Tag Archives: wildlife

Squacco Heron

Ardeola ralloides

A shy inhabitant of the densely grown verges of freshwater habitats, the Squacco Heron feeds on a variety of small vertebrate and invertebrate aquatic animals. Squacco Herons’ movements are often dictated by the rains, following recent showers to suitable habitat. Adults weigh around 300g and measure approximately 43cm tip-to-tip.

Though they mostly forage singly, Squacco Herons form monogamous pairs when breeding and build their stick-platform nests in mixed colonies together with other Squacco Herons and other waterbirds in reedbeds or trees growing in and over the water. Their breeding season spans almost the whole year, peaking in spring and summer. The parents take turns to incubate the clutch of 2-4 eggs over a 3-4 week period. The chicks are cared for by both parents and, while they leave the nest when they’re about 5 weeks old, they won’t start to fly for another 3 weeks more thereafter.

The Squacco Heron is listed as being of least concern, with a stable population estimated at as many as 780,000 occuring over most of the African continent, southern Europe and western Asia. The species is patchily distributed in South Africa, with the biggest concentrations occurring in Gauteng and adjacent portions of neighbouring provinces, the Lowveld and coastal Kwazulu-Natal.

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron at Pioneer Dam

Squacco Heron

Guttural Toad

15 Replies

Sclerophrys (Bufo) gutturalis

Many South Africans in the northern and eastern parts of the country will be well familiar with the deep croaking of the Guttural Toad piping up in their gardens around sunset during spring and summer. They’ve also been introduced unintentionally to parts of the Western Cape. Naturally these very adaptable amphibians are found in the vicinity of permanent or ephemeral bodies of water in grassland and savanna habitats, feeding on a wide range of invertebrates and smaller reptiles and frogs. Apart from South Africa, the Guttural Toad is also widely distributed over eastern and central Africa.

During the cool, dry winter months in their South African distribution range, Guttural Toads remain dormant under rocks, in holes and burrows, even gutters and drain pipes. Their breeding season commences as soon as temperatures start increasing in August where permanent water is available or as soon as the first spring rains arrive otherwise. Females may produce as many as 25,000 eggs (for a photograph of the eggs, please do visit this terrific recent post on the fabulous blog “Letting Nature Back In“). The tadpoles grow quickly and complete their metamorphosis within 6 weeks. Their thickset bodies grow to 12cm in length, with females being the bigger sex.

The IUCN considers the conservation status of the Guttural Toad to be of least concern. Sadly many are killed crossing roads at night. Where their ranges overlap the Guttural Toad is known to hibridise with the closely related and similar-looking Raucous Toad.

Guttural Toad on the forest floor

Guttural Toad

Guttural Toad (photo by Joubert)

Red-faced Mousebird

26 Replies

Urocolius indicus

The Red-faced Mousebird inhabits a wide range of habitats, from thickets in arid scrublands to mature riverine woodland, though they’re most commonly encountered in savanna-type vegetation. Ready access to drinking water is an important habitat requirement. They’re also common in orchards, suburban parks and gardens. It feeds on leaves, flowers, nectar, fruits and seeds, clambering about the branches of trees and shrubs in a rodent-like fashion, showcasing how this ancient family of uniquely African birds got their name. They love taking dustbaths and lazing on the ground in the full glare of the sun.

Usually moving around in small groups of up to a dozen birds outside of the breeding season, Red-faced Mousebirds form monogamous pairs during the spring and summer breeding season. Both partners work on the construction of the nest, an untidy cup-shaped collection of twigs, grass and leaves, in which a clutch of 1-7 eggs are incubated by both parents for a two week duration. The chicks grow very quickly, leaving the nest when they’re only 2-3 weeks old and becoming independent soon after. Fully grown, and including their tails, Red-faced Mousebirds measure around 32cm in length and weigh approximately 56g.

As it is a widespread and common species the IUCN considers the Red-faced Mousebird to be of least concern. They occur in all South Africa’s provinces, and beyond our borders as far north as Angola and southern Tanzania.

Red-faced Mousebird

Red-faced Mousebird (photo by Joubert)

Red-faced Mousebirds

Red-faced Mousebirds taking flight

Fulvous Whistling Duck

29 Replies

Dendrocygna bicolor

Probably as is to be expected, the long-legged Fulvous Whistling Duck is usually found at or near bodies of fresh water, usually with well vegetated verges where it follows a mainly herbivorous diet that includes algae, grasses, water lilies, seeds and flowers and only occasionally taking in insects and other invertebrates. They are quite nomadic waterfowl, ranging widely in search of suitable habitat, and often found in association with the closely-related White-faced Whistling Duck. The Fulvous Whistling Duck is not often found in large flocks, usually moving around and feeding in fairly small groups. They are active both day and night.

Fulvous Whistling Ducks may breed at anytime of year, though most often shortly after good rains. Their nests are simple scrapes in the ground, usually in dense cover very near water and lined with fine plant materials. Pairs are monogamous and may mate for life. Both parents contribute to the building of the nest and the incubation of the clutch of 6-13 eggs, which hatch after about four weeks. The ducklings can fly before they’re 2 months old.

The Fulvous Whistling Duck is widely distributed over parts of Africa, Asia, North and South America, and is considered to be of least concern; the IUCN estimating the total population at as much as 1.5-million though noting that most populations are declining due to hunting and farming practices. In South Africa they are commonly found on the Highveld (mainly Gauteng) but only occasionally seen in the wild elsewhere in our country.

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Fulvous Whistling Duck (photo by Joubert)

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Fulvous Duck (Photo by Joubert)

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Fulvous Whistling Ducks

Forest Beauty

10 Replies

Paralethe dendrophilus

The Forest Beauty or Forest Pride is, as its name suggests, a beautiful butterfly inhabiting temperate coastal and mountain forests in eastern South Africa, from the Eastern Cape to the escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. It is a shy butterfly that flies low and fast and hides in the shade, usually against a tree trunk, when at rest or threatened. With a wingspan of up to 7cm the females of this species is a little larger than the males. Forest Beauties have a single generation annually, with adults only seen between December and May when the females scatter their fertilised eggs among grass on the forest floor. The larvae feed on various grasses and is slow growing; the full life-cycle from egg to adult takes a whole year.

Forest Beauty

Brown-crowned Tchagra

21 Replies

Tchagra australis

An adaptable member of the shrike family, the Brown-crowned Tchagra occurs in a wide range of savanna and woodland associations where it forages mainly low to the ground in the undergrowth. It feeds primarily on insects and other invertebrates and only very occasionally on small reptiles.

Brown-crowned Tchagras form monogamous pairs with the male being fiercely protective of their territory. The female takes most of the responsibility for the incubation of the clutch of 2-4 eggs over a 2 week period in the spring-summer nesting season. The chicks leave the nest around two weeks after hatching but stay with the parents for 5 months or more. Healthy adults weigh approximately 33g.

The Brown-crowned Tchagra is widely distributed over much of sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa this species is found in all our provinces with the exclusion of the Eastern and Western Cape. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

Brown-crowned Tchagra

Ashy Flycatcher

27 Replies

Fraseria (Muscicapa) caerulescens

The Ashy Flycatcher, or Blue-grey Flycatcher, is a very active little bird of dense habitats – forests, mature woodland, riverine thickets and densely planted gardens – where it feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates, often moving around in mixed flocks with other small insectivorous birds.

Ashy Flycatchers from monogamous, territorial pairs. At the start of the breeding season, which spans most of spring and summer, the partners work together to build their cup-shaped nest, using fine materials, in forks, crevices or cavities in large trees. Clutches of 2-4 eggs are incubated for a period of about two weeks, with the chicks, attentively cared for by both parents, leaving the nest about the same length of time after hatching. Adults measure around 15cm in length and weigh only 18g.

In South Africa they occur along the coast of the Eastern Cape, through the bushveld regions of Kwazulu-Natal, into the Lowveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga and through most of the Limpopo Province. To our north this species is widespread through west, central and east Africa. In conservation terms it is considered to be of least concern.

Ashy Flycatcher

Matabele Ants

19 Replies

Megaponera analis

Matabele Ants take their name from the Ndebele-people of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Historically known as the Matabeles and led by their fearsome chief Mzilikazi, they broke away from Shaka‘s Zulu-kingdom in the early 1800’s, warring their way through most of northern South Africa with spectacular results.

Matabele Ants are widely distributed over sub-Saharan Africa and live in subterranean nests, often more than half a meter deep and usually with multiple entrances but a single chamber in which the queen, eggs and larvae are cared for by the workers. At up to 2.5cm in length, they’re among the largest ants in the world.

Matabele Ants feed solely on termites, and the way in which they attack their quarry with military precision in regiments between 200 and 500 strong is a sight to behold. First, scout ants go out in search of termites, and when successful quickly return to the nest to get reinforcements without the termites being any the wiser. The scout then leads the army, following in a column-formation, back to the site. The army stops a foot or so from the termites, waiting for the back of the column to catch up. As soon as they are all in place, the army of ants then rush on the termites, breaking open their tunnels and killing as many termites as they can. After the raid the army assembles in the same spot where they waited to attack earlier, now with their bounty in their jaws, before setting off back to the nest in their familiar column-formation again. Even more astoundingly, Matabele Ants are known to rescue compatriots injured during the raid and carry them back to the nest to recuperate.

Matabele Ants

Giant Plated Lizard

18 Replies

Matobosaurus (Gerrhosaurus) validus

Surprisingly for such a large reptile, the Giant Plated Lizard is a rather shy and retiring creature. It is in fact the third largest lizard in South Africa (the Nile and Rock Monitors being the two biggest) and grows to a length of up to 75cm, excluding the considerably lengthy tail.

Giant Plated Lizards live in loosely associated groups on rocky outcrops in savanna environs, where it makes good use of crags and crevices in the boulders to hide in – even to the point of inflating its body to jam itself firmly in and thus preventing predators from extracting it. Females lay clutches of 2-5 eggs in rock crevices during the mid-summer. These lizards follow an omnivorous diet that includes leaves, flowers and fruit, insects, spiders and scorpions, amphibians and other reptiles up to the size of baby tortoises.

The conservation status of the Giant Plated Lizard hasn’t been assessed by the IUCN as yet, but it is generally common in suitable habitat throughout its range, which extends over Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, eSwatini (Swaziland), Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and the South African provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the extreme north of Kwazulu-Natal.

Giant Plated Lizard baking on a rock

Giant Plated Lizard

Giant Plated Lizards

Giant Plated Lizard

Giant Plated Lizard (photo by Joubert)

Giant Plated Lizard

Common Dotted Border

21 Replies

Mylothris agathina

The Common Dotted Border occurs in a range of habitats, from fynbos to woody grasslands, savanna and forest, with their larvae feeding on an equally diverse range of food plants. They’re also quite often found in parks and gardens throughout their range. Adults can be seen year-round, and have a wingspan of 5 – 7.5cm. They fly slow and high. Females lie clusters of 40 to 70 eggs.

In South Africa, the Common Dotted Border is commonly seen along the southern coast and adjacent interior from the Cape Peninsula to Kwazulu-Natal, and inland through Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, Gauteng and the Free State. They’re also widespread north of our borders, being found as far as Cameroon and Ethiopia.