Hadeda Ibis

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.

Cape Sparrow

Description

The Cape Sparrow is brightly coloured and distinctive, a medium-sized sparrow at 14 to 16 centimetres (5.5 to 6.3 in). The breeding male has a mostly black head, broken by a broad white on each side band curling from behind the eye to the throat. On the throat a narrow black band connects the black bib of the breast to black of the head. Underparts are whitish, with some grey on the flanks. The back of the male's neck is dark grey, and its back and shoulders are bright chestnut. It has a white and a black wing bar below its shoulders, and flight feathers and tail streaked grey and black. The female is plumaged like the male, but is duller and has a grey head with a different pattern from the male. The juvenile is like the female, but young males show black on the head early.

The Cape Sparrow's vocalisations are chirps similar to those of the House Sparrow, but much more musical and mellow. The basic call is used in flight and while perching socially and transcribed as chissip, chirrup, chreep, or chirrichup. A call used by the male to advertise nest ownership is transcribed as tweeng or twileeng. Distinctive and loud, this call sometimes becomes a jerky and repetitive song, transcibed as chip cheerup, chip cheerup.

Taxonomy

The Cape Sparrow was first described by Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller in 1776.It is a member of the genus Passer. Within this genus its relations have generally been regarded as obscure. Mitochondrial DNA studies, however, have strongly suggested that the Cape Sparrow is the earliest offshoot, or the most basal member of this genus.

The Cape Sparrow has three subspecies. The nominate subspecies Passer melanurus melanurus is found in eastern South Africa, east to the west of Free State, and the subspecies vicinus, which is sometimes merged with melanurus, east from Free State to the Eastern Cape and Lesotho. The subspecies damarensis ranges from the extreme southern coastal areas of Angola into Namibia, Botswana and the extreme west of Zimbabwe, as well as northern South Africa.

Distribution and habitat

Females at a waterhole in NamibiaThe Cape Sparrow inhabits southern Africa from Angola south to South Africa and east to Lesotho. Its original habitats were the semi-arid savanna, thornveld, and light woodland typical of southern Africa. When settled agriculture arrived in its range about a thousand years ago, it adapted to cultivated land. Since then it has moved into towns.While it occurs in urban centers, it prefers parks, gardens, and other open spaces, and has a low reproductive success in more built-up areas. The Cape Sparrow prefers habitats with an annual rainfall of less than 75 centimetres (30 in), though in desert areas it is usually found near watercourses or watering holes.When vineyards in the southwest Cape started letting weeds grow between vines to conserve moisture around 1956, the Cape Sparrow moved in. Cape Sparrows quickly exhausted the seeds and started eating the grapes. The Cape Sparrow is now a serious pest in vineyards, but in these areas they have such a low reproductive success their populations cannot be maintained without immigration.

In towns, the Cape Sparrow competes with both the native Southern Grey-headed Sparrow and the introduced House Sparrow.[10] Since it is more established around humans in its range than either, it successfully competes with both species, though they may exclude it from nesting in holes.[9]

Behaviour

The Cape Sparrow is social, living in flocks, and usually breeding in colonies. Away from humans it is nomadic, and forms flocks of up to 200 birds. In cultivated and built up areas, it forms smaller flocks where food is provided for livestock or birds. In such places, it associates with other seed-eating birds, such as the House Sparrow, the Cape Weaver, and Euplectes birds.[9] Birds from urban areas form flocks seasonally and fly out to nearby countryside to feed on ripening grain, returning at night to roost. Outside the breeding season, birds in uncultivated areas roost in old nests or dense bushes, but the birds of farmland and towns build special nests for roosting.

An unusual social behaviour has been described from Cape Sparrows in Johannesburg. Groups of 20–30 birds separate from larger flocks and stand close together on the ground with tails on the ground and heads held high. These groups sometimes move in an unconcerted fashion by hopping slowly. Often birds will fly up and hover 30 to 60 centimetres (12 to 24 in) above the ground. During these gatherings birds are silent and are never antagonistic. This behaviour's significance is unknown, and it is not reported in any other sparrow.

The Cape Sparrow mostly eats seeds. The larger seeds of cereals, wild grasses, and other small plants are preferred, with wheat and khakiweed (Alternanthera caracasana) being favourites. Buds and soft fruits are also taken, causing considerable damage to agriculture. Insects are eaten, and nestlings seem to fed exclusively on caterpillars. The Cape Sparrow eats the soft shoots of plants, and probes in aloes for nectar, but these habits are not important sources of food.

Breeding

Male feeding a fledgelingThe Cape Sparrow usually breeds in loose colonies of 50–100 birds. 10 to 20 percent of the pairs in each population nest away from colonies, for unknown reasons. It seems pairs are formed in the non-breeding flocks, but it is not known how pairs are formed, or if the pair bond is for life. Once ready to breed, newly mated pairs look for a suitable nesting site, spending mornings searching, and returning to their flock in the afternoon. Once a site has been selected, both birds begin to build their nest. Other pairs seeking a nest site join them, and in this matter a colony forms quickly.

The Cape Sparrow utilises a variety of nesting sites, including holes as well as open locations. Bushes and trees, especially acaciaa, seem to be preferred. Holes and other covered sites are chosen less frequently. Nests have been recorded from the eaves of buildings, on creepers on walls, in holes in earth banks, and in holes in haystacks. Sometimes the Cape Sparrow nests in the disused nests of other birds, such as weavers and swallows. Pairs that nest away from colonies usually choose low bushes or utility poles as nesting sites.

Nests are placed at least a metre above the ground, and can be only a few centimetres apart in colonies. Only the nest and its very close vicinity are defended as a territory. Males defend their territory with threatening postures, and sometimes by fighting with bills on the ground.

Nests built in the open are large and untidy domed structures. Nests are built mainly of dry grass and twigs, with a soft lining of plant down. Any leaves or thorns present in a nest tree are worked into the nest. In cavity nests, the hole is simply filled with a shapeless mass of grass with a cup of soft material containing the eggs on the inside. When the disused nests of weavers are utilised, they are simply given a soft lining. The nest entrance is in the side, and is sometimes extended into a funnel. The male and the female construct the nest together, keeping close when finding material and weaving it together.


The courtship display is poorly recorded. J. Denis Summers-Smith observed a display in which the male hopped beside the female in a tree, drooping its wings and ruffling the chestnut-coloured feathers on its back. Groups of two or more males have been observed chasing a female. In the House Sparrow a similar display exists, in which a female who is not ready to copulate is chased by her mate, who is joined by other males. It is not known if the display in the Cape Sparrow has a similar significance. When ready to mate, the female crouches in solicitation and is mounted by the male.

Clutches contain between two and six eggs, typically three or four. Clutches are larger further south, and during the peak of the breeding season.

Both birds of a pair incubate the eggs during the day, switching every ten or fifteen minutes. At night, only the female incubates the eggs, while the male roosts outside or in the nest. In pairs breeding outside of colonies, birds leave the nest to make room for their mates upon hearing their mates approaching. Among colonial pairs, the incubating bird waits until its partner arrives in the nest, to prevent other birds from entering the nest.[13] Incubation seems to begin before the clutch is complete, and lasts 12–24 days. The young of a clutch hatch over two or three days and are brooded until their feathers develop and eyes open five days after hatching. The young are fed on insects until they fledge 16 to 25, typically 17, days after hatching. After this they are fed for one or two weeks. While feeding nestlings, the female is dominant over the male.

Ring Necked Dove

The Ring-necked Dove (Streptopelia capicola), also known as the Cape Turtle Dove and the Half-Collared Dove, is a widespread and abundant bird in the bush, savannah, farmlands, and woodlands of southern and eastern Africa. Their name comes from a black patch of feathers on the back of their necks. The rest of their feathers are a pale brownish-grey, with darker colors on their backs. They also have white tips on the end of their tail feathers.

Appearance

Males and females look alike, although the males are slightly bigger. They are usually around 27–28 cm (11 in) in length.

 

Habitat

These doves are usually found alone or in pairs, although they do form larger flocks around sources of food and water, sometimes containing hundreds of birds. They are quite noisy in these groups, not only for the variety of calls they make throughout the day (and often into night), but also because their wings clap loudly when the birds take flight. Their usual call is a monotonous and high-pitched crooning sound, “Cooka-loo” which they repeat ten to thirty times. They have a second, cackling call that sounds like laughter. Because of the unusual sound of the birds' call, in the bush it is said that in the morning the call of the dove is saying 'work haaarder, work haaarder', and in the evening, the call is saying 'drink laaager, drink laaager'.

Ring-necked Doves rest in treetops during the night and forage for food on the ground. They drink mainly in the morning. They feed mainly on seeds, but they also eat insects on occasion, especially flying ants. When they walk on the ground, their heads bob with each small step.

Breeding

These doves breed at all times of the year, making flimsy nests from trees and rootlets in the forks of trees. They usually lay two creamy-white eggs per clutch, which are incubated for 15 days. The males sit on the eggs during the day, and the female at night. The chicks are ready to leave the nest after 14 days, and the adults are ready to breed again a week later. The male will continue to feed the young birds after the next eggs are laid.

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

The Crowned or Helmeted Guinea fowl is very easy to identify with the casque on its blue and red head, their large Partridge-like bodies and their spotted feathers, which interior decorators have also taken a liking to!

Crowned or Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Where To Find Them

You have a good chance of spotting and photographing these birds throughout South Africa and northwards all the way to Senegal and south west Arabia.


They particularly enjoy congregating next to roads in the national parks which provides a great opportunity to get a close up guinea fowl picture.


They prefer thorny scrub or savannah, especially near rivers or marshland, where they look for food. They have quite a varied diet: from seeds and flowers to insects and snails.


Guinea-fowl are great runners, but when threatened will fly up, scattering into trees or hide in thick grass and bushes. It's not unusual to see them running in front of your safari vehicle for several hundred metres as if they don't realise that they can just step to the side or fly away.


They live in flocks, sometimes up to several hundred, and roost together in big trees with lots of foliage.

These birds are on the menu for virtually every predator that occurs in the African bush such as leopard, jackal and most of the eagle species so they have to watch their step.

The Black Smith Plover

Today I noticed a black smith plover and crowned plover foreging on our front lawn together

Physical characteristics

The Blacksmith Plover is a medium sized lapwing bird approximately 12 inches long. It is a strikingly patterned bird with red eyes, and very long legs. The long legs enable it to move very quickly across the open moist landscapes enjoyed by the creature. Both sexes are alike having primarily black and white plumage with a tinge of occasional gray. This bird has a white belly, a white nape patch on the top and side of its head, and white under the wings. The rump and tail of the Blacksmith Plover are white with a bit of black. The rest of the animal is black. The Blacksmith Plover has a spur on both wings buried in it’s plumage which is used for fighting and protection. (Kindersley, 1993).

Distribution and habitat

The Blacksmith Plover is distributed throughout southern and eastern Africa. It has recently extended it’s range and now breeds south to Cape Town, South Africa. The Plover inhabits the dry ground beside rivers, lakes, dams, ponds, lagoons, waterholes and sewage farms.

Behavior

The Blacksmith is an assertive, conspicuous but wary creature. When the Blacksmith Plover is disturbed it makes a very loud metallic sounding "clink, clink" that resembles the sound of someone hammering a piece of metal. These Plovers are usually found alone or in pairs but will occasionally congregate with other plovers and fly in a flock.

Diet

The Blacksmith Plover spends most of its time during the day at lakes and marshes with muddy banks where it feeds on insects, worms, snails, seeds, small mollusks, and crustaceans. There have been scattered reports over the past 2,500 years of the Blacksmith Plover feeding near and in the mouths of crocodiles. The Blacksmith Plover plucks parasites from the backs of the reptiles as they bask in the sun. The Blacksmith will even enter the mouth of the crocodile to pick remnants of food from between the teeth or leeches from the lining of the mouth (Burton, 1985). The Blacksmith Plover is a monogamous territorial bird.

Breeding and nesting

While the Plover is in non-breeding it will form pairs or be part of a group. With the advent of breeding the birds begging to court each other. The courtship ceremony involves the birds running around in a straight up posture, getting very excited, calling, perhaps picking up an object and shaking it around, bowing, and turning the head from side to side. They will later pair off and may copulate. This continues while the birds are still in flocks and goes on until just before the eggs are laid (Brown, 1982).


Both sexes of the Blacksmith Plover participate in building the nest. The Blacksmith Plover builds its nest on the ground using its body to dig the hole. This procedure is called the nest-scrape. The Blacksmith Plover lays one to four eggs each time. Incubation by both parents begins after the last egg is laid and lasts about 23 – 31 days. One of the parents must sit on the eggs at all times in order for them to hatch. The parents relieve each other every 20 – 80 minutes.

Blacksmith Plover chicks weigh approximately 16.5 oz at birth. The chicks leave the nest within just a few hours. The babies depend on their instinctive response to the parents call and their ability to camouflage themselves for survival. They can make themselves almost invisible with their plumage and remain motionless until any danger has passed.

Crowned Lapwing (Plover, Kiewiet)

The Crowned Lapwing prefers dry, open habitats, either with or without scattered trees, in southern and eastern Africa, as far north as Somalia and Ethiopia. It occurs throughout southern Africa, apart from the most arid areas of southern Namibia and the Northern Cape, most of Lesotho and the contiguous area of the Eastern Cape, and parts of southern Mozambique. It has benefited from the habitat impacts of both affluent and poor communities; golf courses, sports fields and airports, on one hand, and overgrazing on the other. In some areas, the presence of Crowned Plovers is an indicator of mismanagement of ranchlands. In South Africa Crowned Plovers move locally in response to changing conditions.

Crowned Plovers, like many of the wader species breeding in South Afria, have a long breeding season, often starting in August and ending in May. In addition, a pair may have more than one successful breeding attempt. If nests or chicks are lost, further attempts to breed may occur. They lay two eggs in a scrape in the sand, lined with vegetation or small pebbles. The eggs take about a month to hatch and the chicks between four and five weeks to fledge.