Brightly plumaged crestless jay, 20-25 cm in length; blue, grey and white are most prominent colors; head blue (bright blue in back and dark blue on top) with white throat and prominent white eyestripe. ID: Scrub Jay
A bird, mostly black, with a relatively long beak, a short tail, and prominent white speckles. Body length approx 15 cm. ID: European Starling in winter plumage.
Bright yellow weaver in a dead tree in the swamp immediately to the northwest of the grounds of "The Tribe" hotel in Nairobi. Poor photo.
A dark-headed, grey-backed bulbul with a prominant crest, white belly and yellow vent, perched in a small dead tree in a swamp to the NW of the grounds of "The Tribe" hotel in Nairobi. Poor photo.
Large, black corvid (crow or raven) atop one of the palaces in the Forbidden City.
Medium-small, long-tailed black corvid with prominent white markings, and a black beak, atop the roof of one of the palaces within the Forbidden City. Unmistakable.
Medium-large, black-faced primate with gray body and long non-prehensile tail. Adult(?) female(?) sitting atop a large granite boulder over-looking the ruins of Hampi, former capital of the Vijayanagar Empire.
Worshipped by Hindus as the god Hanuman (see base-relief on temple pillar in photo).
Medium-sized (22-28 cm length, including tail) lizard with whip-like tail, resting in the open atop a small lump of degraded granite in the midst of the ruins of a market in Hampi, earstwhile capital of the Vijayanagar Empire.
Early-maturing improved open-pollinated variety that is even earlier than local early-maturing 'gero' millet
Short-statured (ca 60 cm tall), tillering bunchgrass with purple-pigmented bristled panicles containing dehiscent bur-like florets that stick to clothing or fur.
Improved short-duration grain-type cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) variety resistant to witchweed (Striga gesnerioides)
Yellow-barred black cantarid beetles feeding on emerging stigmas and anthers of a pearl millet inflorescence (panicle) that is just starting to flower.
Pearl millet.
Photos of standing plants prior to harvest, harvested plants drying on the soil, panicles drying on straw prior to threshing, decorticated grain soaked overnight and ready for pounding, and millet balls prepared from the cooked dough and ready for human consumption.
Tall (1.2 m), highly tillering bunch grass with red-pigmented bristles in inflorescence. Could be Cenchrus ciliaris or Cenchrus biflorus. Poor photo.
Unidentified Cassia sp., approximately 1 m tall, growing in farmyard. Erect sickle-like pods (8 cm x 0.4 cm), and bright yellow flowers. Pinnately compound leaflets. Grows to 2 m tall, and stem diameter can exceed 2.5 cm.
This species is reputed to be useful in controlling infestions of Striga hermonthica on cereals including maize, sorghum and pearl millet. Note pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and farmer (Homo sapiens) in background of photo.
Boabab (Adansonia digitata) tree in farmyear. Note large leaves of castor (Ricinus communis) in foreground of photo.
Domesticated Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris); these birds provide smallholder farmers in the Sudano-Sahelian region with a readily-marketable way to produce value-added sorghum, millet and/or maize
Light-purple flowered witchweed (Striga gesnerioides) parasitizing cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), with devastating effect on the grain-legume crop.
Pink-flowered witchweed (Striga hermonthica) parasitizing pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum)
Sesame grown in association with pearl millet, as part of integrated soil fertility and Striga management on the pearl millet crop
Abyssinian roller in a road-side neem tree
Unidentified small tree, with bi-pinnate leaves and racemes of small white flowers. Growing in a hedgerow at the west end of a groundnut field on the Minjibir Agricultural Research Station
Small tree (3 m) belonging to the Caesalpinaceae, having racemes of white flowers and short (10-15 cm), broad (5 cm), wavy pods. Leaf blades similar to those of Bauhinia.
Piliostigma reticulatum (DC.) Hochst. = Bauhinia reticultata DC.
Herbaceous annual of the Spiderwort family; having small blue flowers, each with very small yellow anthers. A common weed.
Water hyacinth is one of hte worst weeds in the world; here it covers about 20 m of the surface of the reservoir, along its shore adjacent to the Minjibir Agricultural Research Station
Trial of cultivated pearl millet being conducted at the Minjibir Agricultural Research Station
Ornamental tree, introduced from Madagascar via Eastern Africa, growing on the IITA portion of the Minjibir Agricultural Research Station. Known variously as the Flamboyant or Gul Mohur. Large orange-red and white flowers, and very large sickle-shaped pods. Large bi-pinnate leaves.
