Brown-hooded kingfisher (Bruinkopvisvanger)

Scientific name: Halcyon albiventris

The head is coloured brown while the bill is coloured red. The Halcyon albiventris has a white coloured throat, orange legs and a black coloured back. The eyes are brown. The male has physical features that are slightly different from the female bird. Head is brown, eyes are brown, bill is red, legs are orange, throat is white and back is black.
Occurs from the Congo and Kenya south to southern Africa, where it is common in the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa, due its adaptability and broad diet. Unlike many other kingfishers it does not fish often, so it can often be found far from water. It generally prefers dense woodland, riverine woodland, thickets, edges of evergreen forest, plantations, wooded grassland, large gardens and parks.
It has a varied diet which includes insects, mammals, birds, reptiles and rarely  fish. It hunts by sitting on a perch, searching for prey. Once prey is located, it rapidly flies down to grab it with its bill, before flying back to its perch.

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.

Lesser blue-eared starling (Klein-blouoorglansspreeu)

Scientific name: Lamprotornis elisabeth

The lesser and greater blue-eared starling are similar and can easily be misidentified. They are glossy blue-green with a purple-blue belly and blue ear patch. Its iris is bright yellow or orange. In the lesser blue-eared starling the blue of the belly does not extend forward of the legs.The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is duller and has blackish brown underparts.
Here it is locally common in Zimbabwe and north-central Mozambique, marginally extending into the Caprivi Strip, Namibia. It generally prefers miombo (Brachystegia) woodland in the breeding season, however in it may move into savanna woodland at other times in the year.
It mainly forages on the ground, eating fruit, nectar and insects, especially grasshoppers (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera) and termites.

African jacana (Grootlangtoon)

Scientific name: Actophilornis africanus

African jacanas are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They have chestnut upperparts with black wingtips, rear neck, and eyestripe. The underparts are also chestnut in the adults, only in juveniles they are white with a chestnut belly patch. The blue bill extends up as a coot-like head shield, and the legs and long toes are grey.
Occurs across sub-Saharan Africa; in southern Africa it is locally abundant in northern Botswana, the Caprivi Strip, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and eastern South Africa, while more scarce elsewhere in Namibia and South Africa. It generally prefers shallow, freshwater wetlands and margins of slow-flowing rivers with low vegetation, especially areas dominated by water-lilies (Nymphaea), Willowherb (Ludwigia stolonifera), pondweeds (Potomogeton) and hornwarts (Ceratophyllium).
It mainly eats insects, doing most of its foraging on floating vegetation, walking or running with its large feet while plucking prey from plants and the water surface.

White-backed vulture (Witrugaasvoël)

Scientific name: Gyps africanus

The white-backed vulture is a typical vulture, with only down feathers on the head and neck, very broad wings and short tail feathers. It has a white neck ruff. The adult’s whitish back contrasts with the otherwise dark plumage. Juveniles are largely dark.
In southern Africa it is locally common across the northern half of the region, extending into the savanna and grassland of South Africa. It generally prefers arid savanna with scattered trees, such as Mopane (Colosphermum mopane), largely avoiding forests, deserts, treeless grassland and shrubland.
It is mainly eats carrion, searching aerially until it spots a carcass, or alternatively following mammalian carnivores and other scavenging birds to the carcass. Once on the scene, it is extremely aggressive to the other feeding animals, pushing them out of the way and outstretching its neck and wings in a threat display, so that it can access the meat. It is generally a subordinate to larger vultures, in fact in the feeding frenzy it sometimes become stuck in the carcass and is eaten by the other scavengers! It rarely hunts and kills its own prey.

Southern ground-Hornbill (Bromvoël)

Scientific name: Bucorvus leadbeateri

The southern ground hornbill is characterized by black coloration and vivid red patches of bare skin on the face and throat (yellow in juvenile birds), which are generally believed to keep dust out of the birds eyes while they forage during the dry season. The white tips of the wings (primary feathers) seen in flight are another diagnostic characteristic. The beak is black and straight and presents a casque, more developed in males. Female southern ground hornbills are smaller and have violet-blue skin on their throats. Juveniles to six years old lack the prominent red pouch, but have a duller patch of grey in its place.
The Southern ground-hornbill occurs from Kenya and the DRC to southern Africa, where it is widespread but fairly scarce in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo Province and northern Namibia. It generally prefers grassland and savanna woodland habitats, ranging from montane grassland to extensive, tall stands of Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijaga), Mopane (Colospermum mopane) and Musasa (Brachystegia spiciformis) woodlands with sparse understorey.
Mainly eats animals, such as insects, frogs, mongooses and bird nestlings. It forages in groups, so that when one bird locates a prey item it can signal the rest of the flock with a low bark.  It often finds prey by digging, especially in dung heaps, and it may snatch food from birds of prey.

230 Kori Bustard (Gompou)

Scientific name: Ardeotis kori

The kori bustard (Ardeotis kori) is the largest flying bird native to Africa. It is a member of the bustard family, which all belong to the order Gruiformes and are restricted in distribution to the Old World. It is one of the four species (ranging from Africa to India to Australia) in the large-bodied Ardeotis genus. In fact, the male kori bustard may be the heaviest living animal capable of flight.

This species, like most bustards, is a ground-dwelling bird and an opportunistic omnivore. Male kori bustards, which can be more than twice as heavy as the female, attempt to breed with as many females as possible and then take no part in the raising of the young. The nest is a shallow hollow in the earth, often disguised by nearby obstructive objects such as trees. The specific epithet kori is derived from the Tswana name for this bird - Kgori.
The kori bustard is cryptically coloured, being mostly grey and brown, finely patterned with black and white coloring. The upper parts and neck are a vermiculated black and greyish-buff colour.[2] The ventral plumage is more boldly colored, with white, black and buff. The crest on its head is blackish in coloration, with less black on the female's crest. There is a white eye stripe above the eye. The chin, throat and neck are whitish with thin, fine black barring.[8] A black collar at the base of the hind-neck extends onto the sides of the breast.[9] The feathers around the neck are loose, giving the appearance of a thicker neck than they really have.[10] The belly is white and the tail has broad bands of brownish-gray and white coloration.[2] Their feathers contain light sensitive porphyrins, which gives their feathers a pinkish tinge at the base- especially noticeable when the feathers are shed suddenly.[7] The head is large and the legs are relatively long. The eye is pale yellow, while the bill is light greenish horn coloured, relatively long, straight and rather flattened at the base. The legs are yellowish. The feet have three forward facing toes.[8] Females are similar in plumage but are much smaller, measuring about 20-30% less in linear measurements and often weighing 2-3 times less than the male. The female is visibly thinner legged and slimmer necked.[8] The juvenile is similar in appearance to the female, but is browner with more spotting on the mantle, with shorter crest and neck plumes.[5] Male juveniles are larger than females and can be the same overall size as the adult male but tends to be less bulky with a thinner neck, shorter head crest, paler eyes and a darker mantle.
This species occurs in open grassy areas, often characterized by sandy soil, especially Kalahari sands, and short grass usually near the cover of isolated clumps of trees or bushes.[4] It may be found in plains, arid plateaus, highveld grassland, arid scrub, lightly wooded savanna, open dry bushveld and semi-desert.[5] Where this species occurs, annual rainfall is quite low, at between 100 and 600 mm (3.9 and 23.6 in).[5] Breeding habitat is savanna in areas with sparse grass cover and scattered trees and shrubs. When nesting they sometimes use hilly areas.[6] They follow fires or herds of foraging ungulates, in order to pick their various foods out of the short grasses. They may also be found in cultivated areas, especially wheat fields with a few scattered trees.[4] This bustard is not found in well-wooded and forested areas due to the fact that it needs a lot of open space in which to take off.[4] In arid grassland areas it is found along dry watercourses where patches of trees offer shade during the heat of the day

Lappet-faced vulture (Swartaasvoël)

Scientific name: Aegypius tracheliotos

Overall, the lappet-faced vulture is blackish above with a strongly contrasting white thigh feathers. The black feathers on the back of African vultures are lined with brown. The underside can range from pure white to buff-brown. Like many vultures, it has a bald head. The head coloration can range from reddish in southern Africa to dull pink in more northern Africa to pink on the back of the head and gray on the front in the Arabian Peninsula.The combination of the colorful head and fleshy folds on the side of it are distinctive.
 In southern Africa it is uncommon in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, small areas of Mozambique and northern and eastern South Africa. It generally prefers arid and semi-arid open woodland, especially with Acacia, Shepherds-tree (Boscia albitrunca), Purple-pod cluster-leaf (Terminalia prunioides) and Mopane (Colosphermum mopane).
It is mainly a scavenger, focusing on the skin, tendons and ligaments of carcasses that other birds struggle to handle. It is the largest and thus the dominant vulture of southern Africa, sometimes charging at other vultures. The carcasses it feeds on vary in size from the Vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) to Impala (Aepyceros melampus) and African elephant (Loxodonta africana).