Unbelievable Bird Sightings in the African Wild

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:10]Welcome to today's catch-up. [music] 24 hours in the wild packed with lions, leopards, and elephants, as well as some behind-the-scenes and even a Wild Earth first. Let's [music] get into it.

[00:00:24]>> [music] >> It's a beautiful sunny morning here in the Masai Mara and always great to start it off with some lions.

[00:00:44]These lions are They are five, the boys.

[00:00:47]They have been in the same area we left them even yesterday, just a bit further up from the tree they were sleeping under.

[00:00:54]I think they've been trying to follow the buffalo herd. I don't know if they did catch anything. I hear maybe a small calf was taken, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm only sure once I see a bit of like blood or even their tummies. But if it was a small calf, then definitely didn't leave a big dent on their stomachs. They're still looking a bit hungry, like they could eat something.

[00:01:18]But this is a good hour to see them because this is when they get more active.

[00:01:22]And I'm just wondering what the plans will be for our boys here. And as I was mentioning how right now is a good time for us to see them because once it gets to around [snorts] 10, that's 10:00 a.m. here in Kenya, they will be going towards a bush area or some shade because with lions, they do feel really hot during the day. So, cooling down, one of the effects is just looking out for some shade.

[00:01:45]Oh, look at you, walking up to us. You want to come tell us hello? Good morning.

[00:01:49]So, it looks like they're going to be maybe walking opposite way of where Kibogoyo and Kyokwa for the last few I don't think these boys want any confrontation today.

[00:02:06]Cuz it seems like they are going down towards maybe another section of the Masai Mara.

[00:02:12]Even towards like uh the home grounds of the Rongai cuz it's heading towards Rongai River.

[00:02:20]Oh, my such a lovely morning. At this time, the sun is again not hot. It's just perfect. Honestly, it's just the right amount of warmth and light.

[00:02:34]the morning with a special guest [music] capturing some behind the scenes and showing us what life on a live drive is really like. Well, everyone, we are out here on drive and we have husband Friday [music] in the back and um he's going to be helping take a little bit of footage to >> [music] >> let you all see what it looks like when we are live during drive.

[00:02:54]We are at Mallow One Dam enjoying a beautiful scene here with some hippos.

[00:03:01]There's actually I think two in the water. There we go, the nostrils are just coming out on the right, but um the second one on the left is dozing off every now and again. It's also gotten increasingly overcast. We had a few little droplets of uh water falling from the sky. I don't think it's going to turn into much, but it has been an interesting morning of weather, that's for sure. They would have spent a large portion of the evening out of the water moving around looking for grass, but fortunately I was mentioning earlier how much grass there is around, they don't have to go too far to find their food for the evening.

[00:03:39]>> [music] [music] >> We can I have spent some time with the Mabula Lions and it has been an absolute treat getting more familiar with them.

[00:03:53]>> [laughter] >> Oh my goodness.

[00:03:56]I'm so sorry.

[00:03:58]This boy that's lying right in front of us.

[00:04:01]He turned over and obviously his stomach is so full. They must have eaten something.

[00:04:06]And he farted.

[00:04:09]And it came all the way to us.

[00:04:13]>> [laughter] >> Oh my god, that's nasty. That is not a nice smell at all.

[00:04:20]I've said it before now. Keep saying it.

[00:04:23]Lion lion scat is horrible. It's I mean, if you think about it, what they're digesting is pure meat.

[00:04:36]Um and that's that that digested is just it's not right. Um and the the the flatulence is exactly the same.

[00:04:53]Why is it still lingering? Goodness, go away.

[00:04:57]>> [laughter] >> Anyway, we found our three boys. We've got two here and one is just further off into the bushes. Can't really see them very easily.

[00:05:10]Um but you can see they've been lying here for some time.

[00:05:13]Comfortable.

[00:05:14]Typical position, lying on their backs with their bellies exposed to the sky.

[00:05:20]Well, we're still alive. We're still kicking. We have not been gassed out just yet. I think we also we moved a bit. Um the wind is blowing uh to the south from the north. Um and the lions were north of us. So, we are now east of them and uh we haven't had any uh any foul smells coming in our direction.

[00:05:43]So, I think a little move was needed.

[00:05:46]But, they've also move now as well. Um It started with one and the second one moved off and the last boy decided all right, I think it's time I also move. So I've gone and moved into the little cuddle puddle further into the grass.

[00:06:11]And ladies and gentlemen, this is none other but one Utipole. Now Utipole initially was this other side of the lagger where I am. Now Utipole has crossed to the other side. I'm not sure whether that other boy there is Jojo.

[00:06:25]Oh, my morning has been made.

[00:06:28]The last I saw Kiongozi he had such a huge wound on his back. I'm trying to ID this particular boy as he majestically walks following the two boys who first walked in the northwards direction.

[00:06:44]Look at his belly.

[00:06:47]He's so full.

[00:06:50]Out here in the bush there is only one way to get the ladies and this impala.

[00:06:55]So that's how.

[00:06:57]This noise we're hearing but with another different sound. I don't know what.

[00:07:04]Yeah.

[00:07:05]It's definitely starting to be the rutting season I think. All the males seem at edge.

[00:07:11]And the females they don't have any loyalties to any male. They just want to be in places with a lot of abundance. So yeah, these guys are going to be frustrated for a couple of weeks.

[00:07:23]And it's just interesting how there's so many batches around but they all look like they have very healthy big horns.

[00:07:29]So I just want to watch like a bit of fighting. Something that not saying I'm opting for any aggression but you know it's what they do. But if you're there to witness Look at him.

[00:07:42]The female is like, "No."

[00:07:45]For the window for the females, it's very, very slim compared to the male.

[00:07:50]Amy, yeah, it does look like he's dancing, right?

[00:07:54]Now, his attention has been caught by another impala.

[00:07:57]Oh, forget topi politics. Yeah, it's season 4 impala politics. Do love it.

[00:08:06]Look at that poor female. She's just like, "Leave me alone."

[00:08:11]She's trying to get back maybe to the other females.

[00:08:16]I mean, this time, if the males are entering the rut, usually a lot of more aggression, one towards other males, other females, uh a lot of sounds like the way he was doing earlier on.

[00:08:29]The female is trying to figure out where the other ladies are.

[00:08:34]But, there's a lot going on. They're all listening to something, and I'm even curious what they're listening to.

[00:08:40]Animals are so funny.

[00:08:42]One moment, you're shouting at the other, and then you stop and pause, and then you look around as if like you've seen something.

[00:08:48]So, this boy is really I think the female ran into his patch.

[00:09:00]There are few sightings that are more special than elephants. And Amy and Harriet were rewarded with a scene that felt unmistakably African. Hello, everybody. We have [sighs and gasps] just got out timing perfect with a herd of elephants that came out of the guarri thickets. They're making their way towards the Timbavati River.

[00:09:27]They're just waiting for Mom to to make or the matriarch to make a decision here.

[00:09:33]You can see that they've clustered together.

[00:09:36]There's two little ones in the middle.

[00:09:46]Oh, they're very cute.

[00:10:01]Wow.

[00:10:08]Hello, mama.

[00:10:15]There's some even behind us.

[00:10:18]Hello. Good morning.

[00:10:38]Wow.

[00:10:43]Oh, I love that little bit of a scratch of the heel.

[00:10:53]I love this from the back. You can see the matriarch at the back. She took her time to listen, to smell, and then sort of given the given the okay when they all moved ahead.

[00:11:11]Ah.

[00:11:12]Moments like this is what I live for. I just love it.

[00:11:17]That sort of trust and respect one builds with these animals, and it's really special.

[00:11:24]They're basically using the road to um head down towards the river.

[00:11:30]And I'm sure that they will um, want to maybe hit for a drink.

[00:11:45]All right, everybody. Looks like, uh, someone just located on a a big male leopard.

[00:11:50]And the male leopard known as none other than a Tortoise Pan.

[00:11:56]Yay!

[00:11:58]The big boy, this guy.

[00:12:00]And, uh, pretty much, uh, one of the dominant boys of this area.

[00:12:06]And the walk, the beast.

[00:12:10]Yeah, he's coming a lot here into the east here now. I mean, since Mlowati has disappeared, he's really kind of coming more and more into this side here.

[00:12:19]And, uh, you never know if, uh, Kutchala that might go into heat again very shortly. You see scent marking.

[00:12:28]He might even end up a little bit further east than normal.

[00:12:32]But what a beaut. What a beaut a brute.

[00:12:37]Yep, Mr. Tortoise Pan. Ah.

[00:12:40]10 years old.

[00:12:42]In his prime. And short, but stocky.

[00:12:47]Look at this guy.

[00:12:49]Hey, my boy.

[00:12:52]Yeah, now he's got a huge territory.

[00:12:54]This, uh, this male leopard is, uh, I mean, it's he stretches all the way west towards Robson's boundary, Ottawa area.

[00:13:02]Um, and he's stretching all the way towards Satara airstrip.

[00:13:07]Um, so, I mean, his territory is huge.

[00:13:09]But that's typical of males.

[00:13:11]Uh, males tend to have absolutely large territories. Um, I mean, if you look at, uh, all the male leopards that we used to have here, Mufufunyana, Mvula, Tyson, um, Dingaan, they all had absolutely huge, huge territories. Uh, That's typical of the leopard.

[00:13:32]This is a Mr. Blossom.

[00:13:38]And this is the very iconic buffalo, or rather elephant, sorry, around the Governor's Camp.

[00:13:48]As I was saying earlier, you know, he's spent the night in the camp, left in the morning, and we were debating earlier whether to start the driver wait for, you know, for him to come out from the camp.

[00:14:01]But he took rather so long, and we wanted during the sunrise drive to go catch up with the tea boys. So we left him.

[00:14:10]So he must have come out of the camp, and I'm looking at about It's about 2 km away, maybe a kilometer and a half from the this very famous camp, the Governor's Camp.

[00:14:24]An iconic camp here in the Masai Mara.

[00:14:28]I got a feeling he'll spend the better part of the day where he is, and feeding on the reeds, having a drink once in [music] a while. Peter, No. what do you think of your morning today?

[00:14:43]It was a nice one. Are you excited? Yep.

[00:14:45][music] What was your highlight, buddy?

[00:14:47]Uh seeing the four tea boys.

[00:14:51]That's right. Anything else? No.

[00:14:53]Anything else apart from the four tea boys? Uh Blossom. Blossom, yeah.

[00:15:01]What a thing to show for us.

[00:15:03]Exactly. We had a guest by the name of Abby and Pilgrim, who had requested if we can we go and trace and find out where Blossom would be. And as Peter says, big joy to have ended up our [music] drive this morning with Blossom. What an ending.

[00:15:21]With the morning behind [music] us, the bush kept action coming, moving forward into the afternoon.

[00:15:55]I have bumped into two other ellies, much bigger than the ones I had before, and maybe, if you agree with me, I want us to qualify this one here as a tusker.

[00:16:08]He's definitely trying to sniff us.

[00:16:11]He's finding out what is happening between myself and Peter Bongo on camera.

[00:16:18]But we are also respecting his temperamental behavior. Uh we all know when they got those very high levels of the testosterone hormones.

[00:16:29]Sometimes they have been known to not do the right things.

[00:16:33]Now, must would take anything from 2 weeks to 2 months, sometimes even going to 4 months. Uh you all know we have that iconic uh bull that you call Blossom, uh who is a very good friend of Governor's Camp.

[00:16:49]He has been in must I think for the longest time. Maybe this could be uh the second month. He is still in must.

[00:16:55]I haven't seen him mating, but he has continued to be in must.

[00:17:02]And the the the the longer the period they in must, it always indicates uh those are senior elephants or the older bulls, because in general, the youngsters, you know, uh when they just about 12, you know, 15 years or so or going to 25 years or so. Also, they'll be in mast for a week, maximum 2 weeks going to 3 weeks maximum.

[00:17:26]But, the older ones will remain in mast for a rather long time.

[00:17:32]PK was working overtime for his dinner in this next sighting, pulling [music] out every move he had.

[00:17:38]You can be the judge on if his performance deserved an extra helping.

[00:17:42]We're still watching our croc here and waiting for another kingfisher to come back. I'm hoping hoping it will come back. It flew up sort of behind us um and uh I'm sure it will will decide that it it wants to get back in on the action here um looking for little fish around said croc um in the shallows here.

[00:18:07]Uh it was a little malachite kingfisher, which is also pretty cool. Um you don't often get to see them the way that we saw that that one.

[00:18:15]Um Very, very shy creatures.

[00:18:19]Very, very shy. Oh, we found it.

[00:18:22]Oh! It's come back. PK is doing all sorts of >> [laughter] >> gymnastics to get the shot.

[00:18:29]Oh my goodness. Amazing.

[00:18:33]Look at that.

[00:18:35]Oh, they are amazing little birds.

[00:18:38]Look the way it's keeping its head still so I can focus on the fishies down below it. But, look at those colors.

[00:18:48]My goodness me.

[00:18:51]Very special.

[00:18:54]Very special.

[00:18:55]It's like its head its its neck is basically acting like a gimbal keeping its its head nice and still.

[00:19:03]No way, it's PK.

[00:19:05]How cool is the second one in front of us? Is it? Yeah.

[00:19:10]Like 12:00, but it's also in a very tricky position. So it is going to switch the one in front of us.

[00:19:20]I suspect where have you gone now?

[00:19:23]Where did it go?

[00:19:25]Huh, it pulled a fast one. Oh, in the middle of this tree.

[00:19:29]See this this branch here?

[00:19:31]But there you have it, the second one.

[00:19:34]And um it actually caught itself a little fish.

[00:19:37]Not too sure what it was. Maybe it's going to catch itself another one.

[00:19:41]It's found itself the perfect spot to hide in. Fish are very clever in the way that they can see birds watching them.

[00:19:47]Um so hiding in the shade where it is is a very clever thing to do.

[00:20:04]And we have officially uh changed the name of these chicks, the gray crowned cranes, from los chiquitos to the faranga. And vifaranga is from our national language Swahili or Kiswahili that translates to chicks.

[00:20:25]You remember we Look at how she's carrying her wings up.

[00:20:30]One to keep the balance.

[00:20:33]And the mother is trying to dissect an elephant dung there.

[00:20:39]Getting possibly lots of insects.

[00:20:45]And my guess is uh either some flies or some dung beetles.

[00:20:53]Over two weeks ago, we started with three vifarangas. On Monday, unfortunately, we lost one. Not sure to who.

[00:21:01]I've been trying to look for the murderer. I haven't found found her. I've suspected monitor lizard.

[00:21:10]I also suspected a serval cat.

[00:21:14]I suspected some big raptors like African fish eagles or martial eagles.

[00:21:19]I do not know who to vent my frustration to, but at least we got two Vurungas still remaining.

[00:21:28]Well, we've got a tail of an Ngwenya.

[00:21:32]Shangaan for crocodile.

[00:21:36]As you can see here, lying on the the dam wall of Tchetwah, loving life, enjoying the heat of the the cement.

[00:21:47]Yeah, warming up nicely.

[00:21:55]Well, this is a small one.

[00:21:58]There's about a 60 cm crocodile.

[00:22:03]And those sharp little teeth. You don't want to mess with a crocodile like this.

[00:22:07]It'll do a lot of damage to you.

[00:22:13]But it is loving life for a Saturday afternoon.

[00:22:18]This is what you call the lazing around.

[00:22:24]Almost reminds me of a leopard on a on a horizontal branch. And beautiful patterns on them as well. I mean, you got to look at those black little markings on the scale.

[00:22:41]And we have some impalas. Some female impalas. Is a male around? Don't worry.

[00:22:45]The male always likes to be around his females, but the female impalas are just having a nice view of around. They're also eating a bit of grass that is on the top part of it.

[00:22:56]There's also like a Thomson gazelle nearby, and you can see them standing.

[00:23:00]Look at this girl.

[00:23:02]So elegant, so pretty.

[00:23:04]I just love impalas. I think they're one of my favorite um antelopes.

[00:23:08]They just seem sometimes a bit clueless, but clueless in the cutest way.

[00:23:13]Especially the females and the males themselves are just comical, especially now with the whole rut coming into season cuz the males are disturbing the females a lot a lot more.

[00:23:25]And the females, they keep on stressing him and running around and he gets to chase them and then they run away from him. But for them even standing here one enjoying that short grass right there, I'm sure it's a bit sweeter.

[00:23:38]And also having a good viewpoint of the area.

[00:23:42]Cuz even our impalas are kind of like the topis where they would want to of course a lot of animals just get a bit higher up. Even our lionesses, we've seen them doing the same thing. Last time we even saw a lioness sitting in this same area.

[00:23:56]And they're also enjoying enjoying the view and seeing what is around them.

[00:24:00]That seems to be a young male.

[00:24:03]And by the time he gets to 8 months old, the male the alpha male will kick him out. So he's still a bit young. His horns are showing his age.

[00:24:12]So not yet there. I'm sure once they're a bit bigger, the male will be like, "It's time for you to go and join the bachelors and go learn from them. Start fighting, start gaining your strength and get ready to kind of establish your own territory and fight other males for it."

[00:24:28]But it's nice that they're standing above on this mound kind of. So it's even nice how they can see the sky and the grass.

[00:24:35]We're coming to see check on my village weavers.

[00:24:39]And they're still here at their apartment complex known as Palm Apartments. This is where they all have their nests this moment for season of breeding. Can see a male right there at the edge of that nest. I think he's maybe kind of repairing it, not entirely sure. But this is a very good example of how it will be like for our weaver birds in this season of breeding cuz they actually do make their nest only during breeding season. When you see them doing that again, yes, now a good indicator the breeding has started. And once they stop, they will just go and become nomads. They just kind of fly even with other weavers. They'll not even sleep in nests that are or they'll just even stay in some tall grass huddled up all together. And usually even flying together is a good way to have safety in numbers.

[00:25:25]There's someone going in there and its plumage didn't look as bright as the other one, so that could have been a female. But even for the males, once they are done with the whole mating season, they will kind of remove all the feathers, the colorful ones, and then they will now start looking more of a dull color, almost similar to the females. And then, of course, once the season is back, full plumage is back in swing, full swing effect being yellow, vibrant yellow.

[00:25:54]And they are very gorgeous, very loud.

[00:25:57]But we've come here even today morning to see how it's going and they haven't been as noisy as they were I think last week or a few weeks ago. And I think that's when they were advertising to the females that the houses, the nests are ready to be viewed. And once the female accepts the house, then that's when the whole process of her raising the chicks inside the nest will happen. He's already mated with her and she can have two two to three eggs and the male can have more than one female he'll be focusing on. My favorite bird.

[00:26:29]That should have been my opening statement on this particular beautiful lilac-breasted roller.

[00:26:36]And today I'm calling it the rainbow bird. I'm sure you know the rainbow has about seven colors. This bird here will boast of about eight different colors.

[00:26:47]And you know, you're not going to compare eight to any other birds when it comes to coloration.

[00:26:58]My guess is a she-goat.

[00:27:00]A nest right there.

[00:27:03]Where she is. She's been sitting there for more than 10 minutes.

[00:27:09]And she could be getting her chicks or eggs from the would-be thieves.

[00:27:19]What other bird could have as many colors like this particular bird here?

[00:27:24]Greenish. I'm trying to remember all the colors they have.

[00:27:29]They got If you look at them carefully, they got green you can see on the head there.

[00:27:34]They got some black in them.

[00:27:36]They got white in them.

[00:27:38]Yellow.

[00:27:39]They also got a bit of reddish-brown.

[00:27:41]They got some dark blue colors.

[00:27:44]They got some turquoise and of course right below the neck on the breast there. You can see they got the lilac color that gives them their name. After years of broadcasting in Africa's wildest places, Wild Earth is still experiencing firsts. Let's take a look.

[00:28:03]So, this is an Ovambo sparrowhawk, everybody.

[00:28:10]Like I say, very very similar to the Gabar Goshawk, but it doesn't have that gray bib around the chest.

[00:28:17]Here we are, those stripes go all the way up to the neck.

[00:28:21]Ooh, ooh, little scratch.

[00:28:24]Looks like it's might tuck one leg away to keep warm.

[00:28:28]Fair enough. Oh, there we go. Back on two feet.

[00:28:31]Doing a little bit of preening now. It does have some feathers to sort out.

[00:28:35]Wow, what an evening, what a sunset, >> [music] >> what a view. Okay, well, this has been an absolute treat.

[00:28:44]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> And that brings us to [music] the end of today's catch-up. From behind the scenes moments to unforgettable sightings and some laughs along the way, it's been an incredible day in the bush. We'll see you on the next one.