Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Grey Headed Kingfisher

The adult grey headed kingfisher has a pale grey head, black mantle and back, bright blue rump, wings and tail, and chestnut underparts. The beak is long, red and sharp. This bird grows to an average length of 21 cm (8.3 in). The song is a succession of notes, ascending, descending and then ascending again, becoming increasingly strident. The warning call is a series of sharp notes, "tchk, tchk, tchk, tchk".



A Grey-Headed Kingfisher spotted in one of gardens along Lake Victoria shores in Musoma, Mara, Tanzani
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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Small but beatiful...Firefinches

The red-billed firefinch is 10 cm in length. The adult male has entirely scarlet plumage apart from brown wings. The bill is pink, and there is a yellow eye-ring. Females have uniformly brown upper parts and buff underparts. There is a small red patch in front of both eyes, and the bill is pink.
This widespread and abundant species is often found around human habitation, often with other species such as the red-cheeked cordon-bleu, and its soft queet-queet call is a familiar African sound.
The red-billed firefinch is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It frequents open grassland and cultivation. The nest is a large domed grass structure with a side entrance, built low in a bush, wall or thatch into which three to six white eggs are laid. (Wikipedia)


Firefinches