Bushbuck- Aberdare Mountains, Kenya

Taken at one of my favourite secluded campsites at 10,000 ft altitude in the Aberdares National Park. That's Mt. Kenya in the distance, bushbuck in the foreground & a couple great trout streams down in the valley.

Common Scimitar-Bill, Nanyuki Kenya

The 'Common Scimitar Bill', which isn't so common in Nanyuki where this one was found. Not shown here is it's long tail with horizontal white banding underneath. The specialised bill allows for probing deep into holes and cracks in wood to extract insects and their larvae. Looks like a Borer-beetle hole in the branch it's sitting on....

Nairobi Park Lion Cub

2011 seems to be a good year for the Nairobi Park Lion population. After a few years of decline, they appear to be bouncing back & sticking (more or less) within the park's 117 square kilometer confines. This cub was one of a litter of four accompanied by two lionesses. The Photo was taken July 17th 2011.

A link to the Google Map view of the park is here: Nairobi Park

Mara River Hippo- Kenya

There are few reasons why a hippo would remain out of the water during the day- nursing wounds from fighting is one. I suspect wounds heal quicker out of the water for hippo, and fish nibbling constantly on sensitive exposed flesh can be intolerable. The possibility of life-threatening heat prostration is very real when a hippo remains out of the water though, and in time this fellow would be forced to leave his mud-hole for some shade or return to the river.

Serval Cat- Masai Mara Kenya

Taken a few years ago in the Mara. There seems to be a healthy and very territorial population of Serval Cats in the Mara Triangle.

African Bee- Nairobi Kenya

 

Pollination in action- this bee looks about ready to take it's load of pollen back to the hive.

Sykes Monkey- Mt. Kenya

Sykes Monkeys are true arboreal athletes and have a more varied omnivorous diet than their vegetarian Mt. Kenya neighbors, the Colobus monkey.

Little Bee-Eater- Nairobi Kenya

Caught at the moment of taking off in pursuit of an insect, this Little Bee-Eater prefers to eat bees. Stingers are deftly extracted by banging and scraping the bee's abdomen on a branch before ingestion.

Sisal Plant Detail- Nairobi Kenya

Sometimes I shoot first & think later.... this photo appeals to me more with every viewing. Maybe it's the smooth curves + sharp thorns combination??

Female Kokamanda Lizard- Island Camp, Baringo Kenya

The male Kokamanda Lizard (AKA Agama Lizard) seems to get all the attention with his bright orange head and blue body.... here's a female of the species; looking like she's built for speed.

Cheetah- Masai Mara, Kenya

This lone Cheetah is a resident of the 'triangle' in the Masai Mara- a particularly productive section on the south-western sid e of tghe reserve bounded by the Sira Escarpment (W), the Mara River (E) and the Tanzanian border (S). You can see it here

Lake Baringo Sunset, Kenya

Lake Baringo  (2800 ft alt) is nestled in the bottom of the Great Rift Valley,  bordered to the east and west by escarpments reaching as high as 9000+ feet (+- 2800m). The cool highland adjacent to the hot valley floor creates some awesome weather- from a specator's point of view.... See the satellite view.

Praying Mantis- Nairobi Kenya

This fearsome predator ( if you're small) lives in my backyard.

Thompson's Gazelle- Masai Mara Kenya

An old-timer 'Tommy' from the Mara. It's deceptively difficult to get a decent photo of these little Gazelle- they usually turn and run immediately your car stops.

Striated Heron- Lake Baringo Kenya

Striated Heron- AKA Green-backed Heron, with lovely jade-green wings & back. This one was found along the waterline at Lake Baringo (coordinates: 0.614856, 36.078987).

Baringo Croc- Kenya

This image of a young Lake Baringo croc (7 ft long) shows the armored scales quite well.

Egret in Flight- Lake Baringo Kenya

Great Egret for Lake Baringo. This is a very common bird, with as many as one per 100m along the reeded shoreline.

Pied Kingfisher- Lake Baringo, Kenya

Quite a big fish for a small bird. From my observations, Kingfishers swallow their catch whole. The can spend some time whacking the fish against a branch or rock to kill or stun it prior to ingestion- though they seem to have some difficulty telling head from tail- often as not smacking the tail.... As tilapia have erectile spiny dorsal fins a relaxed meal has obvious advantages.....