Travel day home from Comoros

It is my understanding that we have a long way to travel, and it will probably take us a while, so here’s a post to fill in the gap.

I mentioned that there were a couple of great egrets in the mangrove swamp were I saw the striated heron, and here’s the one that was fishing down near the water.

By the time we reached the southern tip of the island, the tide was out, and several shore birds were foraging on the exposed bottom. Here’s a whimbrel, which we first saw last fall on Ilha de Mozambique, but I think this is a nicer picture.

There was also a new bird for me, this stilt-looking crab-plover (Dromas ardeola), which is “related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Dromadidae.” Ha!

Finally, at that same location the most common bird was the pied crow, which we’ve seen before, but this is the nicest pose they’ve ever let me see.