Last Friday, just as we were deciding what to do for dinner, I happened to see a giant shadow outside our window from the corner of my eye. When I turned to see what it was, I was startled to find a large hornbill looking straight at me. In my excitement, I incoherently tried to get T's attention who went bounding off for his camera as soon as he took one look outside. As it turned out, it was a pair of hornbills, one male and one female, whom we chased down the street for the next 15 minutes in pursuit of the perfect shot. I'm sure we looked like a pair of foolish foreign tourists to the Kenyans that passed us by on their way home from work. Still, I have no regrets. As is the case any time I run across wildlife in Africa, it felt astonishingly surreal. I don't know if it was the bird's size (it seemed to be just under 3 feet), or it's crazy prehistoric look, or just the fact that I was actually seeing something I'd only seen on the Lion King but there was definitely something unnerving about the whole experience. Later, we did a little wildlife detective work, using google to identify our evening visitors. Based on our photo matches, we suspected that they were Silvery-cheeked Hornbills. According to Wikipedia, they are "large birds at 75 to 80 centimeters (30-31 in) in length" - check. "...with a very large creamy casque on the beak"- check. They reside in East Africa - check. And they usually live in pairs - check. With that folks, I think we can safely say, this case is closed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment