Lake Nakuru - Flamingoes and Pelicans

Here we are with some more photos from my trip to Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya last year.

The lake itself is highly alkaline, and as such contains a huge amount of algae - enough to support thousands of animals. Everywhere you look the lake shallows are covered with birds.

The flamingoes at the lake are slightly less colourful than others I have seen in zoos over the years but no less impressive. (A flamingo's colouring depends on it's diet and zoo-bound flamingoes are often given the additive canthaxanthin, which is also often given to farmed salmon.)

In the photos below we have two different species - greater and lesser - of flamingo. The lesser flamingo is slightly smaller than the greater flamingo, although the most obvious trait used to differentiate them is the beak - lesser flamingoes have almost completely black beaks, while the beak of the greater flamingo has only a black tip.

  

The lake also supports huge numbers of pelicans - they don't seem to like socialising with the flamingoes and stay huddled together in large groups, both in the shallows and on the lake shore.

The photos below are of great white pelicans. They seem a little clumsy while waddling around on land, but look amazing while in flight. Fortunately, a few performed for us and I managed to get some of my favourite shots of the day of these huge birds in the air.

 

Lake Nakuru - Zebras and Storks

I find myself in Pune, India's seventh largest city, having just missed a train to Mumbai, the world's fourth largest urban centre, due to a sleepy driver and a phone number mix-up.

What better time to start talking of my time in Kenya last year?

I was in Nairobi for a little under two weeks - which meant one full weekend free from work and free to do something touristy.

Saturday started the weekend well, with a trip to see UB40 (well Ali Campbell plus band) - good fun. Sunday was the day I was looking forward to though - a safari to Lake Nakuru National Park.

On entry to the park we immediately start seeing the animals we came for - beginning with a small group of zebra. We'd already seen a few zebras from the car on the journey to the park, but its great to see some close up in their natural habitat.

Next - on to the birds. In fact it is impossible not to see the birds at the lake - there are literally thousands of pelicans and flamingoes, which I'll come on to later. First, we have a couple of storks: a Marabou - big, rangy, ugly - and a Yellow-Billed - slim, smooth and colourful.

 

Birds of Prey Centre

On our last full day in Cornwall the other month we decided on a visit to the Birds of Prey Centre, the other side of Newquay from where we were staying.

It's a relatively small place, but even though neither my wife or I are especially fanatical about raptors we had a good time. The weather was looking a bit dodgy when we arrived, and it wasn't certain if the flight display would be able to proceed later on. We had nearly an hour, wandering around and looking at all the birds, before it started chucking it down.

Instead of the display the owners decided to host an impromptu talk in one of the inside areas. I think I actually enjoyed this more than I would have the flight display - instead of fiddling with the camera all the time trying to get 'the shot' of a bird in flight we actually got to chat with the owners. It quickly became obvious how much they care for what they do and how much regard they have for the birds. They brought a couple of the birds in - a Harris Hawk and a Buzzard - and we even got to 'pet' the hawk a little.

If you are ever in the area I recommend a visit. Even if you're not that interested it's worth it - the owners are really trying to make a big thing of the place after taking over from a guy who didn't seem to care for the place too much, and they have some ideas that need funding in order to keep doing what they love.

Here is my favourite shot of the day, a close-up of a hawk. I think I prefer the black and white version, but I can't decide for sure, so I'll post them both and you can make your own mind up.

 

Nikon 80-400mm VR at 120mm, 1/200sec, f/7.1, ISO800

More from paradise park

There's not just owls at Paradise Park in Cornwall. Here's a few more of the hundreds of birds they have there - first two kingfishers, second another colourful little fella (sorry, I really need to start writing down the names of the things I photo so I can at least let you know what you are looking at) and lastly two flamingos in the rain.

 

Owls - they've got your number

While on a visit to Paradise Park in Hayle, Cornwall last week I had a great opportunity for some owl shots. Owls can be tricky - during normal wildlife centre opening hours they tend to just sit at the back of their aviaries asleep, or as close to being asleep as makes no difference. The owls here put on a bit of a show though - all the ones shown here look as if they know exactly who you are and are on to whatever you've done wrong.

I have forgotten the name of the first little guy, but next to him we have a horned, or eagle owl and a snowy owl.

All shot with the Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. Click the photos for a larger version of each.

Yaks and other wildlife

Time for some Himalayan fauna and flora.

Firstly the yaks. We're seeing lots of these - in fact our group includes three of them, which are carrying our luggage between stops. Below about 3000 meters a cross between yaks and cows (caks?) is used - seen in the picture to the right - as yaks themselves prefer to the thinner air at higher altitudes and don't do well down low. The first photo below shows some proper yaks - longer-haired and larger than the cross.

We're also seeing 'Yak Steak' on the menu at the lodges each night. It's probably buffalo (we're told) but tastes good none-the-less.

There's not a lot of flora around - we're a bit early in the year and had we arrived a few weeks later we might have seen the rhododendron forests in full bloom. However as we start our trek there are already a number of primula coming up and on the way back the ground will be covered.

 

Next up, some birds. First is the Impeyan Pheasant, the national bird of Nepal. We see quite a few of these below 4000 meters. They tend to be seen at ground level, scratching at the dirt, and their colour really catches the eye. Next we see some Himalayan Griffon Vultures circling overhead - there must be something dead nearby.

 

We see plenty of Snow Leopard footprints in the snow in various places along the route, but no sign of the animals themselves. Our guide also claims to have spotted a Musk Deer, but none of the group have eyes quite that sharp.

More wildlife

Wow, it was a busy week last week. Didn't get a chance to post more pics from the wildlife park before now.

I was actually hoping to have something different to post today - fireworks. It having been November 5th yesterday, we strolled down to Cambell park to watch the pyrotechnic delights and I took the camera down. We've lived in Milton Keynes three years now and never been before so didn't know where they would be exactly - I think we ended up standing a bit too close to get pictures covering the whole area, and I really didn't choose the right settings for the camera. I think the whole lot are useless! If there is anything I can salvage I'll post it later in the week, but don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, here are some others from the park I promised. Eventually I'll post these and more on my website. Click the photos for larger versions.