Marabou stork (Maraboe)

Scientific name: Leptoptilos crumeniferus

The marabou is unmistakable due to its size, bare head and neck, black back, and white underparts. It has a huge bill, a pink gular sac at its throat, a neck ruff, and black legs and wings. The sexes are alike, but the young bird is browner and has a smaller bill. Unlike most storks, the three Leptoptilos species fly with the neck retracted like a heron. Full maturity is not reached for up to four years.
The marabou stork is a massive bird: large specimens are thought to reach a height of 152 cm (60 in) and a weight of 9 kg (20 lb).[2][3] A wingspan of 3.7 m (12 ft) was accepted by Fisher and Peterson, who ranked the species as having the largest wing-spread of any living bird. Even higher measurements of up to 4.06 m (13.3 ft) have been reported, although no measurement over 3.19 m (10.5 ft) has been verified.
Occupies much of sub-Saharan Africa, largely excluding the lowland forest of West Africa. In southern Africa, it is fairly common to locally abundant in central and southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, north-eastern South Africa, northern Botswana and central and northern Namibia (including the Caprivi Strip). It generally prefers open semi-arid habitats and wetlands, such as pans, dams and rivers.
It behaves in a manner similar to vultures, as it is primarily a scavenger, soaring overhead in search of carcasses. It is also an opportunistic hunter, catching fish by wading through water and stabbing them with its bill, hawking termites aerially, hunting birds and raiding their nests.

Southern yellow-billed hornbill (Geelbekneushoringvoël)

Scientific name: Tockus leucomelas

They have a white belly, grey neck, and black back with abundant white spots and stripes. The neck has gray spots and the chest is lightly striated with black. Southern yellow-billed hornbills have no pigmentation save for melanin, which can only produce shades of black and white.[2] The eyes are usually yellow, though brown has also been seen.The skin around the eyes and in the malar stripe is pinkish. The related eastern yellow-billed hornbill from north-eastern Africa has blackish skin around the eye. Like most other hornbills, they possess a long tail, long eyelashes, stubby legs and stubby toes. The front three toes are fused together at the base.
In southern Africa it is common in Botswana, northern Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa. It generally prefers dry, open Acacia and broad-leaved savannas, but it also occurs in many wooded vegetation types, provided they have sparse ground cover.
It eats a wide range of animals and plant products, doing most of its foraging on the ground, chasing after small animals and picking up fallen fruit. It also hawks flying insects and digs for insects, although infrequently and usually in the dry season.

African Fish-Eagle (Visarend)

Scientific name: Haliaeetus vocifer

Juvenile

The African fish eagle is a large bird, and the female, at 3.2-3.6 kg (7-8 lbs) is larger than the male, at 2-2.5 kg (4.4-5.5 lbs). This is typical of sexual dimorphism in birds of prey. Males usually have a wingspan of about 2 m (6 feet), while females have wingspans of 2.4 m (8 feet). The body length is 63–75 cm (25–30 in). The adult is very distinctive in appearance with a mostly brown body and large, powerful, black wings. The head, breast, and tail of African fish eagles are snow white, with the exception of the featherless face, which is yellow. The eyes are dark brown in colour. The hook-shaped beak, ideal for a carnivorous lifestyle, is yellow with a black tip. The plumage of the juvenile is brown in colour, and the eyes are paler compared to the adult. The feet have rough soles and are equipped with powerful talons in order to enable the eagle to grasp slippery aquatic prey. While this species mainly subsists on fish, it is opportunistic and may take a wider variety of prey such as waterbirds. Its distinctive cry is, for many, evocative of the spirit or essence of Africa.[7][8][9] The call, shriller when uttered by males, is a weee-ah, hyo-hyo or a heee-ah, heeah-heeah.
Occurs across sub-Saharan Africa; in southern Africa it is locally common in much of the region, excluding the arid Namib Desert, Kalahari and much of the Karoo. It generally favours large water bodies, ranging from estuaries to rivers and man-made impoundments, such as dams.
Specialises in hunting fish, gracefully swooping down to the water surface to grab a fish with its talons; it may even catch fish straight from the waves of the sea! Fish that weigh under about 2 kg are lifted out of the water and carried to a perch to be eaten, but if the fish is larger than 3 kg, the fish-eagle drags to the shore using its wings as paddles. It also hunts other animals living on or near the water, such as waterbirds, reptiles and small mammals.

95 African Spoonbill (Lepelaar)

Scientific name: Platalea alba

The African spoonbill (Platalea alba) is a long-legged wading bird[2] of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The species is widespread across Africa and Madagascar, including Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
It lives in marshy wetlands with some open shallow water and nests in colonies in trees or reedbeds. They usually don't share colonies with storks or herons. The African spoonbill feeds in shallow water, and fishes for various fish,[2] molluscs,[2] amphibians, crustaceans,[2] insects[2] and larvae.[2] The animal uses its open bill to catch foods by swinging it from side-to-side in the water, which catches foods in its mouth.[2] Long legs and thin, pointed toes enable it to walk easily through varying depths of water.[3]

The African spoonbill is almost unmistakable through most of its range. The breeding bird is all white except for its red legs and face and long grey spatulate bill. It has no crest, unlike the common spoonbill. Immature birds lack the red face and have a yellow bill. Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched.

93 Glossy Ibis (Glansibis)

Scientific name: Plegadis falcinellus

The glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a wading bird in the ibis family Threskiornithidae.
This is the most widespread ibis species, breeding in scattered sites in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Atlantic and Caribbean[2] regions of the Americas. It is thought to have originated in the Old World and spread naturally from Africa to northern South America in the 19th century, from where it spread to North America.[3] This species is migratory; most European birds winter in Africa, and in North America[4] birds from north of the Carolinas winter farther south. Birds from other populations may disperse widely outside the breeding season. While generally declining in Europe, it has recently established a breeding colony in southern Spain, and there appears to be a growing trend for the Spanish birds to winter in Britain and Ireland, with at least 22 sightings in 2010.[5] In 2014, a pair attempted to breed in Lincolnshire, the first such attempt in Britain [6]
Glossy ibises feed in very shallow water and nest in freshwater or brackish wetlands with tall dense stands of emergent vegetation such as reeds, papyrus or rushes) and low trees or bushes. They show a preference for marshes at the margins of lakes and rivers but can also be found at lagoons, flood-plains, wet meadows, swamps, reservoirs, sewage ponds, paddies and irrigated farmland. It is less commonly found in coastal locations such as estuaries, deltas, salt marshes and coastal lagoons. Preferred roosting sites are normally in large trees which may be distant from the feeding areas.
The diet of the glossy ibis is variable according to the season and is very dependent on what is available. Prey includes adult and larval insects such as aquatic beetles, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, crickets, flies and caddisflies, Annelida including leeches, molluscs (e.g. snails and mussels), crustaceans (e.g. crabs and crayfish) and occasionally fish, amphibians, lizards, small snakes and nestling birds.
This species is a mid-sized ibis. It is 48–66 cm (19–26 in) long, averaging around 59.4 cm (23.4 in) with an 80–105 cm (31–41 in) wingspan.[7][8] The culmen measures 9.7 to 14.4 cm (3.8 to 5.7 in) in length, each wing measures 24.8–30.6 cm (9.8–12.0 in), the tail is 9–11.2 cm (3.5–4.4 in) and the tarsus measures 6.8–11.3 cm (2.7–4.4 in).[8] The body mass of this ibis can range from 485 to 970 g (1.069 to 2.138 lb).[8] Breeding adults have reddish-brown bodies and shiny bottle-green wings. Non-breeders and juveniles have duller bodies. This species has a brownish bill, dark facial skin bordered above and below in blue-gray (non-breeding) to cobalt blue (breeding), and red-brown legs. Unlike herons, ibises fly with necks outstretched, their flight being graceful and often in V formation.

Sounds made by this rather quiet ibis include a variety of croaks and grunts, including a hoarse grrrr made when breeding.

203 Helmeted Guineafowl (Gewone Tarentaal)

Scientific name: Numida meleagris

The helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) is the best known of the guineafowl bird family, Numididae, and the only member of the genus Numida. It is native to Africa, mainly south of the Sahara, and has been widely introduced into the West Indies, Brazil, Australia and southern France.

The helmeted guineafowl is a large (53–58 cm) bird with a round body and small head. They weigh about 1.3 kg. The body plumage is gray-black spangled with white. Like other guineafowl, this species has an unfeathered head, in this case decorated with a dull yellow or reddish bony knob, and red and blue patches of skin. The wings are short and rounded, and the tail is also short. Various sub-species are proposed, differences in appearance being mostly a large variation in shape, size and colour of the casque and facial wattles.

Habitat: It breeds in warm, fairly dry and open habitats with scattered shrubs and trees such as savanna or farmland. Flocks of guineafowl have flourished in recent years in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, where they seem to have adapted remarkably well.

Reed cormorant (Rietduiker)

Scientific name: Phalacrocorax africanus

It is mainly black, glossed green, in the breeding season. The wing coverts are silvery. It has a longish tail, a short head crest and a red or yellow face patch. The bill is yellow.
In southern Africa, it is common in Zimbabwe, northern and eastern Botswana, patches of Namibia, Mozambique and much of South Africa, largely excluding the arid Kalahari. It can occupy almost any freshwater habitat, excluding very fast-flowing streams, but it generally prefers bodies of water with gently sloping shores.
It mainly eats fish and frogs, hunting by pursuing them through the water using its large webbed feet. Its mainly forages in water under two metres in depth, staying underwater for up to about 43 seconds.

Pied kingfisher (Bontvisvanger)

Scientific name: Ceryle rudis

The Pied kingfisher is white with a black mask, a white supercilium and black breast bands. The crest is neat and the upperparts are barred in black.
In southern Africa, it is common in many areas, including South Africa, northern Botswana and Zimbabwe. It can live at any water body, as long as there are small fish, such as streams, rivers, lakes, temporary pans, estuaries, temporarily flooded areas and rocky coasts.
Feeds mainly on fish, supplemented with invertebrates. It often uses the hovering technique for catching fish, searching for prey from a high vantage point in the air, then diving straight down into the water to grab the prey item. It immediately flies back to its perch, where it beats the prey to death then swallows it.