Scarlet-chested Sunbird

The Scarlet-chested Sunbird is common sunbird in Africa. I like them because of the colors and I saw this bird in a garden in southern Ethiopia. 

The yellow flowers are a parasitic bush, maybe a Plicosepalus species.

Linked with Viewing Nature with Eileen and I'D Rather B Birdin.

Mudcracks

Linked with The Weekend in Black and White. 

Møns Klint

The Cliffs of Møn ont eh Baltic Sea in Denmark.

Linked with Skywatch Fiday. 

Exotic Birds on the Altmühlsee

The lake Altmühlsee is one of the best birding places in Bavaria and sometimes a wonderful place. Today I had some strange sights there. First was an African sacred ibis on the way to the lake, definitely not a native animal. He is ringed and maybe escaped somewhere, but there are some wild populations in France and Southern Europe.

 African sacred ibis.

 African sacred ibis and a Egyptian Goose a real invasive species.

The second exotic bird was a Pink-backed pelican on the lake shore. He is perhaps a runaway too or a real very rare vagrant. The next breeding place of this species is several thousand kilometers away in the South of the Sahara.

Pink-backed pelican.

Pink-backed pelican

Pink-backed pelican

The third exotic meeting was with a Great northern loon, definitely a rare vagrant in the area. He is on the lake since several days and the reason for my trip.

Great northern loon

Great northern loon

Beside all these exotics, there were large groups of Common mergansers and Northern shoveler. They stay here for the winter.

Common Megansers.

Common Megansers.

Common Megansers.

Common Meganser.

Northern shovelers

And finally, the area is a good place to see smaller birds. The dense vegetation close to the water becomes more and more attractive to many smaller bird species.

Common moorhen

Kingfisher

Bullfinch

Blue tit

Linked with Wild Bird Wednesday.

African Ticks

A tick that’s very common in Eastern Africa is this one. I’m not sure about the species, maybe it is a Bont-legged Tick (Hyalomma rufipes). They are moving very fast and I found a lot of them in my clothes, but I never had a bite. The size is surprisingly large, up to 1 cm. 

The head under the microscope.

Mexican Poppy in Eastern Africa

Some flowers of Argemone ochroleuca, the Mexican poppy in Eastern Africa. This plant is introduced, very wide distributed and found in a wide range of habitats. In some areas like dry river beds or waste land, it may be the most common plant. 

Linked with Macro Monday.

Harvest

The harvest in Ethiopia. This year the harvest had bad results in the Ethiopian mountains; the rain came too late and fail on the mature crops.

Shared with the Weekend in BLack and White. 

Speckled Mousebirds

A funny bird is the Speckled Mousebird (Colius striatus), a common bird in many African countries. They are very social birds, which appear in small flocks or as pair and they have a strict diet of fruits and leaves. For gardeners, they are usually no joy as they sometimes can defoliate the flowers of a bush or tree. But their movements are similar to a small mammal by climbing through branches and make them to the monkeys among birds. 

Linked with Wild Bird Wednesday.