Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Vulturine Guineafowl

I took this photo at the Calgary Zoo on 6 May 2009 and came across it when I was doing a bit of tidying up on my hard drive last night, ready for the dreaded day (i.e. tomorrow!) when I have to get all the data transferred to a new computer. I think these birds have such gorgeous feathers. Photographed at the Calgary Zoo. "The Vulturine Guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) is the largest extant species of guineafowl. Systematically, it is only distantly related to other guineafowl genera. Its closest living relative, the White Breasted Guineafowl, Agelastes meleagrides inhabit primary forests in Central Africa. It is a member of the bird family Numididae, and is the only member of the genus Acryllium. It is a resident breeder in northeast Africa, from southern Ethiopia through Kenya and just into northern Tanzania. The Vulturine Guineafowl is a gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of about 25 birds. This species' food is seeds and small invertebrates. This guineafowl is terrestrial, and will run rather than fly when alarmed. Despite the open habitat, it tends to keep to cover, and roosts in trees." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulturine_Guineafowl www.arkive.org/vulturine-guineafowl/acryllium-vulturinum

Ha, I took this photo on 2 July 2007! Came across it when I was doing a bit of tidying up on my hard drive, ready for the dreaded day when I have to get all the data transferred to a new computer. I ordered it late last night after completely stressing myself out and just hope that I chose the right things! Guess I'll find out, when it arrives and I try and put it together, lol. Will wait till the new year to get this transfer done. I was so thankful that I could get a machine with Windows 7 installed on it, not Windows 8. I just couldn't bring myself to delete this image, even though the bird's face was rather blurry and it had its nictitating membrane down over its eye. Finally tried cropping it today and it worked OK. I think these birds have such gorgeous feathers and it seemed such a shame to delete them. Photographed at the Calgary Zoo. "The Vulturine Guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) is the largest extant species of guineafowl. Systematically, it is only distantly related to other guineafowl genera. Its closest living relative, the White Breasted Guineafowl, Agelastes meleagrides inhabit primary forests in Central Africa. It is a member of the bird family Numididae, and is the only member of the genus Acryllium. It is a resident breeder in northeast Africa, from southern Ethiopia through Kenya and just into northern Tanzania. The Vulturine Guineafowl is a gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of about 25 birds. This species' food is seeds and small invertebrates. This guineafowl is terrestrial, and will run rather than fly when alarmed. Despite the open habitat, it tends to keep to cover, and roosts in trees." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulturine_Guineafowl www.arkive.org/vulturine-guineafowl/acryllium-vulturinum

Another Zoo photo, I'm afraid - just not seeing much in the way of wild birds over the summer! Will post a photo later of the glorious bright blue, black and white striped body of this stunning bird. At one stage, it flew to the railing I was leaning against and continued walking towards me and my camera until it was only a few inches away from my face. Too much for my camera to deal with, LOL! Also, that beak looked as though it could do some damage!

I always marvel at the colours and patterns of this bird's feathers. So stunning. I guess they just have to be that beautiful to balance out the head end, LOL!