African Safari #15 - Birding in Africa - Amur Buzzard

  

We spotted our first Amur Buzzard as we were approaching the Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge on day one of our visit to East Africa. However, the mid day sun and a shy bird made photography near impossible. We hoped to observe and photograph this beautiful raptor later in our safaris and we finally got to do that when we were in the Ngorongoro National Park. 

This Amur Buzzard was soaking up the early morning sun in the crater and seemed very relaxed, thereby allowing us to get close to it. We kept taking pictures as our jeep inched closer and closer to it. Finally, we got so close to it that we were able to get full frame images of this beautiful raptor.

 

Posturing Gaurs

 
During one of our visits to the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, we heard Langur alarm calls near a waterhole. The naturalist who was with us spontaneously stopped the Jeep in its tracks since Langur alarm calls mostly indicate that there is a predator (Tiger or Leopard) nearby. All of us in the vehicle got very excited and hoped that it would be our lucky day! A few minutes later, a herd of Gaurs came to the waterhole to quench their thirst.

We hoped that once they moved on we would be able to catch a glimpse of the elusive cat. Meanwhile, as we waited, two huge bull Gaurs entered the scene and gave us an interesting display of posturing. It was evident from the posturing that the hierarchy was being established as to which one of them would mate with the female Gaurs in the herd that had just passed by. It was particularly thrilling to notice that the Bulls sized each other up with various postures without any physical contact and after a few minutes a clear winner emerged.