About time for some birds here.

 

Lilac breasted roller and long tailed shrike.

 

Yellow billed hornbill--mine was in the opening slide show--here's one from Frank.

 

One of the most exciting birds to see is the Secretary bird--it's five feet tall, beautifully marked, and has quills on it's head and a long stiff tail. It struts rather than walks around. Sorry I wasn't closer for these pictures.

 

Although they are endangered, we saw lots of ground hornbills. Mostly they are just walking around feeding on insects, lizards, and snakes, but once we saw them fly. The white wingtips are always a surprise because the bird looks so black when on the ground.  They flash the white wing tips for snakes to strike at and then the hornbill nabs the snake--yummy.

Frank was quick on the trigger to catch this one which flew right over the vehicle.

 

We also saw African fish eagles everywhere we went. Their call is one of THE sounds of Africa, along with lion's roar and a hyena calling at night. Here's one surveying its kingdom from atop its nest.

 

We were very lucky in the variety of birds we saw. Lots of old favorites and also a lot of new ones. I was able to increase my Africa life list to over 480!