181 : Hamerkop

181 - Hamerkop - Scopus umbretta

This is a strange looking bird. Named "Hammer Head" in Africaans these birds form their own family with a single species. An oddity, a wierd offshot that doesn't know whether it is a duck, goose, stork or heron because it is none of the above. It is a Hamerkop. They lump it with the pelicans and storks so that it has somewhere to sit in the tree of life.

The nests of these birds are huge, reminiscent of an Ospreys or a Golden eagles but domed - not a flat platform. Great balls of sticks and twigs in the cleft of a tree that often get taken over by owls, kestrels or Egyptian goose. The birds are really into nest building - constructing 3-5 nests per couple all year round. These can then be decorated with any brightly coloured materials that they find about the place. The nests are roofed and look more like a small tribal lodge ! Reports on the net I have read suggest that a man can stand on the roof of one of the nests as they are so strongly built.

The Hamerkop are water birds and feed on fish, fogs and crustacea. While we are at the waters edge...

I promised as I posted up my safari pictures that I would tackle the odd mammal along the way. On the same game drive that I first exictedly encountered the "worlds smallest stork that isn't" I saw my first herd of African Buffalo. Magnificent great lumps of steak that form the diet of the tree climbing lions of Lake Manyara National Park.

Buffalo of course form part of the fabled "Big 5". People actually chase about to try and see all five in one game drive. A so called "safari slam". I can't see the point myself. We had fun coming up with alternative 5's - ugly 5's, cute 5's. and so on. The Big 5 were picked out because of the supposed danger factor in hunting them. I guess if you wounded a bull African Buffalo and it was still standing it might cause you a bit of damage.

I thought they were quite placid animals - apparently they will fight to the bitter end against a pride of Lions. That's not something I'd really want to see. I saw the odd dead kill and I saw a cheetah hunting a Thompsons Gazelle from a distance. For the most part the rythym of the bush is just peaceful. That's the great thing about safari - for 99% of the time its just calm and placid - relaxing. There isn't a procession of creatures ripping eachother apart. Most of the views of animals are largely like the one above. On some occasions you can come across a lion hunting and then watching the animals around keeping one eye on it is fascinating. You can feel the tension mount. Most hunting though is done at night and during the day the bush is largely peaceful and undramatic on that score. As I have said before once the engine is turned off and the noise of the birds and the bush creeps in and the drowzy insects - the sound of the heat and the wind in the Acacias - well you could almost doze off with a Kilimanjaro beer in your paw. It is that good.

Hamerkop, Scopus Umbretta
Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania
July 2012