African Kingfishers of Chobe

One of everyone's favourite birds - because of their intense colour and their amazing agility to pick out food (usually fish) at great speed and, usually, with great accuracy. For the first time we witnessed Pied Kingfishers searching for prey by hovering, just like a kestrel might hover, before dropping with amazing speed into the reeds or water - wherever the meal was hiding. We watched this many times and never actually saw the bird catch anything. To be fair they might have already swallowed whatever it was they pounced on but there was no other sign that the hunt had been successful.

This is the Giant Kingfisher, not as large as its Australian relative the Kookaburra, but close.

I read that in the Chobe Region of Botswana nine different Kingfisher species have been recorded. We saw five, which I think was good going for a four day visit.

Boat trips along the Chobe River not only promise a huge range of bird and animal species endemic to the region, but also, because you are mostly in a small boat, you can get so much closer to the action than if travelling in an open-topped Land Cruiser. While our expert ranger cruised along both the Namibian and the Botswanan sides of the Chobe River, those staying in game lodges within the huge 11,700 square kilometre Chobe National Park are limited to, mostly, driving on trails that don't get close to the edge of the river. We saw a wide range of bird and animal life that, had we been in a Cruiser, we would never even have been aware of.

The Azure Kingfisher - this is a tiny little bird sporting a beak nearly half its length. Because of their intense colour they are easy to spot on the wing but once staked out in a papyrus clump they become a lot harder to see,

The Pied Kingfisher. Until we arrived in the Chobe area, I never knew that these birds often hovered when after their prey - much like a kestrel would. They expend a lot, of energy to stay focussed and are never guaranteed to actually catch whatever it was they were after. We have seen this behaviour several times while out on the Chobe River and none of them have actually scored a hit. Hard life. Pic by Natalie.

The Brown-hooded Kingfisher, here seen in the thickets of Kapama Private Game Reserve, next to Kruger National Park. Pic by Natalie.

Another wonderful sighting - this is the Half-collared Kingfisher. It looks rather like the Azure kingfisher but is slightly larger, has less orange on its front and has that distinctive white collar at the back of the head. It's also hard to see as it prefers to hang out in the deepest thickets along the river's edges. Pic by Natalie.

Another great photo by Natalie - Chobe elephants on the river's edge in the late afternoon. Groups of elephant come to drink almost every day - depending on how far into the bush they go looking for food. It's a tough life. A fully grown bull elephant needs to eat up to 150kilos of food every day and drink 100 to 150 litres of water.