On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s Albatrossity Monday, and today we’re in in Serengeti! Tuesday is another fun Lighthouse post with Dangerman, and then we hope from there to South Africa with Deputinize Eurasia..., and then we are on an adventure with way2blue for the final two days of the week. I suck at geography so I’ll let those trips be a surprise.
Albatrossity
Our first full day in the Serengeti was glorious, and the next three installments of this series will hopefully reflect some of that. Waking up before dawn, having a good breakfast with excellent coffee, and anticipating getting out onto a wildlife-rich grassland was almost more than I could handle!
We headed out in our vehicles a few minutes before sunrise, and one of the earliest sights was this array of antelopes and zebras, stretching as far as the eye could see. The one zebra in the middle of this frame seemed to be sleeping in that morning. Click here for larger image.
We also got our first look at a very elegant antelope, the Topi (Damaliscus lunatus). The rich chestnut color and yellow leggings of this gorgeous beast made it particularly photogenic in the early morning light. Click here for larger image.
Our campsite was near the eastern park entrance at Naabi Hill, and our destination was a series of rock piles known as the Gol Kopjes. Here’s a map of the general area from Google Maps; if you have time and the inclination you can even switch to Street View and virtually “drive” this dirt road for a ways. A kopje (pronounced like copy), like this one, is a small rocky hill that stands above the plains. They provide shelter (caves and trees), often water, and an elevated lookout point for predators and scavengers. Click here for larger image.
At one of the first kopjes that we visited, we found this young male lion (Panthera leo) watching over a carcass that he probably killed and ate from during the night. It appears to be a wildebeest, but we definitely did not get out for a closer look. Click here for larger image.
Also waiting their turn for a closer look were these Hooded Vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus). This species is often the first to arrive at predator kills; the other larger vultures, which can bully past this relatively slight species, usually arrive later. Click here for larger image.
Our guide spotted another predator out in the tall grass, well away from the road. So we detoured out to see, appreciate, and photograph this very accommodating Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). She would alternately snooze, stretch, rouse herself to sit up and scan the landscape, and then snooze some more. It’s possible that I have way too many pictures of this one… Click here for larger image.
But what about the birds, you are probably asking! Yes, it’s time for a few more of those. We’ll start with this one. The long legs, slender bill, upright posture, and white outer tail feathers tell us that this is likely to be a pipit, which narrows it down to only the mere 18 pipit species found in east Africa. Pipits are what the field guides refer to as a “difficult group”… Indeed, taxonomists disagree about this one. Variously known as the Grassland Pipit or African pipit, its scientific name is Anthus cinnamomeus. Click here for larger image.
This handsome bird presented no identification difficulties; I had memorized it from the field guide on one leg of the long flight to Africa. It is a Temminck’s Courser (Cursorius temminckii), which can be found in much of the African continent south of the Sahara. Along with the pratincoles (which will appear in a later installment here), these birds have a long downcurved bill, and are members of the family Glareolidae, which has no representatives in the New World. The name courser comes from their hunting behavior, which consists of running and chasing their food, which is mostly insects. Click here for larger image.
The next two species were high on my bucket list prior to this trip. This is a Yellow-throated Longclaw (Macronyx croceus), which resembles the state bird of Kansas (Western Meadowlark) in both plumage and habitat. But it actually is in a different family (Motacillidae) which includes wagtails and pipits, whereas the meadowlarks are in Icteridae, which includes the orioles and blackbirds. I like this shot because it shows the eponymous long hind claw, which rivals the acacia thorns in length. Click here for larger image.
The final bird for today is another longclaw, the Rosy-throated (Macronyx ameliae), which prefers wetter grassy habitats than its yellow-throated congeneric. We also saw young birds of this species on this trip; click here if you want to see another example of that impressive hind claw. Click here for larger image.
TriassicSands
Albatrossity, one of the nicest things about your Africa posts is seeing all the different birds. Wildlife shows rarely show more than the big carrion eaters and maybe a species that has something special to show off. We’ve all seen countless photos and videos of the predators and prey, but small birds are still amazing and worth seeing. Thank you.
Even after what I wrote above about getting to see birds we may never otherwise see, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say -=- no, you can’t take too many photographs of a cheetah. They’re beautiful and have a hard life. They have to avoid lions and hyenas, and frequently lose their kills to the bullies (including the carrion eaters) And there is nothing like watching a cheetah accelerate (that IMPOSSIBLE!) in pursuit of a very fast antelope.
Thank you for all the critters
Note: If the Rosy-throated longclaw had an seven-foot wingspan, we’d probably see it all the time. But I’d never seen one before and like the other smaller birds, it’s still beautiful and well worth seeing
Note 2: Gee, I really wish you’d crept in closer to positively identify the lion’s kill. Only then we might not have gotten to see the other photos.
Chris T.
The link to embiggen the lion picture … isn’t a link. Oops?
That cheetah girl looks concerned…
TriassicSands
She has to. Male cheetahs may hunt in small groups. She’s on her own. And all the bullies are out there just waiting for her to do the hard work so they can steal her dinner. Plus, she’ll probably have little ones at some point that she will have to feed, but won’t help her hunt. Cheetahs may be the first of the African cats to become extinct. There are only something like 7,000 left in the wild. To me, not considering the ecological balance, the loss of cheetahs would be a greater loss than that of lions or leopards, but all three are considered “threatened – vulnerable” today.
Amir Khalid
That cheetah is very pretty, and from what I understand cheetahs raised in captivity can be as affactionate with humans as domestic cats. I can understand why rich people used to keep them as pets.
Chris T.
@TriassicSands:
Yeah, they’re already horribly low on the genetic-diversity front.
(I think it’s interesting though how much domestic cat expressions show up in their distant cousins.)
OzarkHillbilly
Heh, one winter’s day at the STL Zoo, my 2 young sons and I swung by the Cheetah Rescue Center (now the Center for Conservation of Carnivores in Africa) One cheetah in particular had a fixation for my eldest. S/He paced back and forth along the fence, it’s eyes affixed on my son with murderous intent. To say it was creepy as all fuck, would be putting it lightly. It became so unsettling that after leaving came a sense of great relief.
OzarkHillbilly
Oh yeah, great pics Albatrossity. Thanx much.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
It does depend on the individual cheetah.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Hmmm, I thought maybe it depended on the individual meal. B would have been a tasty morsel, for sure.
eclare
Great photo of the cheetah!
pieceofpeace
Thanks, love the cheetah!
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: Cheetahs as pets were kept way back by the Egyptians in fact. Plus as late as the 20s chees could be kept as pets by the élite in France. Cheetahs actually have an affinity for humans and it will be sad when the only examples are in zoos. Fortunately zoos have a rather successful breeding program for them, so at least that’s good.
WaterGirl
I have that lovely cheetah on the wall in my living room. It’s probably no exaggeration to say that I love everything about her. :-)
YY_Sima Qian
Nice pictures!
The highlight of my memory of Gol Kopjes was seeing a leopard lounging on a high rock for the better part of an afternoon, then coming down at dusk to climb a tall tree, to feast on the carcass of a gazelle it had stashed amongst the branches.
SteveinPHX
Thanks! Most especially for bird photos.
Albatrossity
@YY_Sima Qian: Very cool!
We had a good leopard interaction at Gol Kopjes as well, watching a mama leopard and her kittens. Pictures will be in an upcoming Monday post!
It is a fascinating part of the planet. It would be wonderful to spend a year there and see what the different seasons bring.
way2blue
Great series Albatrossity. The lion appears to be reflecting on the meaning of life on a full belly. Why are vultures so raggedy looking? Per the Temminck’s Courser » chasing insects seems an exhausting way to live. Looking forward to the rest!
Betsy
Spectacular. Really enjoyed these photos.
Albatrossity
Coincidentally, another birder who is my friend on FB has been recapping his recent trip to Tanzania on his blog. Lots of pics, from many of the same places I visited. Here is the latest installment.
https://blairbirding.com/2023/05/08/tanzania-day-11-the-ngorongoro-crater/
Paul in KY
@TriassicSands: There was an American cheetah that lived thousands of years ago over here (that’s why pronghorn antelopes are so fast). Think it went extinct before man hit the Western Hemisphere.
Was also a hyaena species that appeared to be a runner like the cheetah species.
Paul in KY
@Yutsano: They are definitely the most ‘doglike’ of cats.
mvr
Really like the cheetah, but also the photo itself. Thanks!