Something caught my eye.
Early morning and I was watching the beautiful cloud streams coming over.
Then I saw some birds appearing from far away, and it looked like they were headed in my direction. It all worked out so great as I climbed onto the zoom to track the birds. I really didn't expect this, and I am glad that I decided to keep an eye on the birds. It looked like they were a small family of birds very high up and they were coming over from the west (ocean side). Now, I don't want to keep you waiting with a long introduction, so, come and see below what happened.
This was the first sight that I had of their approach.
And they just kept on coming.
Can you guess what kind of birds they were? I know it is difficult at this stage, and I will tell you below what the birds were.
Right over my head, and I almost sprained my neck to take this shot below. They let out loud calls and maybe they thought my camera was a Canon :)
Yes, they are right, it is a Canon, but not the kind of canon that they think, but rather my camera. Lol.
Finally, it was done and this is the last shot that I got of them.
I did not know what type of birds they were, until I heard their call above me, then I realised that they were Hadeda Ibises (Bostrychia hagedash).
Let's see what Wikipedia has to say about the hadedas.
The hadada ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) or hadeda (/ˈhɑːdiːdɑː/) is an ibis native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named for its loud three to four note calls uttered in flight especially in the mornings and evenings when they fly out or return to their roost trees. Although not as dependent on water as some ibises, they are found near wetlands and often live in close proximity to humans, foraging in cultivated land and gardens. A medium-sized ibis with stout legs and a typical down-curved bill, the wing coverts are iridescent with a green or purple sheen. They are non-migratory but are known to make nomadic movements in response to rain particularly during droughts. Their ranges in southern Africa have increased with an increase in tree cover and irrigation in human-altered habitats.
It was a great experience for me to get the hadedas coming over, and if you click on the source link above then Wikipedia will tell you a lot about these birds. I can say that the locals are not very fond of these birds because of the noise that they make early morning at 5am when some people are still sleeping. I can imagine if we were to have a baby and a hadeda on the roof screams the baby awake, but we don't have a baby and they don't scream us awake. Lol.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time, cheers!