There are a lot of long tailed birds in South Africa.  These first three are all African long tailed shrikes.  Shrikes are mini predators who catch mostly insects, but also small lizards and the like.  They hang around in small groups and perch on shrubs or tall grasses waiting for a meal to come by that they can grab with their strong, slightly hooked beak.

Adult female

Adult male with juvenile looking at him from above--both in a more common pose than the picture above.  The adult has his head cocked looking at the ground for bugs.

Another juvenile which will be black,rather than brown, when mature.

Redbilled quelea are renowned for devastating grain crops--they descend on a field in huge numbers and devour the seeds.  Their flocks often number in the millions and almost look like smoke from a distance.  They all twitter when flying so it's quite a noise too.  We didn't see the huge flocks this trip that we saw in Zimbabwe before, but there were lots of small flocks.  They are rarely still for a moment to get a picture, but these, which were about one percent of this group, perched in this bush briefly between getting quick drinks from a small waterhole.  The ones with the red on the front and head are the males.

When they drink, they flow down as a group and just catch a sip on the fly, often dipping in a little.  They look like moving fabric rather than individual birds and the noise of the twittering and the wings is amazing.  If Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds bothered you, you don't want to be near a quelea flock.

Remember those flapping fish in the shrinking water by the hippos before?  Here are two Marabou storks who have had their fill and are taking a break.  You can see the inflated breeding display pouch on the one on the left and the fish in the background.

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