Yellow-billed Kite

I’ve dedicated this post to the scavenger animals and birds we encountered while touring the Kruger National Park in October. These creatures are often terribly maligned, despite the vital function they perform in healthy ecosystems.

I have a real liking for Spotted Hyenas. They’re nothing like the cowardly scoundrels popular media would have you believe. They’re intelligent and fascinating creatures and spending a little bit of time with them, observing their behaviour and interactions, will quickly convince you of that. I was very happy that we had so many close encounters with hyenas during or October trip to Kruger.

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena mother suckling her cubs

Hyena on a mission – Maroela Loop near Skukuza

Spotted Hyenas on a mission – Maroela Loop near Skukuza

Early morning at the Hyena den

Spotted Hyena with a wry smile

Spotted Hyena portrait

Spotted Hyena with a wry smile

Spotted Hyena chomping on a buffalo carcass

A parting glance from a Spotted Hyena

Crossing the dry Shingwedzi River on their way home after a night of searching for food

Lazy Spotted Hyena just outside Mopani camp

Our vultures are in crisis. Due to poisoning and habitat loss all the species occurring in the country are now at dire risk of extinction, and it is vital that wilderness’ like the Kruger National Park remain safe havens for these birds fulfilling such a critical task in the ecosystem. We had many sightings of vultures on the wing, pairs at nests and others sitting exposed on the open branches of tall trees, and twice had the pleasure of watching them peck at and squabble over the carcasses of large animals (a buffalo and an elephant respectively).

Lappet-faced Vulture

Hooded Vultures

White-backed Vulture

White-backed Vultures

White-backed Vulture

White-backed Vultures at an elephant carcass

White-backed Vultures at a smelly elephant carcass

White-backed Vultures at an elephant carcass

Some birds and animals are opportunistic more than they’re scavengers. This Yellow-billed Kite is making the most of a windfall spurfowl that was the victim of a hit-and-run on the main road between Satara and Letaba.

Yellow-billed Kite taking advantage of a roadkill spurfowl

Finishing off this post with a few images of another mammal that catches far more of its own food than it scavenges. Black-backed Jackals are the most numerous canid in the Kruger National Park and any visit to the Park will usually yield a few sightings of them. Finding a den however is a rare occurrence, so having the good luck of timing our visit to Satara with the local jackal pair in the family way was wonderful (even if the adorable family caused a traffic jam at the entrance gate to the camp every evening that they played outside just before dark)!

Black-backed Jackal

Black-backed Jackal pups

Black-backed Jackal pup

Black-backed Jackals

Black-backed Jackal

I am a fully accredited and legally registered tour guide (with all the necessary insurance, professional drivers license and first aid certification) – don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like me to arrange a guided tour of beautiful South Africa and all her natural wonders, like the Kruger National Park, for you as well, or even just to assist with your holiday reservations for our national parks and nature reserves throughout the country.

Milvus aegyptius

The Yellow-billed Kite spend spring and summer in South Africa, the first birds arriving from central and west Africa in July and the last departing again by April, with the birds being most numerous in December and January. They’ve been recorded from all over South Africa, though they are uncommon in the open and arid central and western parts of the country.

Yellow-billed Kites inhabit a wide range of habitats, from forest edges to grasslands, though they show a preference for woodlands and rural areas with dense human populations. These kites have a varied and opportunistic diet – they prey on a wide variety of birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects (especially termites) and other invertebrates, will steal food from other birds and will also scavenge from carcasses and dumpsites. They’re rather fearless, and will even swoop down to steal from picnic tables and barbeques with humans in attendance! They are seen alone, in pairs or in flocks. Adults weigh up to 760g, with a wingspan up to 1.8m.

A large proportion of birds migrating to our country breed here, though it is unclear whether those that don’t breed here are unpaired or from populations that breed elsewhere. Pairs are monogamous and territorial. Nests are well concealed in the canopies of tall trees, and consist of a platform built of sticks and lined with a variety of soft natural and man-made materials. Clutches contain 1-3 eggs, incubated mostly by the female for 5 weeks. For the first month after hatching the male brings food to the female and chicks at the nest, after which she helps to bring food to the chicks. The chicks make their first flight when they are about 7 or 8 weeks old.

Some authorities consider the Yellow-billed Kite to be a race of the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), which also visits our shores in summer and often occurs alongside the Yellow-billed Kite.