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Saw Kori Bustards four times on last trip in June 2005

Saw the same bird twice just north of Olifants on the gravel road toward the viewpoint where the Letaba and Olifants meet.
Exactly the same spot, just different sides of the road on two different days. Very lucky.

Then saw 2 different Kori's on the Salitje road going from L/Sabie to Skukuza. Spotted one on the left side of the road and only a few hundred meters further spotted another one on the right side. Very lucky again.

Will post pics as soon as I've sorted them al out.

Some background info on the Kori bustard (Ardeotis kori): Link 1 and Link 2.

Saw 2 kori bustards near the tar road north of Satara on 28 May 2005.

Saw 2 last year on the good old S28

A new pic has been added to the Kruger section of the Public Sightings: Kori bustard near Tsokwane (Joshua Family June '05). Looks like there has been a bit of a bushfire as well.

We saw a good couple of them, on the Muntshe Loop and around Lower Sabie area. Got a couple of photo's but as they were moving they weren't great shots.

bwana

Saw a pair on the S100 last Thursday.

Saw 4 of them on our recent trip

apparently this bird is rather uncommon in KNP ...
well my advice would be (Tabs will agree ) : if you want to see one, go to Kgalagadi !!!!!

we counted 42 on our first full day in the park !

we had even seen somme of them fly which is very impressive due to their size (no photo unfortunately)

On my last visit I have seen 3 in a space of 5 mins. All my sightings of them were in burnt veld. The last time we saw them just north of Satara in Aug 2005.

Kori bustards have become fairly common recently. Never saw one for the first 14 years of visiting - now several every time, especially Olifants northwards.

Richard

In 5 years I have only seen one Kori Bustard in Kruger, last September - but in 5 days I saw countless numbers of these birds (we stopped counting at about 40 on one day alone) in the Kalahari in September this year.

Of course, the veld is much more open in the kalahari but even so, I was suprised to see so many when I had seen so few in Kruger just 11 months before!

Saw four in two days, near Crocodile Bridge in KNP.

Saw shedloads in Mapungubwe in May - especially in the rehabilitating farmland area near Maloutswa hide close to Limpopo Forest tented camp.

Some facts for the interested people:

Height:120-centimetre (4-foot). Standing up to 54" with the male much larger than female.
Body length: 50" (128 cm) .
Weight: 19kg.
Height: 65 cm

Coloration:
Mottled grayish-buff with dark brown wavy stripes. The sides of the crown on the head extend into a black crest.
Over each eye there is a white stripe.
Chin, throat, and neck are creamy white mixed with black bands.
The underparts of the bird are buff colored with dark brown feathers.
Long-necked, long-legged; long foot ended by three fingers with light brown or grey plumage.
Short bill.
No hind toe or preening gland.
Males are stouter and have whitish, bristly feathers at the base of bill.
Tail has wide bands of grayish brown and white.
Shoulder area has a checkered black and white pattern.

The Kori Bustard is known as Africa's heaviest bird. It is an omnivore, eating both plant like berries and animals, like lizards and snakes.. For chicks, the main course is insects. It has been found that they eat the gum from the Acacia tree. Whether they are feeding on insects who may eat the gum themselves or are digesting the gum directly has not been determined. Another important habit of Kori Bustards is that they drink using a sucking motion, unlike other birds that scoop up the water with their bills..