There aren’t many species of birds that you can find only in Florida. Most of Florida’s herons and egrets can be found up the east coast and Gulf coast, and many of Florida’s passerines and raptors migrate north in the spring. On the small list of Florida specialities is the Limpkin. Limpkins are only found in Florida’s fresh water marshes (with sporadic records in the south eastern United States). Limpkin used to be commonly found in south eastern Georgia. Limpkin are also found in Central and South America. Limpkins (Aramus guarauna) are the only member of the family Aramidae (genus Aramus), and are closely related to Rallidae (rails, coots, and moorhens) and Gruidae (cranes). These three families make up the order Gruiiformes. There are fossil records of extinct species of birds that may have also been members of this family. Limpkins look most like small cranes in appearance.
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Three beautiful and unique birds that I see on a daily basis here in the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve are the Hamerkop, Black-headed Heron, and the Grey Heron. These three species are fairly common throughout southern Africa but I find them very interesting. Hamerkop This strange-looking bird pictured above is the Hamerkop. This species is widespread and has no close relatives. As far as its coloration goes, it is quite dull; basically a brownish color. However, this bird’s head shape gives it a weird look and is responsible for this bird’s name. As you can see in my photo, the head of this bird is shaped like that of a hammer. The Hamerkop builds massive dome-shaped nests in trees along waterways, where it also can be seen most often, hunting for fish and frogs.
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Probably the most common bird in the United States is the European Starling, there are billions of them. Unfortunately, it is the only species of starling we have (with the exception of mynas that have been introduced in some areas). But here in South Africa, there are an astonishing 15 species! Most of them are beautifully iridescent and glossy in coloration and others lack the glossy-ness but make up for it in strange looks. So far I have been able to photograph five species of starling here in Africa. Pied Starling Probably my favorite of the starlings I have seen in southern Africa is the Pied Starling (pictured above). This species is dark-brown in coloration but if the sun hits it right, can appear purple-green. The Pied Starling is a common and endemic species to South Africa.
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Check out this thread on birdphotographers.net for a strange looking heron photographed recently in Cuba. Cuba has the same suite of herons and egrets that you would expect to find in the southeast so Green Heron seems the only likely ID. You can click on this link to quickly see the photo and then head over to the forum if you have any idea what it is or why a Green Heron looks like this.
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I have been spending a lot of time on the coast of South Africa and so have managed to find two species of gull, six species of tern, and one species of jaeger in the past 6 weeks. It is sort of surprising to me how limited the number of gulls here is, but at least there has been a nice assortment of terns. The photo above was taken at the Dwesa Nature Reserve of a tern roost that was near our camp. I think it really captures the classic assortment of species here on the Wild Coast. There are Swift Terns, Sandwich Terns, a Kelp Gull, and three African Black Oystercatchers in the photo. For this post, I would like to share some photos I have taken of the more common gull and tern species as well a one jaeger species.
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During the second week of February, I spent a few days in the Dwesa Nature Reserve along the Eastern Cape of South Africa helping out with one of my professor’s research projects (about carbon sequestration/ fire ecology) and to build a relationship with students from Rhodes University (who were also camping with us, as well as working on a botany project). Luckily this offered me a lot of time out in the forests searching for birds. African Wood-Owl One evening, a Rhodes University student; another Penn State Student; Jan Venter, a biologist from the Eastern Cape Parks Board; and myself went out searching for frogs and chameleons. About 15 minutes into our drive through the dirt roads transecting the pristine coastal lowland forest, we spotted an African Wood-Owl perched on a vine hanging over the road.
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Since I have arrived here in South Africa, I haven’t been more than about 50 miles from the sea at any time, in fact we are usually at places right on the coast. This has been great for getting to see some of the beautiful shorebirds of southern Africa. In fact, the very first species I saw on this trip was a Spotted Thick-Knee that was running around the airport tarmac as we landed in Cape Town. African Black Oystercatcher banded probably by researchers from Rhodes University My all-time favorite shorebird is the American Oystercatcher, so it is no wonder that I instantly fell in love with the African Black Oystercatcher (pictured above). This species is an endemic and is threatened by human development along the coastline of southern Africa. It can often be found anywhere there are rocky areas right along the sea.
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As regular readers of this site know, I am a huge fan of raptors. Here in South Africa, I have been able to see quite a few species of raptors, and perhaps my favorite at the moment is the beautiful Eastern Red-footed Falcon (Falco amurensis), also known as the Amur Falcon. Amur Falcon- female This species is about the size of a Merlin, but is even more stunning! The female of the species has a slate-colored back and a heavily-spotted underside. The male has a slate-blue back and a solid, slate-colored breast. Both sexes show an orange-ish bill and eye-ring, and of course, both male and female, show bright reddish feet! This species is a summer visitor to southern Africa from its breeding grounds in northern and eastern Asia. Throughout the day in most grassland habitats you can see loads of these falcons hover-hunting for grasshoppers and other large insects.
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Coming from Pennsylvania, I am only really ever prepared to see one species of cormorant on a typical basis; the Double-crested Cormorant. A winter trip to the coast may offer Great Cormorant or a trip to Florida would offer Anhinga, but nonetheless the eastern United States is lacking in cormorant species. South Africa is quite different. There are 6 species in the country and I have been lucky enough to see all of them since I arrived here in mid-January. Crowned Cormorant- photo by Alex The Cape Town area within the Western Cape Province, which I spent a few days in towards the beginning of my trip, is a fantastic region to see various species of South African cormorants. It is here that the east coast species and the west coast species mix. The top photo of this post shows the small and beautiful Crowned Cormorant.
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Crested Caracaras are members of the family Falconidae (which includes other species like Kestrels, Merlins and Hobbies, and the Peregrine Falcon). Recently, through genetic work, it was discovered that Falconidae is more closely related to parrots than other raptors. There are 11 known species of caracara, one of which is extinct. Crested Caracara is the only one found in the United States. adult Crested Caracara (note black plumage and bright white head feathers, in addition to bright yellow legs) Caracara’s are named for the sound they make when they throw their head back in a “rattle” call. They are well known as Mexican Vultures or Mexican Eagles, and are found on the official seal of Mexico (with a snake in their talons). Caracaras eat carrion and also live prey, and aren’t above snatching prey from other species.
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