Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

Pea Blue Butterfly

Lampides boeticus

One of the most widespread butterflies in the world, being found in Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa, the Pea Blue, or Long-tailed Blue, occurs all over South Africa. They’re quite catholic in their habitat requirements and very common in gardens. They can be a pest where peas and beans are farmed; the larvae feeding on plants from the legume family.

Adult Pea Blues are seen throughout the year and boast a wingspan of only 2-3cm. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

Pea Blue

Pea Blue butterflies

Long-tailed Blue

Long-tailed Blue Butterfly

Pea Blue

Southern Pochard

4 Replies

Netta erythrophthalma

The Southern Pochard is a species of duck found in both Africa and South America. They occur naturally in wetlands with deep water and lots of water plants but have also adapted to farm dams and sewage treatment works. They feed on seeds and leaves, usually taken from the water by diving and dabbling.

Southern Pochards may breed throughout the year in response to favourable conditions. Pairs are monogamous. The female constructs the bowl-shaped nest on the ground, well hidden by the surrounding vegetation, near the water’s edge. She may lay clutches of more than a dozen eggs, one per day, before starting to incubate them. The chicks then hatch after 3-4 weeks and can swim and dive almost straight away. The growing chicks can feed themselves and eat a lot more insects and other invertebrates than their parents do. They can fly by the time they’re about 2 months old.

Despite mentioning a declining population, the IUCN considers the Southern Pochard to be of least concern. In South Africa they’re found at suitable habitat in all our provinces with most of the population centred on the Highveld and in the Western Cape. These are nomadic birds, often making treks of up to 3,000km in search of watery habitats that suit their requirements.

Southern Pochard

Southern Pochard (photo by Joubert)

Southern Pochard

Southern Pochard female

Southern Pochards

Southern Pochard

Southern Pochards

Southern Pochard (photo by Joubert)

Southern Pochards

Female Southern Pochard

Southern Pochard

Southern Pochards

Southern Pochard

Southern Pochards

Southern Pochard

Sandmen Butterflies

9 Replies

Genus Spialia

The Sandmen is a familiar and widespread genus of tiny butterflies, with some species occurring in almost every corner of South Africa in almost every habitat, from forests to semi-deserts, while others have extremely limited ranges and very specific habitat requirements. They all look very similar and are difficult to identify to species level in the field. Adults have a wingspan of only 2-3cm and fly low to the ground, settling often on fresh dung, flowers, leaves, rocks or on the bare ground and regularly returning to the same spot. Their larvae feed on a wide range of indigenous plants.

South Africa is home to 14 species of Spialia Sandmen:
Boland Sandman (S. sataspes)
Bushveld Sandman (S. colotes)
Common Sandman (S. diomus)
Confusing Sandman (S. confusa)
Delagoa Sandman (S. delagoae)
Dwarf Sandman (S. nanus)
Forest Sandman (S. dromus)
Grassveld Sandman (S. agylla)
Mafa Sandman (S. mafa)
Mite Sandman (S. paula)
Mountain Sandman (S. spio)
Star Sandman (S. asterodia)
Wandering Sandman (S. depauperata)
Wolkberg Sandman (S. secessus)

Sandman Butterfly

Marsh Owl

16 Replies

Asio capensis

The Marsh Owl inhabits wetlands, covered by reeds and sedges, and tall grasslands, occasionally venturing into areas of thorny savanna, and are quite nomadic. Where it occurs it is seen more easily than most other kinds of owls as they are often active from early dusk till well after first light, especially when feeding chicks. They’re also much more social than others of their kind and may congregate in groups of more than 50 birds outside of the breeding season. Marsh Owls hunt mostly on the wing, gliding low to the ground and taking prey ranging in size from termites and snails to bats, rodents, snakes, lizards, frogs and birds up to the size of pigeons. They often store their captured prey in a larder to consume later.

Marsh Owls nest in shallow depressions on the ground, well hidden at the base of dense vegetation, usually during the dry season. They form monogamous pairs and the female takes sole responsibility for incubation of the clutch of 2-6 eggs while the male brings her food at the nest. The chicks stay in the nest for only about two-and-a-half weeks, even though they won’t be able to fly for several weeks more, staying well hidden in dense vegetation at ground level until they fledge. They probably remain dependent on their parents until they’re about 3 months old. Fully grown Marsh Owls measure about 35cm in length and weigh approximately 300g.

The IUCN considers the Marsh Owl to be of least concern. It is widely distributed in Madagascar and east, central and southern Africa, with isolated populations on various parts of West Africa and Morocco. Here in South Africa they’re mainly found in the grasslands of the Highveld (Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga and North West) where the Rietvlei Nature Reserve on Pretoria’s southern outskirts is an excellent location to find and view them.

Marsh Owl in flight (photo by Joubert)

Marsh Owl in flight

Marsh Owl hunting over a wetland

Marsh Owl – bird being cared for at Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre

Marsh Owl

African Reed Warbler

4 Replies

Acrocephalus baeticatus

As its name suggests the African Reed Warbler is a small (∼10g in weight, ∼13cm in length) insectivorous bird closely associated with reedbeds and wetlands and even garden ponds, farm dams, sewage works and sugar-cane fields.

African Reed Warblers are monogamous and territorial and breed during spring and summer. Their nest is a cup-shaped construction of grass and reed leaves attached to emergent vegetation or willow twigs drooping over the water. Both parents incubate the clutch of 2 or 3 eggs for about a fortnight, with the chicks leaving the nest when they’re around two weeks old.

African Reed Warblers are found at suitable habitat throughout South Africa throughout the year and over much of Sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia as well. The IUCN considers the African Reed Warbler to be a subspecies of the Common Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) which is also found in Europe and parts of Asia and which it lists as being of least concern.

African Reed Warbler

African Reed Warbler (photo by Joubert)

African Reed Warbler

African Reed Warbler (photo by Joubert)

African Reed Warbler

African Reed Warbler (photo by Joubert)

African Reed Warbler

Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko

11 Replies

Afrogecko porphyreus

A nocturnal gecko that is endemic to South Africa and occurs only in pockets of our Eastern and Western Cape Provinces, the Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko is commonly found in rocky areas, fallen trees and in and around houses within the fynbos biome. It would appear that they’re not territorial and are often found in close proximity to several other individuals of the same species where food is plentiful. Females lay two small eggs under bark or in a crack in a rock, but several females may lay their eggs in the same spot. The baby geckos emerge about two months later and grow quickly. Fully grown Marbled Leaf-toed Geckos measure about 5cm long excluding their tails.

Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko

Perennial Glasswort

3 Replies

Salicornia perennis

The Perennial Glasswort is a creeping, low growing – up to only about 30cm high – succulent plant adapted to growing in soil with extreme salinity, occurring along coastlines of Africa, Europe and North and South America. It thrives in areas subject to calm tidal inundation, like the salt marshes of the Langebaan Lagoon in our West Coast National Park, where the plants cover large swathes of muddy ground and are often entirely covered by sea water when the tide is high.

Perennial Glasswort

Salt marsh in the West Coast National Park, dominated by Perennial Glasswort

Blue-billed Teal

7 Replies

Spatula hottentota

A shy bird that is easily overlooked, the Blue-billed Teal inhabits permanent freshwater wetlands with densely vegetated banks and lush emergent vegetation like rushes and reeds. They’re omnivores and their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic plants and invertebrates and occasionally even frogs. Blue-billed Teals are usually encountered in pairs or small flocks.

Blue-billed Teals breed mainly towards the end of summer and into early autumn. The male plays little to no role in the incubation of the eggs or the rearing of the chicks. It’s the female that constructs the bowl-shaped nest of grass and down on the ground, that incubates the clutch of up to 12 eggs for about 4 weeks and that rears the chicks, which fledge by about 2 months of age. Fully grown they’re about 35m long and weigh approximately 250g, making it one of the smallest duck species in our country.

The Blue-billed Teal is rather uncommon in South Africa, with a limited distribution and populations concentrated in Gauteng and adjacent parts of the Free State and Mpumalanga, parts of Kwazulu-Natal and coastal pockets in the Eastern and Western Cape. Beyond our borders they’re found in a band across central and eastern Africa as far north as Ethiopia, with further populations in Madagascar and northern Nigeria and neighbouring parts of Niger and Chad. According to the IUCN this species is of least concern.

Blue-billed Teals

Blue-billed Teal

Blue-billed Teals

Blue-billed Teal

Blue-billed Teals

Blue-billed Teal

Natal Plum

17 Replies

Carissa macrocarpa

The Natal Plum – also known as the Big Num-num – is an evergreen shrub species that thrives in coastal bush and forests stretching from the district of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape to southern Mozambique. Its usual growth form is a densely leafed, spiny shrub up to about 4m high. It is a popular garden plant in frost-free areas as it lends itself perfectly to being trimmed into a hedge, its pure white blossoms smell of citrus flowers and the large fruit are edible in their entirety – it is even used in jams – and extremely rich in vitamin C, magnesium and phosphorous.

Natal Plum (or Large Num-num) flower

Natal Plum / Large Num-num

Cape Teal

4 Replies

Anas capensis

An inhabitant of permanent and ephemeral wetlands of varying salinity, the Cape Teal feeds mainly on aquatic invertebrates and tadpoles with plant material making up a smaller part of its diet. They have also adapted to using farm dams and sewage ponds and greatly expanded their range as a result. They’re usually seen in pairs or small mixed flocks, though they may congregate in enormous numbers on deep water when moulting. They will move over short distances to find more suitable habitats when seasonal water bodies start drying up.

Pairs of Cape Teal are monogamous and breed on dry land, following good rains. The female builds a bowl-shaped nest of soft plant material lined with down. She lays a clutch of up to 13 eggs, though more usually around 8, and incubates them for about 4 weeks. She leads the ducklings to water very soon after hatching and they are adept at swimming and diving right from the start. The ducklings stay with their mother until they’re about 2 months old. Fully grown Cape Teals weigh around 400g and measure about 46cm long.

The Cape Teal has a rather patchy distribution in sub-Saharan Africa. Being especially numerous in our Western Cape Province, they’re found widely in South Africa and our neighbouring states as far as Angola, with more isolated populations in eastern and central-west Africa. According to the IUCN the Cape Teal is of least concern.