White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher

by | Jul 4, 2020 | African Birds, Birds, Kenya, Places, Wildlife

White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher (Melaenornis Fischeri). This race of the species has a particularly conspicuous broad eye-ring and is found in Kenya and parts of Uganda and Tanzania. (Ref. Birds of East Africa: Stevenson & Fanshawe; a truly excellent book). This one popped up in a garden in Nanyuki, Kenya some years ago.  

Excuse me!

by | Jun 27, 2020 | African Birds, Birds, Kenya, Wildlife

Shot many moons ago in a garden setting at Lolamaric, Laikipia in Kenya, a male Cordon-bleu bird seems to be getting the brush-off from his partner.

Canon EOS 1D MkII with Canon EF 300m f2.8 prime and Canon 1.4x extender. ISO 500 1/125 at f4.5

Golden Palm Weaver

by | Jun 15, 2020 | African Birds, Birds, Kenya, Places

Male Golden palm weaver taking a breather while involved in the complex task of weaving a beautiful nest.

Shot many years ago on the wonderful Kenyan coast at Kilifi with my long-departed Canon 1D MkII equipped with the also-departed Canon EF 300mm f2.8 lens (big Bertha)

I recently rediscovered many images from that era on a trawl through the archives and I have given them an additional polish with Lightroom tweaks that weren’t available back in the day.

Tasty Treat

by | Jun 12, 2020 | African Birds, Birds, Kenya, Wildlife

A female golden palm weaver brings a grub to the nest building party. All a bit one-sided really since the male does all the work of building the most beautiful spherical nest while the missus looks on. Not sure if she passed this tasty tidbit onto the male or whether she munched on it reflectively. I do know that she ultimately rejected the nest that took two days of hard work to build.

Shot in Kilifi on the Kenya coast many years ago using my old Canon 1D MkII and EF 300mm f2.8 prime lens. Recently retweaked in LR.

Cape Robin-chat

by | Mar 10, 2020 | African Birds, Birds, Kenya, Wildlife

Cape robin-chat enjoying the late afternoon sun on the verandah at Ben & Kim’s house near Timau in the foothills of Mt Kenya.

According to Wikipedia, ‘The Cape robin-chat is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It has a disjunct range from South Sudan to South Africa. The locally familiar and confiding species has colonized and benefited from a range of man-altered habitats, including city suburbs and farmstead woodlots.’

They are certainly confident around people and cheerfully chirpy.

Canon 90D with Canon 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS STM lens at 250mm ISO 800 1/640 at f8