Common Bulbul, Addis Ababa
Common Bulbul, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
During our recent stay in Ethiopia we went to visit a silk outlet in suburban Addis Ababa. This shop was in a private home with an extensive garden. It was a delightful spot and quite the ideal retreat from the rush of a crowded city. While our wives were buying some lovely items from the shop, Brett and I meandered through the garden taking in the serenity. The beautiful garden naturally attracted a range of local birds, including the Common Bulbul shown above.
The view I had was only fleeting; just enough time to capture this rather poor photo, but good enough for a positive ID. My research has revealed that it is a common species throughout Africa. You guessed it – I never saw this species again! Such is the birding life. Common Bulbuls inhabit a wide range of environments, including thick undergrowth, gardens and parks. This species eats fruit, nectar and insects.
Australia only has one species of bulbul, the introduced Red-whiskered Bulbul (click for a photo).
Below I have included several photos taken in the gardens.
In a private garden in Addis Ababa
In a private garden in Addis Ababa
Thick-billed Ravens, Addis Ababa
Thick-billed Ravens, Addis Ababa
One of the bird species I recorded on only a few occasions during my two week stay in Ethiopia last December was the Thick-billed Raven. Only once did I manage to get a few photos of this species, shown here today on this post. They were very easily distinguished from the locally common Pied Crows by being almost completely black except for a white patch on the nape. They are considerably bigger than the Pied Crow too. Their thick bill is hard to miss and is diagnostic.
Along with the Common Raven, they are the largest in the corvid family of birds (click here for a definition). They are found only in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia). Their diet is quite varied, and being omnivorous they will eat insects, beetles, carrion, meat scraps and a range of human foods.
Thick-billed Ravens, Addis Ababa
Yellow-billed Kites, Addis Ababa
Yellow-billed Kites, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Over recent weeks I have been writing about the birds I saw in Ethiopia on a visit there last December. I’ve already written several posts about Yellow-billed Kites here and here.
Today I feature several more photos taken in the grounds of Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa, an international school where my daughter was teaching last year. There were always several dozen soaring over the campus or low over the ground. On many occasions I saw anything from a dozen to 20 or 30 feeding on the school oval. I can only assume they were catching insects and beetles stirred up during watering of the grass.
Yellow-billed Kites, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Yellow-billed Kites, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Yellow-billed Kites, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Pied Crows, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Pied Crows, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Pied Crows are one of the common birds you can see on a visit to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. I saw many on my visit there late last year to visit my daughter who was teaching at an international school in the capital.
The birds shown in this set of photos were feeding on the school oval. The grass had just been watered and I suspect that this stirred up quite a deal of insect activity. In the last photo you can see a Yellow-billed Kite, a species that is also very common in and around the city. Every day during our 2 week visit I saw dozens of this species of kite. Sometimes the sky was filled with 50 – 100 of them soaring over the school and the surrounding suburb.
Further reading:
Pied Crows, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Pied Crows, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Yellow-billed Kite and Pied Crows, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abdim’s Stork, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abdim's Stork, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Sometimes birding opportunities occur in a split second or two. This sighting was one of those. I was taking photos of some other birds in the grounds of Bingham Academy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last December when we were visiting our daughter while she was teaching there. This large bird flew overhead and was gone in seconds; I hardly had time to focus. In fact, the photo could be better and I didn’t even have time to zoom in and enlarge the image. The bird never returned. I never saw another of this same species during my two week stay in Ethiopia.
Such is the birding life.
At least I got a photo, poor though it is. At it was sufficient to identify it as an Abdim’s Stork. I can’t tell you much more about it so go here to read a little more.