BLACK HONEYEATER

Black Honeyeater juvenile.

305            BLACK HONEYEATER           Certhionyx niger

Australia        (271)

10-12 cm. Found in blossoming eremophiles, desert bloodwoods, regrowth with dead, fire blackened branches. Range arid inland mainland, w. to Broome/Geraldton (WA), nomadic.

RED-CAPPED PLOVER

Photographed on Comerong Island, NSW southern coast.

304         RED-CAPPED PLOVER               Charadrius ruficapillus

Australia          (270)

Also known as Red-capped Dotterel, Sandlark or Sandpiper. 14-16 cm. Range all over Australia and Tasmania. Found on broad sandy and shelly beaches, margins of saline wetlands and lakes, salt marshes, tidal mudflats and sandblast, adjacent dunes and shallow freshwater wetlands.

WHITE-BACKED VULTURE

Photographed at the 'Vulture Restaurant' at Mkhuze Game Reserve.

303        WHITE-BACKED VULTURE             Gyps africanus

South Africa             (26)

90-100 cm, wingspan 2.1-2.3 m; 4.6-6.6 kg. The most common vulture in savannah. Found in savannahs, open woodland, nesting and roosting on trees. Range all over northern part of southern Africa. 

Photographed at iMfolozi

FORK-TAILED DRONGO

302             FORK-TAILED DRONGO            Dicrurus adsimilis

South Africa             (25)

23-26 cm, 38-55 g. Range across top half of southern Africa, and along southern and eastern coast. Found in woodland, savannahs and plantations. Usually found singly or in pairs but many will be attracted to a fire. It also harasses other birds, and sometimes mammals to steal their food, mimicking alarm calls to make them drop it.

VILLAGE WEAVER

301          VILLAGE WEAVER           Ploceus cucllatus

South Africa         (24)

16 cm, 30-46 gm. Range along eastern side of southern Africa. Found in savanna, fields and gardens, often in large flocks, breeds in large, multiple-male colonies in reeds or tall trees. Builds large, coarsely woven nest with short entrance tube. Polygymous.

CAPE WEAVER

Photographed in Zululand, South Africa.

300          CAPE WEAVER        Ploceus capensis

South Africa         (23)

17 cm, 28-54 g. Found in grasslands, scrub and gardens. Breeds in colonies in reeds or tall trees. Ranges across southern tip of Africa.