Birds of a feather...

 Yellow-billed hornbill...

 Kruger always surprises me with the gorgeous bird life.  Jake is fascinated by them and knows so many random facts.  He's great with identification and can remember things he was told years ago.  His passion for these feathered creatures is a little contagious and I think we're becoming bird watchers.  Definitely while we're in the bush!!

We were lucky to spot a few rare birds, including this purple touraco, which came down to feed on the lawns outside our bungalow on our first night.  He stayed for a long time and had the most stunning crimson wings when he flew of.  A real highlight for Jake...

 There were lots of little birds that I have taken pictures of, that I can't name and will need Jake to help me identify them sometime...

 We came across these vultures cleaning themselves and sunning their wings, obviously after a feast that we missed somewhere...

 A pied kingfisher, fishing for his supper...

 A something-thick knees...

 We really did see lots of vultures this trip.  This is a white-headed vulture...

 He was watching his buddies schnarfel off a dead croc...

 A Cape Vulture...

 Even the starlings in the bush are prettier than what we have here.  This is one of the many glossy starlings...

 A fish eagle, fishing...

 Look!  More vultures.  This time they were enjoying a lion's leftover kudu bull...

 This pretty vulture is a lappet-faced vulture...

I tried so hard to catch one in flight - this was the best I got...  Unfortunately I missed the top of his wing - he was huge...

 Landed and ready to eat.  These guys are like the kinds of the vulture world.  I think the one in front is a hooded vulture, but I might be wrong...

   OK, one last one...

 The ground hornbill is one of the endangered birds, so it's always nice to see them...

 Oh goodness.  I hope this one isn't choking on his food...

A brown hooded kingfisher, also fishing for his dinner...

 This is possibly one of my favourite birds in the park - it's a lilac breasted roller.  His wings are a striking blue underneath...

 Jake spotted this Marabou Stork at the top of a tree.  They are probably my least favourite bird - I mean what is that disgusting thing hanging from his neck???

 Spoon bills...

 Another magic bird moment, was this giant kingfisher.  He seemed almost tame when he landed on the railing of a bridge right next to us...

 I managed to get fairly close up...

 Before he spotted a little fishy and was gone in a flash...

 This magnificent eagle is a Bateleur.  It's also endangered.  This, by the way, is Jake's favourite bird...

 During our last trip to Kruger, on a long drive where we'd seen very little, Jake stopped the car and made us reverse to study some tiny birds that we'd all passed by.  They turned out to be blue waxbills.  These birds are the reason for me learning how much Jake actually appreciates the smallest things in nature...

 Yellow billed storks in flight, as spied from our balcony at Olifants...

 A young bateleur (apparently)...

 A grey heron...

 Jake also spotted this woodpecker at a picnic site...  Look at those colours!  The light was perfect...

 Another hornbill...

Jake also loves these open billed storks.  I know it's not the best photo, but it's fairly unique...

 A Goliath Heron in flight...

  One of my favourite bird photos - an African Fish Eagle...

 A yellow-billed stork using his wing to create a shadow, to help it see the fish in the water...

 A white fronted bee eater...

 And last, but not least, a verreaux eagle owl, peeping down at us from a branch.  This was the only owl we saw this trip...

 And he was sleepy...

 We saw plenty more birds, I just didn't manage to get photos of all of them.  As I told you before, I bought a new lens before my trip and hadn't really had a chance to play with it before our holiday, so I have a lot of not-so-great snaps.  It forces me to narrow things down a bit.

Love,

Sue XXX