World Wayfarer

There is an interesting bird that lives in the southern part of Africa. It is the Hadeda Ibis, according to my friend David, who lives in Johannesburg. It looks like an Egyptian Ibis but is slightly different. David says they are probably a distant cousin. The Egyptian Ibis inhabits the parts of Africa north of Kenya and the Hadeda Ibis inhabits Southern Africa, in and around Johannesburg. They are a very large bird with a long curving beak, but what makes them interesting is not so much their looks as their habits. Whenever they take to the air, they squawk and raise such a noise that you would think someone was murdering them. They like to roost in tall trees. One particular flock of them liked to roost in the tall pine trees adjacent to our apartment in Johannesburg. They were early risers, often waking us with their loud squawking at first light, long before we wanted to leave our bed.