I have finally found time to process my next batch of photos. Has it really been seven months since my Zambia trip took place? And I’m only just getting them up. Yikes.
Well, the job is done, and once again I’ve had to split the trip collection into two separate galleries. I’m starting with the bird photos. I enjoyed this trip in part because it gave me an opportunity to photograph several new species, or at least gave me my best photo ops with them to date. It was also a good owl trip (always important!), though I struck out on my only personal goal for this trip: the Pel’s Fishing Owl. Five owl species is nothing to scoff at, however, and I really enjoyed some of the sightings.
As always, you can jump straight to the gallery in the photo archive. A short preview is below.
This marked my first time seeing the Southern Carmine Bee-eater. It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful birds I’ve seen during my African trips.
I enjoyed getting solid photo ops with some new avian species on this trip, including the White-browed Robin-chat.
Some of the small ponds away from the river produced nice bird sightings in Lower Zambezi, including this Black-winged Stilt.
This White-crowned Lapwing was NOT interested in the African Fish Eagle’s company. The eagle got the hint and eventually took off.
Add another nightjar species (the Square-tailed) to the list…
A White-fronted Bee-eater positions a dragonfly to go down the hatch.
A common sight, but the Verreaux’s Eagle-owl is no less beautiful to me.
Distant views, but I had just enough pixels to get an okay shot of the Greater Painted-snipe.
A picnic on the edge of a pond was interrupted by several good African Jacana photo ops.
We were fortunate to find this Pearl-spotted Owlet just after it had caught a meal.
A silhouette shot was a good way to show the African Openbill’s namesake beak.
It was nice to get brief close views of the Three-banded Courser for the first time.
Oxpecker-on-giraffe shots work well in color, but I thought this arrangement suited itself to monochrome.
A Grey Heron perches at sunset in South Luangwa.
View the Zambia 2021 Birds gallery (99 photos) in the archive.
And stay tuned for the rest of my Zambia images, coming soon!
The main purpose of this trip was to scout Zambia as a future tour location. I really enjoyed the experience, and have decided to lead a tour there in 2023.
