Superb Starling - Lamprotornis Superbus
This bird is perched on what looks like Acacia - probably not a mature umbrella thorn - but Acacia nevertheless. You can see from the size of this bird, a little smaller than a dove that the thorns on this bush are a good 2 inches long. The tiny leaves are browsed by giraffe with their long muscular tongues who can reach between the thorns to strip them away.
These birds are a common but nonetheless dazzling inhabitant of Africa. Giving way to slightly different species across their range they were never far from camp in our travels and as much at home on the edge of a village as on the savannah.
Lake Manyara, Tanzania
July 2012
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