Nose in the air

“This hornbill was sitting in the branches above us. It was at Berg-en-Dal in the Kruger National Park. They’re such curious birds.”

Hornbills are common in the Bushveld and it’s not uncommon for them to come and sit close to your camping chair. But here Pieter shows us a different look at this odd bird. It’s not every day you get to look them straight in both eyes, and it feels as if that bill reaches all the way to your face. Because the focus is on the eyes, the out-of-focus bill isn’t disturbing. What’s remarkable is all the interesting detail on the face that you wouldn’t normally see.

But what really gives this pic the thumbs up is the angle from which the photo was taken. You can hardly recognise the bird, and it appears almost prehistoric. The clouds in the background place the bird in nature.