A (very) belated Valentine

The last time I watched African Giant Hornbills in action was in Ethiopia in 2019, where we watched one wrestling with a chameleon.

https://eyesonthewild.blog/2019/10/19/harbingers-of-death/

This time, they were eating much much tinier prey, small origami cocoons containing the grubs of some insect. To swallow these, they tossed them the air, just like toucans do. Those big bills don’t always make life easy.

Here is the tasty morsel:

We were watching a nesting pair. This is the male. The folds of bare skin under his beak are usually folded up:

He flew to join his mate, his previously concealed white wing feathers signaling his imminent arrival:

And as they greeted each other lovingly, in front of a Hallmark-worthy wildflower backdrop, those throaty skin folds swelled to form a perfect Valentine:

PS Here is one of those wildflowers, known as a Pretty Lady, or much less romantically a Hairy Spindlepod, Cleome hirta.