Tag Archives: wildlife

Southern Crested Guineafowl

Guttera edouardi

As familiar as South Africans are with the Helmeted Guineafowl, it may be surprising that relatively few people know that our country is home to another, slightly smaller, species of guineafowl, the Crested Guineafowl.

The Crested Guineafowl is an inconspicuous species that inhabits forests and dense riverine woodlands and occurs in pairs or small flocks, feeding on fruits, berries, seeds and invertebrates. They often follow feeding monkeys, pecking up any food items the primates drop from the tree tops. Breeding takes place in spring and summer, when hens lay small clutches (4-5 eggs) in scraped hollows hidden among thick vegetation.

Crested Guineafowl

Crested Guineafowl family

Joubert’s picture of a baby Crested Guineafowl taking off quite strongly!

Crested Guineafowl chicks

Crested Guineafowl family

Crested Guineafowl

Crested Guineafowl leaving home for work (photo by Joubert)

Crested Guineafowl

Crested Guineafowls

Crested Guineafowl

The IUCN considers the Southern Crested Guineafowl as being of “Least Concern“, being found in large, stable populations over a wide area that includes Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In South Africa they are in no immediate danger of extinction, although they have a very limited distribution, occurring only in the north of Kwazulu-Natal and the north-eastern corner of Limpopo Province. Good places to go searching for them would be Cape Vidal and uMkhuze in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the areas around Pafuri and Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park.

Crested Guineafowl – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Helmeted Guineafowl

19 Replies

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.

Domesticated Guineafowl often have varying plumage

Red-crested Korhaan

20 Replies

Lophotis ruficrista

The Red-Crested Korhaan, also known as the Red-Crested Bustard, is a common ground-dwelling bird occurring in many of South Africa’s conservation areas, inhabiting arid thornveld, savanna-bushveld and woodlands. . They are about 50cm long and weigh up to 900g. Their diet includes insects, seeds, berries and tree-gum. Males perform an acrobatic aerial display during the spring-summer breeding season, involving flying 10 – 30m straight up into the air before tumbling out of the sky as if they’ve been shot, only to glide to a safe landing at the last possible moment. The red crest from which they take their name is shown by the male only when displaying for females, and males will mate with as many hens as they can impress in this fashion. Eggs are laid in shallow hollows, usually scraped beneath bushes. Their characteristic shrill call is a feature of the areas in which they occur.

Red-crested Korhaan

Close-up of aRed-crested Korhaan

Red-crested Korhaan calling

Red-crested Korhaan

Red-crested Korhaan keeping an eye on an eagle flying overhead (photo by Joubert)

Red-crested Korhaan

Red-crested Korhaan (photo by Joubert)

Red-crested Korhaan

Owing to its wide distribution in Southern Africa, few pressures on its habitat and apparently stable populations, the Red-Crested Bustard is considered “Least Concern” by the IUCN. In the Republic of South Africa, this species can be commonly found in all provinces, with the exception of the Eastern and Western Cape.

Kori Bustard

18 Replies

Ardeotis kori

Considered one of the world’s heaviest flying birds, Kori Bustard males weigh as much as 18kg or even more. They have a wingspan of up to 2.75m, and stand up to 1.2 meters tall. Females however are much lighter and seldom exceed 7kg in weight.

Kori Bustards occur in flat, open, dry habitats and have an omnivorous diet that includes carrion, seeds, berries, flowers, eggs, insects and small vertebrates, often following fires and herds of game to catch flushed prey. Their Afrikaans name, “Gompou“, comes from their liking for Acacia-tree gum. Where water is easily available, Kori Bustards will drink regularly. They normally forage alone or in small groups, but are sometimes seen in bigger groups numbering up to 40 in areas of abundant food or at waterholes. These bustards are mostly terrestrial, taking to the wing only when necessary and even preferring to escape threats by running or hiding, though they are strong flyers once airborne. They forage during the cooler hours of early morning and late afternoon, preferring to spend the heat of the day in the shade. Nesting occurs in the warmer months, when usually two eggs are laid in shallow hollows on the ground. Following an elaborate courtship display, males attempt to mate with as many females as possible, and play no part in incubating the eggs (which lasts for about 25 days) or rearing the precocial chicks. Large raptors and big mammalian predators prey on both adult and young Kori Bustards.

Kori Bustard

Kori Bustard searching the burnt veld for prey

Kori Bustards

Kori Bustard

Kori Bustard displaying

Kori Bustard male displaying

Kori Bustard

Kori Bustard on Tshwene Drive

Kori Bustard in flight (photo by Joubert)

Kori Bustard (photo by Joubert)

Kori Bustard

Ongoing declines in the Kori Bustard’s population across its range, which stretches from Ethiopia and The Sudan to South Africa’s Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North-West, Northern, Eastern and Western Cape Provinces, has prompted the IUCN to raise its conservation status to “Near Threatened“. The South African population is estimated at between 2,000 and 5,000, with hundreds dying annually due to collisions with powerlines. The threats of illegal hunting and habitat degradation is placing further pressure on their numbers, and the species may well soon be confined only to conservation areas like the Kruger National Park, where the population is estimated around 250 adult birds. They can also be found in the Mapungubwe, Mokala and Pilanesberg National Parks.

Secretarybird

30 Replies

Sagittarius serpentarius

The Secretarybird is a very unusual raptor, with a long neck, even longer legs and a bunch of quill-like feathers at the back of its head, like pens behind a secretary’s ear, possibly earning it its name. Another explanation for the name comes from a French corruption of an Arabic word, saqr-et-tair, meaning “hunter bird”, which is a great description of its lifestyle. They are up to 1.5m tall, with a wingspan of over 2 meters and a weight up to 5kg.

Secretarybirds roam savannas, grasslands and semi-deserts, usually singly or in pairs, walking along in search of prey, which ranges from eggs, insects and other invertebrates to small mammals (up to the size of hares), birds, amphibians and reptiles – even large, poisonous snakes – which they immobilise or kill by vigorously stomping on it with their feet. Secretarybirds breed throughout the year, in nests built of sticks atop flat-topped trees. Two to three eggs are laid and incubated mostly by the female for about 45 days, though both parents feed the chicks until they leave the nest at about 80 days old and then are taught how to hunt for themselves. At times they congregate in flocks of up to 50 birds at waterholes, but pairs are monogamous.

Secretarybirds nest on flat-topped trees

Secretarybird

Secretarybird searching for victims of a recent fire

Secretarybirds nest on flat-topped trees

Secretarybird

Secretarybird nest building

Secretary Bird

Secretary Bird taking off

Secretary Bird

Secretary Bird on the Kamberg Road

Secretary Bird (photo by Joubert)

Secretarybird in flight

Secretarybird

Secretary Bird on the hunt

Thirsty Secretarybird

Secretarybirds

Secretarybird

Wind-blown Secretarybird

Secretarybird

Secretarybird (photo by Joubert)

Wind-blown Secretary Bird

Secretarybird

Secretary Bird

Secretary bird flying off

Secretary Bird in flight

Secretary Bird

Secretary Birds

Secretary Bird

Secretary Bird (photo by Joubert)

Secretary Bird

Secretary Bird (photo by Joubert)

A Secretarybird features prominently on the coat of arms of South Africa, and can be found all over the country, although they are not very common and even less so outside the major conservation areas. Even in the Kruger National Park it is thought that the population stands at only about 250 – 300 adult birds. The IUCN considers them “Vulnerable” as their populations have declined severely, mostly due to habitat loss and hunting for traditional medicine (the belief being that their ground-up bones confers respect, power and fearlessness).

Grey Crowned Crane

27 Replies

Balearica regulorum

The Grey Crowned Crane with its eye-catching “hairstyle” must be one of the most easily identifiable birds in South Africa. Their Afrikaans name, Mahem, is a good imitation of their call. They stand about 1m high and weigh roughly 3.5kg.

Grey Crowned Cranes can be found in or near wetlands and flooded grasslands, and is one of the few crane species that will perch in trees. Their diet is omnivorous, ranging from grass-seeds and grains to insects, crabs and small vertebrates. Pairs are territorial during the nesting season, which stretches over the wetter seasons in South Africa. Nests are platforms built from grass and sedges in waterlogged areas. Courtship includes elaborate dances involving jumping and bowing. Two to five eggs are incubated for four weeks, and the precocial chicks fledge within 100 days of hatching. Outside the breeding season Grey Crowned Cranes flock and roost communally in groups numbering up to 200.

Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Cranes at their nesting site

Flock of Grey Crowned Cranes in flight

Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Crane (photo by Joubert)

As a result of wide-spread habitat loss and illegal collection of eggs and live birds from the wild for the illegal wildlife trade and traditional uses, the IUCN considers the Grey Crowned Crane to be endangered, despite their wide distribution in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. The population in South Africa is estimated at between 4,000 and 5,000 (out of a total population probably below 64,000 on the continent) and is mostly found in the provinces of the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Free State and Mpumalanga.

Blue Crane

47 Replies

Anthropoides paradiseus

South Africa’s national bird is a relatively small, blue-grey species of crane that stands around a meter high, with a wingspan of up to 2 meters and a weight up to 6kg.

Blue Cranes inhabit open grasslands, karoo-scrublands, fynbos and marshes, and have adapted to feeding in grainfields and pastures where these intrude into their preferred habitat. Grass and sedge seeds are their primary food source, though they’ll also take insects, frogs, crabs, and small reptiles and mammals. Blue Cranes are diurnal, roosting in wetlands at night.

Outside the summer breeding season Blue Cranes congregate in large (from 50 to 1000 birds), nomadic flocks, while in the breeding season they can be found in pairs or family groups. They perform an elaborate courtship dance, involving running, jumping, flapping and calling. Two eggs are laid in a simple nest constructed of reeds or grass in marshes and grasslands, and parents take turns to incubate the clutch for around 30 days. Any animal – human, herbivore or predator – is relentlessly attacked when they come too close the nest.

Blue Crane sharing its range with a plains zebra

Blue Crane standing tall

Blue Crane in Ithala Game Reserve

Blue Cranes at Chelmsford Nature Reserve

Blue Crane at Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary

Blue Crane close-up

Blue Crane in Ithala Game Reserve

Blue Crane

Blue Crane on the wing

Blue Cranes on the Lower Loteni Road

Blue Cranes in flight over Bontebok National Park

Blue Cranes in flight

Blue Crane (photo by Joubert)

Blue Crane

Blue cranes with their chick

Blue Crane

Blue crane chick (photo by Joubert)

Blue crane chick

Blue Crane

Blue Cranes with chicks

Blue Cranes

The IUCN considers the Blue Crane “Vulnerable” as their population has been seriously decreased by poisoning, loss of habitat and collisions with power lines. Population estimates put their numbers in the region of 25,000 in South Africa (almost half of which can be found in the Western Cape Province) with less than a 100 in neighbouring Namibia.

Giraffe

39 Replies

Giraffa camelopardalis

Out and about in South Africa’s wild places, the Giraffe is probably the closest thing you can get to a “gentle giant”, although I still wouldn’t venture too close to those powerful legs and heavy hooves if I were you! Towering up to 5 meters high, Giraffe are by far the tallest animal alive on earth today. Bulls can weigh up to 1,500kg, while cows are more delicately built and seldom reach a ton in weight.

Giraffe close-up

Cheeky youngster!

Helloooo!

Giraffe pair

Giraffe

Giraffe bull

Giraffe hide

Giraffes prefer open semi-desert and savanna habitats, especially where thorn trees proliferate. They feed on leaves, shoots, pods, flowers, thorns and fruit, consuming more than 50kg of browse daily. They also have a curious habit of chewing on old bones to supplement the calcium in their diet. When surface water is available, Giraffes will drink regularly, but in drier areas, like the Namib desert, they can survive without water for extended periods.

Giraffe walking away from Bangu in the Kruger Park

The giraffe is Ithala’s emblem

Curious giraffe

Giraffe drinking at Mazithi (Kruger Park)

Giraffe dwarfed

Giraffe and Imfolozi scenery

Giraffe, Girivana (Kruger)

Giraffe near Ngotso Dam (Kruger)

Giraffe reaching for tasty leaves

Giraffes in riverine forest

Curious giraffe

Bending low to quench a thirsty throat

Feeding on a thorn bush

That awkward drinking stance

Giraffe fountain

That awkward drinking stance

Giraffe

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi giraffe

Giraffe

Giraffe seem to thrive at Augrabies despite the harsh environment

Giraffes

Giraffe society is a very fluid one. Adult cows and their calves congregate in herds numbering up to 30, but these are not very stable and individuals move between herds as they please. Adult bulls live mostly solitary lives, while younger bulls often associate in bachelor groups after leaving their maternal herds. Adult bulls establish their dominance through ritualised displays and fighting by using their long necks and heads as clubs, often knocking one another unconscious and sometimes even causing the death of one of the combatants through a broken neck or limb when they crash to the ground after a well placed blow. Although they seem ungainly, Giraffes can attain speeds of up to 60km/h, run for distances of up to 7km, and jump over fences 1.5m high! Giraffes have acute senses and other herbivore species often accompany them, as Giraffes are usually the first to detect the presence of predators. They are mostly diurnal, preferring to rest in the shade during the heat of the day.

Giraffe in a sea of Mopani

Giraffe in the mopane

Giraffe under heavy skies

Giraffe and oxpecker

Giraffes, S41 (Kruger)

Lazy giraffe

Standing proud

Peek-a-boo!

Mature giraffe bull

Time for a rest

Towering over the road

Tower of giraffes

Young giraffe in Mokala National Park

Giraffe in Mokala National Park

Giraffe family in Mokala National Park

Close-up of a stately giraffe bull

Giraffes in Mokala National Park

Giraffes

Giraffe

Giraffe bull

Giraffe at a gallop

Iconic Ithala: Giraffe and Ngotshe Mountain

Giraffe on the Kwaggasvlakte near Bontle in the Marakele National Park

Giraffe bull

Giraffe

Giraffes

Newly born Giraffe calf with its mother

Giraffe (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe bull

Giraffes

Giraffe portrait (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe youngster

Giraffe just after sunrise

Very dark giraffe bull (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe catching the first rays of sunshine on the Red Rocks Loop

Giraffe Calf

Cows give birth standing up to single calves, although twins have been recorded, after a 15 month gestation. Giraffe calves are about 1.8m high and weigh up to 100kg at birth, and can stand within an hour of being born. Cows are very determined about protecting their calves, and many a lion has been kicked to death when attempting to catch a calf. Calves also fall prey to hyenas and leopards, while adults only really need to fear lions, of which they are a favourite prey. Giraffe can live to an age of up to 30 years in the wild.

Giraffe family

The giraffe is Ithala’s emblem

Giraffes aplenty

Giraffes near Nhlanguleni (Kruger)

Young giraffe males on the Crocodile River road (Kruger)

Giraffe, Shingwedzi (Kruger)

Juvenile giraffe

Giraffe, H1-4 (Kruger)

Mom and baby

Giraffe youngster

That head can deliver a hefty blow!

Giraffe calf

Giraffe

Giraffe calf

Giraffe cousins

Newly born Giraffe calf

Giraffe

Giraffe (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe calf nibbling on tender shoots

Giraffe cow and calf

Giraffe

Giraffes

Despite being classified as “Least Concern” by the IUCN, giraffe populations are declining across much of their range due to habitat loss and poaching, and the total African population now probably numbers less than 80,000 animals. Over 30,000 animals, representing the two southern subspecies, occur in Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa (where they have been extensively introduced outside their natural distribution range) and likely represent the only stable or increasing populations of giraffe on the continent. South Africa’s biggest population of giraffe occur in the Kruger National Park, but they are also regularly encountered in several other parks and reserves, including the uMkhuze section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, Mapungubwe, Marakele, Mokala and Pilanesberg National Parks, and Ithala Game Reserve, of which they are the emblem.

Giraffe bull

Giraffe enjoying the shade

Giraffe

Scenery near Pretoriuskop, complete with a giraffe

Giraffe calf

Tower of giraffe

Giraffes along the Mphongolo

Giraffe close-up

Young Giraffe

Giraffes on the way to Orpen

Light-coloured Giraffe

Giraffe drinking from a small pan

Giraffe silhouette

Giraffes

Giraffes crossing the road

Giraffe

Resting Giraffe calf

Giraffe

Giraffe roadblock

Giraffes at the junction of Tlou and Sefara

Herd of giraffes on Tshwene Drive

Giraffe eyeing us from a lofty vantage point

Giraffes peering from a clump of bushes

Giraffe close-up

Giraffe checking on the condition of the road

Wary family of giraffes

Giraffe drinking from the Sabie River

Giraffe traversing the plains of Nylsvley

Giraffe

Giraffe calf

Young Giraffe

Drinking Giraffe

Dribbling Giraffe

Drinking Giraffe

Dribbling Giraffe – photo by Joubert

Drinking Giraffe

Giraffe (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe

Giraffe (photo by Joubert)

Giraffes

Giraffe baby

Giraffe drinking

Giraffe

Young Giraffe

Giraffe

Giraffes

Giraffe

Giraffe snacking

Giraffe

Giraffes got a fright at my approach

Giraffe

Giraffes making their way around Senyati

Giraffe making its way around Senyati

Giraffes

Giraffe (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe calf (photo by Joubert)

Giraffes (photo by Joubert)

Giraffe calf

Giraffe

Recent genetic studies suggest that there may actually be four distinct species of giraffe, but it remains to be seen whether this becomes a widely accepted scientific view.

Giraffe at dusk

Icon of Ithala

Sunrise giraffe

Giraffe sunset, near Olifants in the Kruger National Park

Sunrise silhouette

Enjoying the first Spring Rains at Rietvlei

14 Replies

This past weekend allowed us our first brief escape from city life of the new season. Our day at Rietvlei Nature Reserve was blessed with the first, and very welcome, rainfall of Spring, although accompanied by a terribly windy cold front which put an early end to our plans for a nice picnic next to the dam. Happily the reserve’s wildlife came out to greet us in their numbers, despite the inclement weather.

Eland cow

Ostriches silhouetted against dark skies

Plains Zebra

White Rhinoceros

Black-backed Jackal

Springbok ewe and lamb

Black Wildebeest

Egyptian Geese

African Spoonbill

African Sacred Ibis

Black-winged Stilt

Plains Zebra stallion, sporting battle scars

Yellow-billed Duck

Waterbuck bull

Southern Reedbuck

A wet road, with promise of more to come

Northern Black Korhaan

Crowned Lapwing

Springbok on the run through wet grass

A portion of Rietvlei Dam during the downpour

World Rhino Day 2016

29 Replies

The 22nd of September is World Rhino Day, a day to reflect on the large-scale slaughter these enigmatic animals are facing due to human greed and superstitious culture.

For the first time in years there is a reason for cautious optimism, with the South African Ministry of Environmental Affairs announcing on the 11th of September that, despite an enormous increase in the number of poaching incursions into the Kruger National Park, there has been an almost 18% decline in the number of rhinos killed by poachers in the period January to August in South Africa’s flagship Park, rightly attributed to the never-ending efforts of dedicated rangers and other people in law enforcement. Still, the 458 carcasses found in Kruger so far this year (compared to 557 for the same 8 month period last year) is a terrifying number, and it is even worse when considering that in our country as a whole at least 702 rhinos have been killed this year, bringing the total lost since the scourge started escalating in 2007 within sight of the 6,000 mark.

Today is also another chance to express our deep gratitude to those brave men and women out in the bush, fighting a war against the decimation of our wildlife, putting their lives on the line so that black and white rhinos remain a feature of Africa’s natural heritage for generations to come.

A couple of de-horned White Rhinoceros in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve. De-horning is a drastic and costly measure to protect the animals, and sadly only a practical option in smaller populations.