{"id":9118,"date":"2018-11-22T11:03:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T11:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/AFRICAtime\/?p=9118"},"modified":"2020-07-08T08:58:27","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T07:58:27","slug":"spotted-on-safari-magnificent-birds-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/spotted-on-safari-magnificent-birds-in-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotted on Safari: Magnificent Birds in Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you enjoy bird watching, Kenya\u2019s national parks are excellent for sightings, with over 1,000 species of birds offering ample opportunities for a diverse range of bird spotting. We are delighted to share some stunning photos taken by our Driver Guide Martin Weru, who has been with us since 2000, alongside some facts which he shared with us about each of the bird species featured.<\/p>\n

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Martin not only has a keen passion for photography, he has a wealth of knowledge about animals and birds too! We definitely learn something new from him every day.<\/p>\n

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\"Somak

Martin Weru<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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First we have the African Jacana Bird. These are usually\u00a0identifiable by their long toes and long claws that enable them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, which is their preferred habitat.\u00a0They are sometimes referred to as Jesus birds because of this ability.<\/div>\n
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\"African

African Jacana Bird<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Black-winged

Black-winged Stilt<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We love this shot of a Black-Winged Stilt, which is recognisable from its fine straight bill, long reddish pink legs and black and white plumage. Both in flight and at rest the long red legs are characteristic. They are usually found in\u00a0freshwater and saltwater marshes, mudflats, and the shallow edges of lakes and rivers.<\/p>\n

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\"Greater

Greater Flamingo<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Greater

Greater Flamingos<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Greater Flamingo is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. Martin told us that Greater Flamingos tend to bury their bills or sometimes even their entire heads to suck up mud to access the tasty morsels. Their beaks have a filter-like structure to remove food before H2O is expelled. It is thought that crustaceans like shrimps are responsible for their pink colour due to the carotenoids in their diet of animal and plant plankton.<\/div>\n
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\"Nubian

Nubian Woodpecker<\/p><\/div>\n

The Nubian Woodpecker is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is distributed widely in Central and Eastern Africa. Typically the male has a red crown and nape and a reddish streak on the cheek, while the female has a black crown speckled with white, a red nape, and a dark cheek stripe with white speckling.\u00a0They are usually found in open savannah and woodland, especially where there are bushy areas and scrub. The Nubian Woodpecker is a non-migratory bird, and its diet\u00a0is almost entirely ants, termites and sometimes other insects.<\/p>\n

If seeing these wonderful photos of birds has inspired you to want to go on safari, and enjoy some bird watching yourself, we have some amazing itineraries available and can advise you on the best spots for it, or alternatively, create a bespoke itinerary for you.<\/p>\n

We would love to work with you to plan the safari holiday of a lifetime. For more information on how our safari experts can help you, call Somak Holidays today on 020 8423 3000, or visit our website here:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.somak.com\/kenya-safari<\/a><\/p>\n

All photos are credited to Martin Weru.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":9125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[604,11,444,1,580],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-africa","category-kenya","category-special-interest","category-uncategorized","category-wildlife-and-safari"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/12f8cb1c-e593-45e5-9a5a-7972d70b9ad5.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9118"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10919,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9118\/revisions\/10919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}