Birds of the Forest

Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Sun 14 Nov 2010 14:19
 
Sunday 14th November
 
None of us are avid bird watchers, apart from Amanda, but I defy anyone to not be impressed at the birds out here. We saw dozens, all different types and each as interesting as the one before.
 
First to grace us with their presence were two eagles, a male and a female, the males have a white head and neck and the females are all brown. They're beautiful big birds and they seem to glide effortlessly through the air. They were with us for some time as once we got closer they take flight and move slightly further up the river to perch on another branch until we intruded in their space again and they moved to another safe spot. We saw more after the first instance too.
 
  
 
Can you see her flying and him sat the branches?
 
We saw one hawk and numerous cucolls's. How we managed to get the right hand picture I don't know, as they would take flight as soon as they heard the sound of the engine, often quite a distance ahead. Another beautiful bird.
 
  
 
The most common bird was the hornbill. The two in the pictures below are different types and I'm afraid I don't know which is which. There are black, rhinoceros and crested hornbills.
 
  
 
We managed to spot a couple of fantastic kingfishers, the colours were so bright, it really was like a bird of paradise but unfortunately we have no picture. The body was a bright blue, the head yellow and it's beak red. The colours were so vivid I can't describe!