Ever Heard of, or Seen a "Gymnogene"?
Here he comes and I had no idea what kind of bird it was!
All that I could see was that this was a large bird, obviously due to the beak, of the predatory kind! It was early in the morning before we had departed for our daily charity meetings in the Western Cape Province. This is the beauty of visiting other provinces in South Africa, as there are always new and strange beings to be found!
But let me show you some about this strange bird!
He landed on a bottom branch as the top branches of the tree were occupied by the Peregrine falcons (see previous post) and I could still not figure out what kind of bird it was, although he was much bigger that the Peregrine's.
As he sat, a couple of Egyptian Geese started flying around the tree squawking in panic and the Peregrine falcons also took off in a hurry.
But I soon saw why, as the strange bird started climbing up the tree! It was the first time that I saw a huge bird using both its feet and its wings to climb up a tree!
Here he was making steady headway in his climb up the tree!
It was a sheer spectacle to watch this bird climbing!
Yes, he made it right to the top of the tree and this is the place where the Peregrine falcons sat before he arrived!
All of the other birds went into hiding as he started to survey his surroundings from this high point!
I did a bit of research back here at home and I found out that his modern name is an "African Harrier Hawk".
The climbing action makes it easy for him to climb up into trees and to search for bird nests, whereupon he would eat all of the babies. It also made sense why the Egyptian Geese were earlier circling the tree in fear, as they must have babies somewhere!
Luckily this time he didn't find anything and as he took off, the silence was broken by the normal chatter of the birds.
It was indeed an amazing experience to capture this bird on film and I prefer to call him the "Undertaker" due to the fear and the dread of all the other birds!
But this is nature and everything takes place for a purpose!
Thank you for visiting a post by @papilloncharity
Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone
Congratulations !
your post was resteemed by @resteemza
Please upvote this reply to help us grow
Thank you and Upvoted! All blessings to your growth!
Its a lovely wonderful bird, from the first photo i knew it is a hawk because i see it quite often around the bushes here in Southern Nigeria.
You do take amazing and beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing...
Thank you, I hear that they are mostly up north in Africa. A friend also saw them in the Masai-Mara. Blessings!
Wonderful photographs and while reading about the bird noted you were on your way to daily charity meeting in the Western Cape Province. I would be interested to read/hear more about the work. While I Cape Town (was it really three years ago?!) I stayed at the Backpack and admired the work they do. Regrettably I had set myself a very tight schedule and could not accompany their visiting. I have a partially finished crocheted blanket - which I think is totally wrong shape. I could do with some motivation to do whatever little bit I can.
Thank you for the kind reply! We were mainly having discussions related to the charity management fields and IT handover details! Sorry that I can't help you with the blanket, but I am sure that you will discover one or another role that you can play in the charity world on steemit. Blessings!
Spell bound, bet you didn't move for fear of capturing one last epic pic Stephen, at first glance it looked like the Bateleur.
Quick research and your African Harrier Hawk fits the description spot on with tail feather markings.
Thanks for that wonderful share today @papilloncharity
Exactly what I thought Lady Joan! I immediately looked in the eagle division and was at first disappointed that he was not there! He was bigger than a falcon, as the Peregrine's are the biggest and thus I looked in Hawk area! Bingo! BTW, I took many shots of him and this was just a selected few to show his climbing abilities! A reply here states that they see them regularly in the south of Nigeria and a friend "Maggy Meier" also saw them in the Masai-Mara. Thank you for your kind support! Blessings!