On The Road – Albatrossity – Ngorongoro Crater 4

Gray-crowned Cranes (Balearica regulorum) were a popular bird here last weekm and were commonly seen in the crater. It appeared to be the nesting and chick-raising season for them, and this one seems to be tending an egg in a nest not too far from the “road”. Click here for larger image.

And this one had a chick following it around. Crane chicks are called “colts”, for their long leggy look, I presume. Hopefully this one grew up to be another beautiful bird for the next batch of tourists who visited the crater! Click here for larger image.

One of the zaniest creatures in Africa (or anywhere, for that matter), is the Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus). It uses those impressive tusks to dig and root for bulbs and tubers. The function of those “warts” on its head are less obvious, but are thought to protect the males during mating season, when they head-butt each other and try to intimidate their rivals. This is a male, with two large warts near the eyes and two smaller ones below; females only have the two upper protruberances, which are also smaller. The males were always solitary when we saw them; the females were often accompanied by some young piglets. And even they were warty and tusky! Click here for larger image.

Grazers were abundant in the lush grasses of the crater, and many of them were quite leisurely about feeding. Here a herd of Thomson’s Gazelles (Eudorcas thomsonii) feeds and lounges in front of a small group of lounging wildebeests (Connochaetes taurinus), with another grazer, the Plains Zebra (Equus quagga), also visible in the distance. No trouble in Paradise here! Click here for larger image.

But trouble is always somewhere near. This well-fed and sleepy male lion (Panthera leo) probably made a recent meal of one of the grazers seen in the photo above. But at this point, he looks like he is ready for a nap. Click here for larger image.

Another grazer, but one that does not usually have to worry about lions. Most of the African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the crater are older males, like this one. Our guides explained that as elephants age, their teeth get worn down and they prefer a softer diet. The lush grasses of the crater are perfect for them, apparently. Click here for larger image.

This lovely (and huge, with a wingspan approaching 12 ft.) Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) shared the pool with another grazer who also doesn’t give a hoot about lions, the Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). This was a sizeable pool and had many hippos submerging and surfacing repeatedly, as well as lots of birds, while we ate our lunch nearby. Click here for larger image.

We had our own predators to contend with during the lunch stop here. Apparently the Black Kites (Milvus migrans) at this picnic site are quite adept at stealing a sandwich or other food item from the hands of unwary hippo-gazers. I did not have a sandwich in hand when I took this picture, but you can see that the bird is looking me over pretty thoroughly! As you can also see, this bird is not black at all, but brownish on top and rufous on the underside. Some bird names are pretty cryptic, but this one is probably at the top of that list. Click here for larger image.

Another lifer that day was yet another weaver, the Rufous-tailed Weaver (Histurgops ruficauda), showing off its eponymous rufous tail. It could also be called the Blue-eyed Weaver, although apparently the iris color of the young birds is brown. It is a very striking bird, and endemic to Tanzania; you won’t see it even in nearby Kenya. And this was the only time we saw this striking species during our time in Africa. Click here for larger image.

The final bird for today is a real beast, the Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis). It weighs in at about 1.5X the mass of the largest race of Canada Goose; on average, this is the largest goose in the world, rivaled only by the Cape Barren Goose of Australia (Cereopsis novaehollandiae). You can see a spur on this one, but that is not the most dangerous bit. Their diet includes blister beetles, and cantharidin, the toxic chemical in those beetles, can accumulate in the tissues to the point that it would kill any humans who cooked the goose and ate the meat. So it is not hunted, even though that same chemical, cantharidin, is a component of the aphrodisiac known colloquially as Spanish Fly. Click here for larger image.