Interesting forest hikes!

What a start to December. I have been craving to get a decent picture of this bird! Walla!!!!. Finally i have the pleasure of sharing. Enjoy it. I thoroughly did after staking it for about an hour, deep in the forest with lots of rain.

The Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina) is a medium-sized (up to 34 cm long), largely green forest bird in the Trogonidae family. It is the most widespread and catholic in habitat choice of three Apaloderma trogons. The species name is Khoikhoi in origin, believed to be named after Narina, the mistress of the French ornithologist François Le Vaillant.

Both sexes have vivid, gingery green upperpart plumage. The tail feathers have a metallic blue-green gloss. The outer three rectices on each side are tipped and fringed white, giving the undertail of perched birds a characteristic white appearance. The wing coverts are a grizzled grey, and remiges mostly colourless grey.
The male especially, has bright amaranth red underside plumage and bare, green gape and eye flanges. The female has brown face and chest plumage, blue skin orbiting the eyes and duller red plumage below. Immature birds resemble females, but have distinct white tips to the tertials (inner wing), and less distinct gape and eye flanges.

The diet consists mainly of insects and small invertebrates as well as rodents and small reptiles. The call is a grating, low repeated hoot, given by males only, in defending territory or attracting mates. The male's bare, blue-green throat patch is expanded when calling and both sexes may fluff out the breast feathers in display. They nest in a tree hollow in which both sexes incubate or brood.



PS: I have also shared photos of other friendly aviaries that posed for the camera and and joined the party.

All photographs copyright - Akil Halai. All rights reserved.

TSAVO West with toto's - Simply breath taking!

Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, isn’t in the Taita Hills actually, but in the hill locked lowlands about 15km west of Mwatate on the Taveta road. It took us merely 4 and a half hours drive to  check-in at the Salt Lick game lodge from home (Arusha, Tanzania, including clearance at the border). Don’t ask me the speed I cruised at. Set up in 1973 by the Hilton hotel chain, the sanctuary is now owned and managed by Sarova Hotels, who successfully balance wildlife and human needs in an environment that, while not being fully natural, seems to work well for both.

For most of the year, the sanctuary is full of wildlife. There are more than fifty species of large mammals and three hundred species of birds here, and its small size means the rangers always have a good idea of where the key animals can be seen. It’s not uncommon to spot up to 20 different species of Mammals, among them lions, cheetahs, large herds of elephant and buffalo, and all the other southern plains grazers and up to 20 species of birds in a morning game drive. During the drier times of the year, when the animals are not dispersed, the water sources beneath Salt Lick Lodge, on the southern side of the sanctuary, provide waterhole game-viewing, including an excellent ground-level hide.

We, my son Mohamed and I were more interested in the birds here. Apart from the 100+ species of birds we managed to spot in 3 two hours morning drives (open vehicle – yay), I did manage to have a good sight of the Taita Falcon, Retz's Helmeted Shrike, Hartlaub’s Bustard, Barbary Falcon, Pangani Longclaw and the Taita Fiscal Shrike among many others. The Taita Thrush and White-eye are endemic and only found in the hills, which is of course for another time. I will surely be back.

The service was excellent and the food sumptuous. Not to forget the surprise anniversary cake the staff prepared for us. It brought a big smile on Umme's face. I highly recommend a visit to this sanctuary  I witnessed elephants first hand from as close as 1 metre. Spent hours learning how they behave. Truly loved every bit of it. My son Ebrahim would agree with me.

I attach some of the breath taking moments I managed to capture with my Canon pal.

Beach to Bush

Having had the opportunity to attend the last district Rotary conference of district 9200, held at the Leisure Lodge in Diani - Mombasa, i still managed to sneak in a day for birding.

Close to Diani, South coast Mombasa, Shimba Hills Game Reserve is a small hilly plateau situated about 32 km from Diani near Kwale town. All hills have view points that offer spectacular views of this hilly and forested countryside and as far as the Indian ocean and Chale island to the east and the Tsavo plains and Taita hills to the west.

Visiting this area was a great opportunity to visit and re-discover the red-soil of inland Kenya. Equatorial forest elephants (smaller but far more aggressive than the savanna elephants), Sable antelopes (the only place to see them in Kenya) and a walk to the sheldrick falls and few of the highlights ofcourse apart from the spectacular birdlife whilst enjoying the freshness of the coastal breeze. 111 species of birds have been officially recorded, of which 22 are coastal endemic. My friend Charles - the game ranger has however recorded 143 species into his checklist.

I have captured some of these splendid moments through my Canon gear.

Akil Halai - 24th April 2013