Southern yellow Billed Hornbill, a photo from Northern Cape, West

Photographer's Note

Kruger National Park – South Africa

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill is a Hornbill found in southern Africa. It is a medium sized bird, with length between 48 to 60 cm, characterized by a long yellow beak with a casque (casque reduced in the female). The skin around the eyes and in the malar stripe is pinkish. The related Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill from north-eastern Africa has blackish skin around the eyes.
They have a white belly, grey neck, and black back with abundant white spots and stripes. They feed mainly on the ground, where they forage for seeds, small insects, spiders and scorpions. Termites and ants are a preferred food source in the dry season.
Females lay 3 to 4 white eggs in their nest cavities and incubate them for about 25 days. Juveniles take about 45 days to mature. This hornbill is a common, widespread resident of the dry thorn fields and broad-leafed woodlands.

daddo, RhodieIke, geoant68, Kofman, macondo, Cuto has marked this note useful

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daddo (28748) 2011-06-13 22:48

Merhaba Fulya. Your wildlife photography has a professional look about it. Excellent composition where the long branches play a role to bring an elegant touch to the image. Lovely light from what may be a late afternoon sun. The insect in the beak adds an element of life in the wild. Our guide jokingly called these birds the flying bananas because of their yellow beaks. Best wishes. Selam. Klaudio.

RhodieIke (11752) 2011-06-13 22:56

Hi Fulya, Super photo of these fantastic birds,great colour's, light and good presentation,TFS, Cheers Iain.

geoant68 (331) 2011-06-13 23:30

Hi Fulya,
excellent the close up view of the yellow Billed Hornbill,with their colourful heads to are the eye caching of the image.Excellent presentation.

Peter

macondo (20449) 2011-06-14 6:04

Hello Fulya.
It's one of the best bird shots I've seen on TE for a long time. Beautiful and delicate, with the birds very well placed in the good composition/crop. Good timing to shoot while the beak held the insect meal! The lens and wide aperture have given the photo a wonderful bokeh, and this makes the colourful birds stand out in the gentle evening light (it looks like evening, anyway!). Interesting note, too, thanks.
Regards,
Andrew

ptiza (727) 2011-06-14 13:11

Fulya, thank you very much for those birds too! Excellent point of view is in all your photos, you're shooting the birds very nice! Bright colors, correct blur and excellent sharpness. Bravo!
Irena

Cuto (55) 2011-06-21 20:22

Hello Fulya, i have been seeing your pictures and they are all great, this one in particular is the one i like the most, the birds are wonderfull, they almost seem unreal, i dont know why, you capture greatfully the colors, especially in their eyes, i really like this composition in general, thanks for sharing, and also thanks for looking at my pictures too, hope you like them!

Ricx (13495) 2011-07-07 12:48

Hi Fulya, This is one of the best images i have seen of the wonderful birds. They are so full of character - cheeky flitting birds.. and beautiful plummage.. well seen and photographed. I hope you had a good trip when you were out ther. Tich