I normally only get them in isolation, meaning only one bird, but not today.
Now here's a question for you: If you look at the picture above, which one is the male, and which one is the female?
To make it easy for you, I will tell you the difference at the end of the post.
They are African Hoopoes (Upupa africana) and I have 8 shots of them on two separate occasions. Then I also have a pair of Hadedas (Bostrychia hagedash) on show. As in the case of the hoopoes, it is also rare for me to get two hadedas together.
We are now supposed to be in the late winter season stage, but the weather might not play the game, as it is very turbulent nowadays. So, winter might last for a month or two longer, or it can end early like last year. Whatever, as we know that the spring season is also on its way sooner or later, and then new life will appear all over in nature.
This was how it started, as we were on our way out, and all that I had to do, was to stop the car. I leaned over my wife in the passenger seat, and she must have thought that I wanted a kiss on my ear, instead I asked her to open her window so that I could get the shots of the birds. Lol.
I wanted the bird close to me to fan its hairdo, and it did after I gave a loud cough.
Just some closer shots of them.
Time now to show you the two Hadedas.
We were at home, and I watched the pair of Hadedas searching for worms on the lawn of the pavement outside.
Like I said it is not often for me to get a pair of them on my camera.
And here was the second occasion that I got two hoopoes together, but there was a difference, as I got them on camera in the road outside our home. There was another difference, as this time it was the mother with her baby.
Simply amazing to see how the parents teach their youngsters how to feed themselves.
The youngster is at the right of the picture, and you can see that its tail has not grown out yet.
A brave little one as there might be a snake in that bush. Lol
And finally, even a sparrow came in to have a look at the youngster.
The answer to my question. Look carefully at the wings of the hoopoes. The one at the back has 2 narrow white lines and then a broader white line. He is the male, and the female has 4 narrow white lines on her wings.
I made a joke in the second last picture of the snake in the bush, but we don't really have snakes here as we found some snakes further inland at a public park. I posted some of them in the past, and also an egret bird with a snake in its beak. Further back in time I also posted a heron busy swallowing a snake. But luckily, we haven't seen any snakes in our area yet. It was really a special day as I was very happy to get two instead of one for a change. Everyone knows that some days can be good and some days can be bad. But we take them all in our stride.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time, cheers!
