Vanessa Bristow: a bird's guide to baobab trees

Talented photographer Vanessa Bristow has captured these gorgeous baobab images with birds photographed on Sentinel Ranch in Zimbabwe. Through her quiet observant lens, we get to see how birds interact with baobab trees – as shelter, nesting places, somewhere to find food or simply a place to land for a moment…

maribou-stork-pearl-spotted owlet-and-klaass-cuckoo-with-baobab-buds
Here we have a Maribou Stork, a Pearl-Spotted owlet blends into the tangled branches and a Klaas’s Cuckoo perches in amongst new baobab buds.
bush-shrike-redbilled-hornbill-myers-parrot
A grey-headed Bush Shrike shelters in the shade, a Redbilled Hornbill is next followed by Meyer’s Parrot
red-headed-male-weaver-bird-weaver-bird-nests-falcon
Here we see a Red-headed male weaver bird, and in the next photo, notice how behind the giraffes, the Redbilled buffalo weaver birds always make their nests on the west side of the baobab tree, probably because the prevailing wind is from the east. Our final image is of a falcon sitting right at the top of the tree.
 

Nina Geraghty