Masai Mara National Park Kenya: These east african grassland plains are contiguous with the Serengheti Plains of Tanzania to the south. While these habitats are better known for the impressive variety and number of large mammals, the african savannah is also home to much higher species diversity of unique birds. Kenya as a whole is home to many spectacular bird species. The Bird Zoo is lucky to include the Ostrich, Ground Hornbill, Kori Bustard, Coursers, Sandgrouse and Pratincole, as well as several characteristic plovers.

Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeatei)
At 42 inches in length and about 9lbs the ground hornbills are the world's largest hornbills. Terrestrial in habit they spend much of their time in small groups walking along the ground looking for large insects, and small vertebrates. Check out these links for additional information.

African Ground_Hornbills info from the Honolulu Zoo
The Ground_Hornbill_Project
http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/ground_hornbills.html
http://www.birdingafrica.net/page61.html

The Kori Bustard is one of the worlds heaviest flying birds. Males weighing 18Kg or 40 lbs weigh approximately twice that of females. They are omnivores that spend much of their time foraging the short grass areas. Like many large grassland bird species their range is decreasing, shrinking into the more intact and protected larger reserves of the African plains.

For more information and images about Kori Bustards try these links:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Birds/Facts/FactSheets/fact-koribustard.cfm

http://www.birdingafrica.net/page53.html

Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori)

Blacksmith Plover

Masked Lapwing

Crowned Plover

Double-banded Courser

Pratincole