The next group of birds will be those I call the ground birds…the ones that spend most of their time on the ground as opposed to in the trees or primarily associated with water. 

Ostrich-Obviously the biggest.  Lots of them in the south but only a few in Kruger.

Lots of ostrich chicks.  They have communal nests so it wasn’t rare to see 20-30 chicks in a group.

Maribou stork-A scavenger. 

Regularly seen along the river banks and at predator kills.

Saddle-billed stork-Pretty rare, this one was fairly tame within one of the camps.

Yellow-billed stork-These use one foot to stir up the water and flush fish, frogs and insects out of the mud.

Blue crane-A year-round resident in the grasslands, especially the cultivated grain fields.  Absolutely beautiful!

African openbill–Strange beak, open at the sides.  I wonder why.

Black-bellied bustard-It is found in woodland and tall open grassland in South Africa. It prefers high rainfall and in many areas occurs only following heavy rain.

Southern black Korhaan-Found in dry coastal fynbos and karoo scrub. 

Helmeted  Guinea fowl-Common everywhere we went.

Swainson’s spurfowl-Spurfowl are also known as francolin.

Burchell’s Coucal-A predatory cuckoo; it’s call, like water dripping, is thought by the natives to signal a rainstorm, thus they call it the Rainbird.

African hoopoe–A major player in Michner’s The Source, the hoopoe was chosen as the national bird of Israel. In Leviticus (11:13–19) hoopoes were listed among the animals that are detestable and should not be eaten. 

Red-billed oxpecker–Regularly seen picking bugs off the hides of giraffes, rhinos, large antelope.

 

Yellow-throated longclaw-Looks like out meadowlark, huh?  A great example of convergant evolution (but what the long back claw is for I can’t tell you).

Kurrichane thrush-Looks and acts much like the robin.  All over South Africa…lawns, parks, etc.

Cape wagtail-Ubiquitous.  Much like the thrush.