Pel's Fishing Owl

Description:

straw/golden coloured plumage with dark bars, distinctly dark eyes that look totally black,

Habitat:

Dense forest alongside rivers where they roost during the day.

Notes:

I can't take credit for this photo although I saw this beautiful bird after we had kayaked down the Pongola, hacked a trail up a bank to see this Pel's fishing owl. We actually saw two. Angus Wingfield from http://www.africawildtrails.com took this shot a nanosecond before it took to flight.