish things could be different here.

Susan and I have only just finished completely redecorating the interior of the house and it has taken six weeks of hard work. However, it is finished now and we have started to go out birding in the locality. Fortunately last week we were lucky to come across two Willow Tits.


Notice the extensive sooty black cap, prominent black bib, large white cheeks, buffy underparts and a light wing panel.
They always look a warmer colour than the Marsh Tit, which could be a confusion species.
These little birds are on the 'Red List' and as a consequence have become quite difficult to see nationally.

However, encouragingly the days are now noticeably lengthening, despite the horrible, gloomy and wet weather we have been enduring for months. The land is sodden and everywhere you walk is just mud – disgusting.

Around our garden finch numbers are building - Goldfinches and Siskins in the main. Each year at this time they come to the bird feeders to fatten up ready for breeding. This morning in a rare couple of hours of brightness I set up a lens and camera in the permanent hide in my garden. Traditionally the finches were quarrelling over the seeds and I managed to capture a few flight shots using the method I explained in a previous blog post.







In order to capture these flight shots;

Canon R5 and Canon Rf 100-500 zoom lens.

Details - 5000/sec - ISO 2500 @ f8 for some DOF.

I have sold my Canon 7D Mk2 DSLR and I am now ‘mirrorless’ only, and for the first time in twenty years I have one single camera, it feels strange!
Positively I can’t wait for the spring migrants to start appearing to put an end to this miserable wet winter…….

The iconic Egyptian Plover, or coloquilly named the ‘Crocodile bird’ is sought after by most people who visit The Gambia. However, a trip ‘Up River’ is necessary if you want to see these lovely birds.
The Egyptian plover is a localised resident in tropical sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds on sandbars in very large rivers. Despite its vernacular and scientific names, it is not present in modern-day Egypt. However when it was described in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Egyptian state encompassed much of the territory that the bird is found in today, including Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia.
We found these birds in two locations, thanks to Mas’s expertise, and they posed nicely.

They are by nature quite confiding so once you find them you can usually get some images.

These beautiful birds are typical Rollers, shy most of the time but now and again they will perch out and allow a photo opportunity.




They are attracted to bush fires and will perch in a tree on the fires edge and wait for insects like crickets and grasshoppers to flee the flames. They also forage on the ground for insects, they are often seen in pairs.

These impressive birds are found in wooded habitats in central and western Africa, ranging from western Kenya to Côte d'Ivoire with an isolated population in north Angola. This Hornbill is found mostly in the Ivory-Coast, with smaller populations in its surrounding countries. The Central-African populations are mostly in Uganda and Kenya as well as Cameroon, with smaller populations in Gabon, Tanzania and Central Africa. They are tropical birds that live in regions with high amounts of forests and because of this arboreal nature they are rarely seen on flat lands.



Quite what this bird is doing in the Gambia is a mystery, nevertheless it seems happy to have taken up residence in the grounds of a large hotel. It has become resident in this same location because it’s probably having a good living there.
Whatever the circumstances, it’s a very impressive bird to see, standing at around 30 inches.

The Greater Honeyguide is said to live up to its name by leading local people to wild bee hives that are erected in cavities of the trunks of Baobab and other tall trees. Once located, men then scale these trees, open up the bee hives and remove the much sought after honey. They leave the wax and the calorie-laden larvae in the hives for the Honeguides to eat. The Greater Honeyguide is one of the few birds that can eat and digest wax.

Adult


Juvenile


This activity is what’s called ‘Mutual Interaction’.
This unlikely partnership has been chronicled in many African countries as early as the fifteen century.
Utterly fascinating!!