We did indeed make it back to Johannesburg late yesterday afternoon, and we did get out to look around this morning, but before I start showing you those sights, let me continue chipping away at the backlog I left when I started showing you sights from Namibia.
This first handsome creature is a Blacksmith Lapwing (Vanellus armatus) that we saw at the fabulous Pilanesberg National Park. Although you may be tempted to assume that “blacksmith” is a reference to its white, black, and grey color scheme, as I was, I read that it is instead a reference to the “loud ringing “tink-tink-tink” call is uttered in series, like a blacksmith hammering on an anvil.”
I’ve been able to show you this next bird, a Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), once before, from the Tongole Lodge in the Nkotakhota Wildlife Reserve in Malawi, but the ones here seem a little more use to people ogling their amazing appearance.
Back at the Holiday Inn, we did see one of these this morning, a Fiscal Flycatcher (Sigelus silens), but this particular one from our previous visit let me take a much nicer portrait.
Similarly, we saw a couple of these Hadada Ibises (Bostrychia hagedash) this morning, but this one, digging worms out of the lawn in front of the O. R. Tambo International Airport terminal, let me have a better look.
Finally, the most amazing new sight this morning had to be this Crested Barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii). It’s my first barbet ever, and now that we’re acquainted, I hope it won’t be my last.
We start our flight home tomorrow, but it doesn’t leave until later in the day, so we’ve made plans to visit a nearby bird sanctuary early in the morning. Wish us luck!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 