I’ve just arrived back home again after another fantastic trip to the Kruger National Park, this time to participate in the Napi Wilderness Trail along with my mom, sister and brother.
Sunset on the Napi Trail
It will be a few days before I’ll be ready to tell you all about our experiences on the trail, and in the meantime will get to all the comments you’ve left while I was away and line up some more scheduled posts on interesting South African wildlife.
African Black Ducks are mostly found on shallow, fast-flowing, rocky streams and rivers, often in mountainous or wooded areas, though they do also utilise other natural and man-made water bodies nearby. They follow an omnivorous diet, feeding on aquatic plants, grain, fruits and berries, insects, fish eggs, crustaceans and tadpoles. African Black Ducks are diurnal, doing most of their foraging at dawn and dusk, and weigh around 1kg.
African Black Ducks are territorial throughout the year, each pair occupying a considerable stretch of river. They are usually seen singly or in pairs, rarely congregating in large numbers (when they do, it is usually unmated or immature birds without a territory gathering at a popular roost). The breeding season spans most of the year with a peak in autumn and winter in South Africa. The nest is a cup of plant material lined with down, usually built on the ground on islands and river banks near the water, and surrounded by dense grass, reeds or driftwood. The female is responsible for building the nest, incubating the eggs (of which there are between 4 and 11 in a clutch) and caring for the chicks. Incubation takes about 4 weeks, the ducklings fledge at between 2 and 3 months old, and then stay with their parents for another month or two.
Despite a decreasing population, caused by degradation of their preferred riverine habitats and hybridization with feral populations of the exotic Mallard, the IUCN lists the African Black Duck as being of least concern. They are widespread over much of southern, central and east Africa, and in South Africa occurs in all our provinces, though only patchily in the arid Northern Cape.
One of Africa’s most dangerous animals, the Nile Crocodile is also by far the largest and one of the most widespread reptiles found on the continent. Adults measure on average around 3.5m long , but the largest accurately recorded specimen (from Tanzania) had a length of 6.45m and weighed 1090kg!
Nile Crocodiles inhabit rivers, marshes, lakes, lagoons and estuaries, and even venture out to sea at times. From hatching crocodiles are entirely carnivorous, feeding at first on small fish, insects, crustaceans and frogs. Fish also make up about ¾ of the diet of adult Nile Crocodiles, though they are capable of drowning animals up to the size of an adult buffalo when the opportunity presents itself! Such a large meal can sustain the crocodile for many weeks. When a meal is too large to swallow in one gulp, Nile Crocodiles will take a large bite and then spin their bodies in the water to tear a mouthful of flesh from the carcass. We’ve also seen Nile Crocodiles using their bodies and tails to trap schools of fish against the bank and pick off their hapless prey one at a time.
Often living in close proximity to sizable human populations, it is no surprise that Nile Crocodiles are responsible for hundreds of human deaths annually, especially when people are directly reliant on waters inhabited by crocodiles for their daily needs (fetching drinking water, fishing, washing clothes, bathing, etc).
At times, Nile Crocodiles can congregate in huge numbers, especially when water resources dwindle during the dry season or at a favourite nesting area. They are surprisingly fast on land, and capable of running at up to 17km/h! By day they like to bask in the sun on a rock or sandbank with their mouths wide open when they start to overheat, preferring to stay in the water at night. They hunt mostly at dawn and dusk, approaching prey on land with only their nose and eyes breaking the surface of the water.
Adult male Nile Crocodiles are territorial, and often get involved in deadly battles with other males. In South Africa the mating season stretches through winter, with the females then moving to a favourite, suitably sunny spot high enough above the floodline, to dig their nest – a hole in the sand between 20 and 45cm deep. Here she lays up to a 100 eggs, which she then covers again with sand. She diligently guards the nest for the next three months until the eggs hatch. The hatchlings call out to their mother, who digs them out and moves them, very carefully, to the water in her mouth. She looks after them for another 2 to 6 months in a nursery area, which is usually a densely vegetated stretch of water (they feed themselves from hatching). The eggs and hatchlings are a delicacy for a wide range of predators both on land and in the water, and despite the mother’s best efforts only about 2% of eggs laid reach maturity. The temperature at which the eggs are incubated determines the sex of the babies – lower temperatures produce females. Young crocodiles spend much of their time out of the water catching insect prey. It is estimated that Nile Crocodiles can live to an age of 100 years in the wild.
The IUCN lists the Nile Crocodile as “lower risk / least concern“, and while the species is threatened by habitat loss, environmental poisoning and poaching their numbers across their distribution range are estimated at between 250,000 and 500,000. It is found from the upper reaches of the Nile in Egypt, and most of West Africa south of the Sahara, southwards through Equatorial and East Africa to Angola in the West and to South Africa’s east-flowing rivers from the Tugela nortwards. They are also found on Madagascar and farmed for their meat and leather in several countries. In South Africa wild Nile Crocodile populations are considered to be vulnerable. The country’s largest wild populations are to be seen in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Kruger National Park, while the Crocodile Centre on the outskirts of the town of Saint Lucia in Kwazulu-Natal is a must visit for anyone interested in this species as well as the two other African species of crocodiles (few authorities have as yet recognised the West African Crocodile (C. suchus) as a seperate species).
Blacksmith Lapwings inhabit grasslands (dry or wet), mud flats or agricultural fields, golf courses and sports fields, almost always within a kilometre or two from a reliable water source, and feed on insects, worms and aquatic invertebrates. They are usually seen alone or in pairs, though they do at times congregate in flocks that number a hundred or more in response to a locally abundant food supply, especially outside the breeding season. Blacksmith Lapwings get their name from their call, which sounds almost like a blacksmith’s hammer hitting an anvil, and weigh around 160g with a wingspan just short of 80cm.
While they may breed throughout the year, nesting in this species reaches a peak at the end of the dry season in South Africa. Pairs nest well away from others of their kind and are highly territorial during the breeding season. The nest is a shallow scrape out in the open on the bare ground or among short grass, and near water, lined with vegetation, stones or mud. Both parents incubate the clutch of 1-4 eggs for around 4 weeks. Breeding birds will aggressively defend their eggs and chicks against anyone or anything that venture too close. The hatchlings fledge at about 40 days old, and then become independent about a month later.
The Blacksmith Lapwing has an increasing population distributed over much of Africa south of the equator and is considered of least concern by the IUCN. It can be found almost anywhere in South Africa.
Most South Africans would be very familiar with the confiding little (28g) Cape Robin-chat – it was after all voted South Africa’s favourite bird!
Cape Robin-chats have adapted very well to human habitation, being extremely common in suburbs and around farmsteads. They occupy a wide range of natural habitats; from arid Karoo thicket vegetation along water courses to the edges of forests and suitably dense montane vegetation, from whence some birds move to lower altitudes during harsh winters. Cape Robin-chats search for food on the ground, amongst dense vegetation or out in the open, feeding on invertebrates, tiny frogs and reptiles, fruits and seeds. They are very fond of their daily splash bath, and are excellent at mimicking the songs of dozens of other birdspecies. They are usually seen singly or in pairs.
Pairs are monogamous and most hold their territories for years on end. The cup-shaped nest is usually built low in a dense bush. Breeding reaches a peak in spring. Clutches contain 2 or 3 eggs and are incubated by the female for between 14 and 19 days. Both parents feed the chicks until they fledge at about two weeks old and then for another few weeks more. The maximum recorded life span of a Cape Robin-chat is over 17 years!
The Cape Robin-Chat is a common resident in every South African province, though they are very patchily distributed north of our borders into East Africa, and with an apparently large and stable population is considered of least concern by the IUCN.
DeWetsWild 