Helmeted Guineafowl

This afternoon we were relaxing on the veranda of our cottage here at Thendele in the Royal Natal National Park, when a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl came around for a visit, presenting Joubert with an excellent opportunity to practice some close-up bird photography – and with great success I might add!

9 years old: March 2019. Joubert photographing guineafowl at Thendele

Joubert’s photos of Thendele’s Guineafowl

The clouds also lifted just high enough for a while to provide a clear view of the Amphitheatre!

Drakensberg Amphitheatre seen from Thendele in the Royal Natal National Park, 23 March 2019

Numida meleagris

The Helmeted Guineafowl is one of South Africa’s best known and most abundant gamebirds, occurring in a wide range of naturally open habitats, from forest edges to semi-deserts, as well as being regularly seen in farming areas. They can weigh as much as 1.8kg.

Guineafowl feather

Helmeted Guineafowl are gregarious, feeding and roosting in groups normally numbering around 25, but can congregate in flocks of hundreds. Like other guineafowl they are mostly terrestrial, and will only take flight when in extreme danger or to reach their roosts. Omnivorous in their diet, Helmeted Guineafowl will feed on seeds, fruits, invertebrates of all descriptions and even small amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Nests are little more than scrapes in a well-hidden place, in which the hen incubates a clutch of 6 – 12 eggs for 28 days during the summer months. Helmeted Guineafowl can live up to 12 years in the wild.

Helmeted Guineafowl chicks

Helmeted Guineafowl juveniles

Helmeted Guineafowl sub-adults

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl juvenile

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl quickly learn that humans are a source of food

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl in flight

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl youngsters

Helmeted Guineafowl

Guineafowl sunrise

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl (photo by Joubert)

Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)

Helmeted Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)

Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowls crossing the Sand River

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl (photo by Joubert)

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)

Helmeted Guineafowl

Helmeted Guineafowl chick

Helmeted Guineafowl

The IUCN considers the Helmeted Guineafowl “Least Concern” thanks to its extremely wide natural distribution range (almost all of Africa south of the Sahara, except the forests of the Congo and the Somali desert) and large and apparently stable population. In South Africa they are a common sight almost everywhere, even occurring in the leafy suburbs and parks of the big cities, and is one of the few species that have actually expanded their distribution range in recent years, despite fairly substantial hunting pressure. The species has also been domesticated and widely introduced to other continents. These domesticated strains often sport quite different plumage.