Egyptian Goose

Cattle Egret

Hadada Ibis (African Sacred Ibis)

Eastern Black Headed Oriole

Southern Red Bishop (Taking a bath)

Red Knobbed Coot

Long Crested Eagle

Red-chested Cuckoo (Piet My Vrou)

Swainsons Francolin

Speckled Mousebird

Grey Go Away Bird (Grey Lourie)

Distribution

Southern Masked Weaver

Cape Glossy Starling

Picture by Ian n. White



Black Collard Barbet

Crested Barbet

Cape Robin

Brood parasites

It has been recorded as host of the Red-chested cuckoo.

Food

It mainly eats insects and other invertebrates, supplemented with fruit and seeds plucked from bushes, trees or the ground. It does a lot of its foraging in leaf litter, flicking through plant debris in search of food and occasionally aerially hawking an insect; it may also glean invertebrates from leaves, branches and rocks. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

Animals

Invertebrates

Insects

Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants)

moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera)

Coleoptera (beetles)

plant and assassin bugs (Hemiptera)

crickets (Orthoptera)

mantids

Diptera (flies)

spiders

earthworms

millipedes

Theba pisana (a species of alien snail)

crustaceans

Vertebrates

lizards

frogs

Berries, drupes and seeds

indigenous plants

Apodytes dimidiata (White-pear)

Asparagus falcatus (asparagus)

Cassipourea gummiflua (Large-leaved onionwood)

Celtis africana (White-stinkwood)

Ficus sur (Broom-cluster fig)

Halleria lucida (Tree-fuchsia)

Ilex mitis (African holly)

Kiggelaria africana (Wild-peach)

Lycium (honey-thorns)

Gymnosporia harveyana (Black forest spikethorn)

Phoenix reclinata (Wild date palm)

Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus (Candlewood)

Rhamnus prinoides (Shiny-leaf)

Rhus nebulosa (Coastal currant)

Rhus pyroides (Common currant)

Scutia myrtina (Cat-thorn)

Coddia rudis (Small bone-apple)

Xymalos monospora (Lemonwood)

alien plants

Acacia cyclops (Rooikrans)

Atriplex semibaccata (Creeping saltbrush)

Hedychium flavescens (Ginger lily)

Lantana camara (Cherry-pie)

Morus alba (Mulberry)

Myoporum laetum (New Zealand manatoka)

Physalis peruviana (Cape gooseberry)

Psidium guajava (Guava)

Rubus (blackberry)

Solanum mauritanum (Bugweed)

Miscellaneous

cheese

butter

leftovers from dogs' bowls

Breeding

Monogamous, highly territorial solitary nester, as the male aggressively defends his territory against other males as well as other species, such as white-eyes, sunbirds and doves.

The nest is usually built solely by the female in about 1-14 days, gathering a clump of material together before shuffling its body into it to form a cup. It is usually made out of bark fragments, twigs, dry grass, fern fronds, rootlets, dead leaves, moss and seed pods and lined with finer fibres, such as hair, rootlets and plant inflorescences. It is most commonly placed in a hollow in an earthen bank, cavity in a tree trunk, densely foliaged shrub, dry flood debris along a stream bank, or in pots or boxes overgrown with vegetation. It has even been recorded to placed the nest in a dried flower arrangement in the lounge of the Grahamstown Golf Club!

Cape robin-chat chick in nest, West Coast Fossil Park, Western Cape, South Africa. [photo H. Robertson, Iziko ©]

Cape robin-chat nest with eggs, Machadodorp, South Africa. [photo Warwick Tarboton ©]

Egg-laying season is from about June-January, peaking around October-November.

It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14-19 days.

The female broods the chicks throughout the night and intermittently through the day, for the first 5-11 days of their lives. They are fed by both parents, eventually leaving the nest at about 14-18 days old, remaining dependent on their parents for about 5-7 weeks more. During this period the adults are particularly viglant about protecting their young, sometimes attacking snake such as boomslangs (Dispholidus typus) and Cape cobras (Naja nivea).

Threats

Not threatened, in fact it has adapted to well to the introduction of man-made habitats.

References

Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.

African Grey Hornbill

Food

It mainly eats animals, such as birds eggs and nestlings, insects, rodents and frogs, supplemented with small fruit. It mainly forages by flying to different bushes, catching prey as it moves; it may also grab animals on the ground. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:


Animals

rodents (Rodentia)

tree frogs

arachnids

insects

Orthoptera (crickets and grasshoppers)

Coleoptera (beetles)

moths and their larvae, caterpillars (Lepidoptera)


Plants

fruit

Ficus (wild figs)

Commiphora (corkwoods)

peanuts

Breeding

It usually nests in natural holes in tree trunks or branches; once a site has been selected the female seals it from the inside with her own faeces. Most of its nests have a "chimney" or "funk-hole", which is a tunnel leading out from the cavity that the female moves into if it feels threatened. It occasionally nests in rock crevices, barbet-made tree holes and nest boxes.

Egg-laying season starts after first strong summer rains, peaking from October-November.

It lays 3-5 eggs at 1-7 day intervals, taking about 6-10 days to complete the clutch.

Incubation is done solely by the female for about 24 days, fed by the male through the small entrance slit.

The chicks stay in the nest for 43-49 days, although the female leaves when the oldest chick is 19-34 days old, after which the chicks reseal the entrance. After fledging the young join their parents on foraging trips, becoming fully independent a few weeks later.

Threats

Not threatened, in fact its common in many areas, especially in the Etosha National Park (Namibia), Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe) and the Kruger National Park (South Africa).



References

Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.

Spoonbill

Pied Kingfisher

Grey Heron

Darter

Spotted Eagle Owl

Name: Bubo aficanus

Description

The Spotted Eagle Owl is a medium to large owl with prominent ear tufts. The upper-parts of the body are dusky brown with pale spots, the under-parts are whitish and finely barred. The facial disk is whitish to pale ochre and the eyes are yellow. Its height is 45cm and its weight is from 480 to 850g. The wingspan is 33cm.


Nocturnal hunters, the spotted eagle owl spends most of the day concealed in trees, rock ledges or abandoned burrows.

Size: 45cm, 480-850g

Habitat

Savannah, rocky outcrops, scrub, open and semi-open woodland, semi-deserts.

Distribution: Sub-equatorial Africa from Kenya and Uganda south to the Cape

Diet

Invertebrates, small mammals, birds and reptiles

Reproduction

July-February, 2-4 eggs laid in scrape on the ground, normally sheltered by a bush, grass or rocks. Incubation 32 days. Young leave the nest by about 5 weeks and are fledged by 7 weeks, but remain with parents for at least another 5 weeks.

Call

Song is normally 1 or 2 "double hoots", followed by a 3 syllable hoot and then 1 long drawn out hoot hoo-hoo buhoohoo-hooo.

Crimson Breasted Shrike

Description

This shrike is extremely nimble and restless, its penetrating whistles often being the first sign of its presence, although it is not a shy species. The sexes have the same colouration and are indistinguishable from each other. A yellow-breasted form is occasionally seen, and was at first thought to be a separate species. Young birds have a mottled and barred buff-brown appearance with a pale bill.

Distribution and habitat

This bird occurs in a band from Angola and Zambia to northern areas of South Africa, with large populations in Namibia, Botswana and western Zimbabwe. It generally prefers arid habitats, especially Kalahari thornveld, Acacia savanna and semi-arid scrub, largely absent from desert.

Food

It mainly eats insects, gleaning prey from the leaves and trunks of trees, often flying to the ground to feed on ants or some fallen fruit. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

•Invertebrates

•Formicidae (ants)

•Coleoptera (beetles)

•Lepidoptera (caterpillars)

•Fruit

•The invertebrates are usually hawked aerially, killed and then eaten .

Breeding

Both sexes construct the nest, which is a tidy cup made almost entirely of Acacia tree bark, collected from trunks and branches about 50-90 meters from the nesting site and lined with grass and rootlets. It is usually bound with spider web to a fork in the main stem of a plant, or occasionally onto a horizontal branch. Most of the construction work is done in the early morning, and it is usually complete after about 4-6 days. • Egg-laying season is from August-January, peaking from October-November.

•It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 15-17 days.

•The chicks are fed and brooded by both parents, leaving the nest at about 18-20 days old.

•Although they forage independently, they still come back to roost with their parents, sometimes only leaving in next years breeding season.