Tanzania: Serenegeti NP – Birds
n absolutely astounding variety of birds in the Serengeti National Park – over 500 species are here – it can’t even all possibly fit in one post (next post will be about birds of prey separately). From giant ostriches to small and colorful parrot-like fisher’s lovebirds – it was an astounding birding adventure, among the birds we spotted were: Silver-cheeked hornbill, African rocky, Crowned lapwing, Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Yellow-throated long-claw,, White-crowned shrike, Hildebrand starling, Grey-backed shrike, Coqui francolin, Red-billed buffalo weaver, White-headed buffalo weaver, Three-banded corsa, Red-necked sparfowl, Red-billed oxpecker, White-bellied goaway bird, Von der Decken’s hornbill, Striped kingfisher, Grey-backed shrike, Magpie shrike, Black-faced sandgrouse, European stork, Two-banded plover, Singing costicola, African hoopoe, Speckled pigeon, Sparrow lark, Two-banded courser, Silverbird, Namaqua dove, Temmink’s courser, Purple long-tailed starling, Black-winged lapwing, Wattled lapwing, Yellow-throated longclaw, Mocking cliff chat, Lesser striped swallow, Flapped lark, Yellow bishop, Northern anteater chat, Sooty chat, Capped wheatear, Grey-headed kingfisher, Spar-winged plover, Levaillant’s cuckoo, Pin-tailed whydah, Small bee-eater. With the endless plains and hills, Serengeti is the playground for various birds of prey. Raptors are almost everywhere, sitting on every bush and tree, scouting for food and dive-bombing into tall grasses. We saw loads of birds of prey – Secretary bird, Brown snake eagle, Black-chested snake eagle, Nubian or Lapped-faced vulture, Marsh owl, Dark goshawk, Dark-chanting goshawk, Eastern-chanting goshawk, Marsh eagle, Pigmy falcon, Augur buzzard, Black-shouldered kite, Lesser kestrel, Black kite, Greater kestrel, Steppe buzzard, Tawny Eagle, and persons many more. The two most spectacular where the smallest (Pigmy falcon, the worlds smallest bird of prey) and the massive Marshall Eagle.
