African Safari – Lake Manyara National Park (3)
Once we were down by the shores of the lake, there were plenty of different shorebirds to see through the binoculars but most were a bit too far away for good photography. Fun to watch though as large flocks would rise en masse, circle a bit and then settle back in to their shoreline locations.
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) 
African Spoonbill (Platalea alba) 
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) 
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) 
While the herons and ibis and flamingos, etc. were entertaining those who were looking out towards the lake, there were plenty of other birds to entertain those looking back inland.
Superb Starling (Spreo superbus) 
Pratincole (Glareola pratincola) 
Not sure of i.d. 
Not sure of i.d 
At the large end of the scale, Africa has its vultures and eagles but, at the small end of the scale, it has a plethora of colourful small birds including numerous sunbirds and bee-eaters. A bit tough to photograph the little birds while in the safari van so, whenever we were stopped for lunch or at a look-out point, I would normally be surveying the edge of the woods in search of a the smaller birds.
Little Bee-eater (Merops pucillus) 
Of course, the hornbills held a special spot on my scale of uniqueness.
We had added two new members to our group when we were in Arusha and, for them, everything was new and different. For them, “Oh look, another zebra!” had a slightly different ring to it than for those of us who were heading into week two and looking for just the climbing lion or that glimpse of a black rhino or elusive leopard 🙂
Lake Manyara 
