More Hadedas ...

BigAl

Hadedas are very placid birds, very noisy admittedly, but they do relax too...




These two were enjoying the winter sun (sorry that this is a bit soft :cry)...





But then I started fiddling with the camera, and missed the arrival of a third bird. Immediatley something was not right, we have a fight on our hands (note the rh birds bill through the lh one's wing)...





The fight got really vicious, but all the time [what I assume is] the lady kept a tight watch on the proceedings...





Then abruptly it all stopped, all screamed together...




and then two birds left together, leaving one to wander around the lawn. Whether it was the original two, I can't say - my ability to id individual Hadedas is not too hot...

regards
alan

Harryb

Hey Alan,

Nice captures of a bird that I have never seen before. Thanks for sharing them with us.

BigAl

Harryb wrote:

Hey Alan,

Nice captures of a bird that I have never seen before. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Thanks for looking and commenting Harry.

regards
alan

gus

Gidday BigAl..nice shot mate...the southern countries sure got their share of big birds.

Your hornbills.. have the most amazing sound. That deep boom that almost comes from the ground below you...i didnt know what it was when we were out camping & it really set the scene of being in the scrub around a camp fire.

God i want to get back over there with the L 400mm f/5.6.

Gus..

BigAl

Humungus wrote:

Gidday BigAl..nice shot mate...the southern countries sure got their share of big birds.

Your hornbills.. have the most amazing sound. That deep boom that almost comes from the ground below you...i didnt know what it was when we were out camping & it really set the scene of being in the scrub around a camp fire.

God i want to get back over there with the L 400mm f/5.6.

Gus..

Thanks Gus. Those Ground Hornbills are something special.

I'd also love to get a chance to get to one of the game parks with a nice big lens (I'm drooling over a bigma, but don't have the necessary dollars at this stage :cry). I'll try making time for a trip to Kruger Park in late spring.

regards
alan

gus

BigAl wrote:

Thanks Gus. Those Ground Hornbills are something special.

I'd also love to get a chance to get to one of the game parks with a nice big lens (I'm drooling over a bigma, but don't have the necessary dollars at this stage :cry). I'll try making time for a trip to Kruger Park in late spring.

regards
alan

At the risk of upsetting bigma owners BigAl..maybe give some concideration to the L 400 f5.6. Sure its a prime but mate its focusing is very fast & it is regarded as very very sharp. AAAnnnddd its L glass & white

I didnt go to any parks...just drove off the road & into the bush to camp. My 1st night was scary with lots of elephants in front of us & behind us making that 'farting' noise in their throats. I knew i wasnt a threat to them but was concerned they would come in looking for food.

What really blew me away was how small hippos are...i assumed they were much bigger but i was standing next to a waterhole just on dusk one night when i pointed out to my daughter what i thought was a big warthog maybe 2 hundred yards off...we soon heard the noise that will put the fear of god into anyone...we didnt hang about.

BigAl

Humungus wrote:

At the risk of upsetting bigma owners BigAl..maybe give some concideration to the L 400 f5.6. Sure its a prime but mate its focusing is very fast & it is regarded as very very sharp. AAAnnnddd its L glass & white

I didnt go to any parks...just drove off the road & into the bush to camp. My 1st night was scary with lots of elephants in front of us & behind us making that 'farting' noise in their throats. I knew i wasnt a threat to them but was concerned they would come in looking for food.

What really blew me away was how small hippos are...i assumed they were much bigger but i was standing next to a waterhole just on dusk one night when i pointed out to my daughter what i thought was a big warthog maybe 2 hundred yards off...we soon heard the noise that will put the fear of god into anyone...we didnt hang about.

Gus, white lenses cost as much as a small car here in SA :cry. The thing that I like about the bigma is the range, especially when you're in the bush. Means you can take a picture of a giraffe and the oxpecker on its back without changing lenses.

You must have been in Botswana, Namibia or Zambia to be able to drive off the road and just camp . The scariest thing I've had with elephants was when sleeping in a roof tent on my pickup (almost 6' above the ground) to wake up with an elephant eyeball peering at me through the mosquito net :uhoh.

Dunno about your small hippos (maybe they were pygmy hippos ). The hippos I'm familiar with are big enough to chomp a pretty solid canoe in half. Quite a few folks get killed each year coz they used hippo paths to get to rivers. The hippos just stomp on them. They are pretty much the same size as a rhino, but roughly twice the weight.

cheers
alan