Africa Wild Bird Book

[PRWIN]

008. Little Grebe (Formerly known as Dabchick) Tachybaptus ruficollis (Kleindobbertjie)
Order: Podicipediformes. Family: Podicipedidae

Little Grebe.jpg (29.68 KiB) Viewed 1024 times

Description
The smallest common swimming bird on inland waters (23-29 cm). The sexes are alike in size and in plumage colouration. From a distance, little grebes appear to be all black.
Breeding adult: Crown and hind neck black, colour extending around eyes to chin. Back blackish. Remainder of upper parts and sides brown, mottled white. Upper wing coverts dark brown; primaries paler brown. Secondaries brown, washed whitish. Underwing white. Throat cinnamon; cheeks, and sides and front of neck dark rufous-chestnut. Upper breast lead grey, lower breast and belly white; flanks pale rufous, with blackish wash. Bill black, with creamy white to yellowish patch at gape (diagnostic). Eyes dark red. Legs and feet black.
The birds become somewhat duller and become pale buff on their lower quarters while their back is a dirty brown outside the breeding season.
Juvenile similar to non-breeding adult but has black-and-white striping on the cheeks.

Distribution
Occurs in Eurasia, the west Pacific islands, South-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa, it is common to locally abundant across much of the region, largely excluding the Kalahari.



Taxonomy
About nine subspecies recognised. Nominate race occurs in Europe, Turkey and north-west Africa, capensis (larger with more white in wing) in Egypt, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia from the Caucasus to Burma, iraquensis (with indistinct white wing-bar) in Iraq and south-west Iran, poggei in Japan, China, Taiwan and Malaysia, kunikyonis in the central Ryukyu Islands, philippensis on some of the Philippines, cotabato on Mindanao, vulcanorum on islands from Java to Timor and the Kai Islands and tricolor in Sulawesi, the Moluccas and northern New Guinea Islands. One more subspecies, albescens has been proposed for the yellow-eyed Asian birds currently placed in subspecies capensis (all other capensis have red eyes).

Habitat
In inland waters. It generally prefers dams, lakes, small ponds, backwaters in sluggish watercourses and temporary pans, occasionally moving away from fresh water to saltpans and estuaries.

Diet
It mainly eats fish and other aquatic animals, caught by diving in stints of up to 50 seconds underwater. It often associates with ducks and Hippos, catching the aquatic life that they disturb. Like other grebes it sometimes eats its own feathers as they act as a protective wrapping for fish bones, protecting the bird from harm when it regurgitates pellets.

Breeding
The Little Grebe is monogamous and aterritorial solitary nester, performing a variety of elaborate courtship displays. The nest is built by both sexes and maintained throughout the incubation period.The nest is a floating platform of aquatic plant matter anchored to emergent vegetation, submerged branches or bushes close to the edge of shallow wetlands. Egg-laying season is year-round, peaking from August-February in Botswana and the Western Cape, and from February-June elsewhere. The female lays 2-9 cream-coloured eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 19-28 days. The chicks leave the nest within a few hours after hatching, after which they join the adults to form a family group, regularly climbing onto a parent's back to rest. At first, the adults feed them on a diet of tadpoles and insect larvae, but after 29 days or so they are encouraged to try foraging for themselves, which they can do competently a few days later. After leaving the nest, the young birds have a habit of riding on the backs of their parents. They become fully independent at approximately 42 days old and are fully grown eight days later.

Call
Whit-whit and in breeding season utters a whinnying trill, sometimes in duet.
Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident. The Little Grebe is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.

[PRWIN]

008. Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis



© All-Nature
Wilderness, Ebb & Flow

© Joan

© Dewi

© Sharifa
Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga

© Sharifa

© Toko
Chicks, Mapungubwe National Park, Limpopo

© Pumbaa
Renosterpan, Kruger National Park

Links:
Sabap2
ARKive
Sasol

[Dewi]

006. Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus (Kuifkopdobbertjie)
Order: Podicipediformes. Family: Podicipedidae

Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus.jpg (33 KiB) Viewed 1046 times

Description
Size 45-56 cm.
Adult breeding: Back is dark brown with rufous wash to the flanks with white underparts. Black hindneck. Grey sides of neck. Face, chin, throat and foreneck white. Black crown and double crest with an orange/rufous ruff with blackish tips to the side of the head. Red iris. Olive-green to yellow legs.
Adult non-breeding: Eurasian birds lose facial ruff and crest and become much duller and greyer. African and Australasian birds show much less seasonal variation.
Juvenile: Similar to non-breeding adult but has striped head and upper neck.

Distribution
Occurs across much of the Old World, in Australia, Eurasia and sub-Saharan Africa: from Ethiopia to Tanzania and eastern DRC. It has an isolated population in southern Africa, centred around the Western Cape and Gauteng (extending into south-eastern Botswana), while more scarce elsewhere in southern Africa.
The subspecies P. c. cristatus is found across Europe and Asia. It is resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates from the colder regions. It winters on freshwater lakes and reservoirs or the coast. The African subspecies P. c. infuscatus and the Australasian subspecies P. c. australis are mainly sedentary.



Habitat
Large freshwater lakes and dams. Coastal inlets in Winter. It generally favours large inland lakes, dams and pans, especially if fringed with vegetation; it occasionally moves to saltpans.

Movements and migrations
Generally resident and nomadic, sometimes travelling long distances to reach seasonally flooded areas.

Diet
It almost exclusively eats small fish, caught by diving in stints of about 20-25 seconds.

Breeding
Monogamous, territorial solitary or gregarious nester, as multiple pairs may breed a few metres apart. Like many grebes it performs an elaborate courtship display. The nest is built by both sexes in roughly eight days of the courtship period, consisting of a platform of reeds, bulrushes and other material. It is typically attached to water plants or submerged woody shrubs in open water, and has to be constantly maintained to prevent it from sinking into the water.
Egg-laying season is year-round in Botswana, from October to December in the Western Cape and mainly from March to July elsewhere in South Africa. The female lays 2-7 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 27-30 days. The chicks slip into the water almost immediately after hatching, and are regularly carried on the back of either adult for up to two weeks; the adult not on carrying duty fishes and gives the food to the other parent and chicks. Once they reach about 28-42 days old, the brood are divided into two groups, each cared for by a parent. They can forage for themselves at approximately 56 days old and can fly at about 70-79 days old, becoming fully independent a few weeks later.

Call
Various growling karr-arrah notes. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Uncommon resident.

[Dewi]

006. Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus

© Dewi

© Michele Nel
Chicks on the back of a parent, Garden Route National Park, Wilderness, Ebb and Flow

© Amoli
Marievale, Gauteng

© Sharifa
Garden Route National Park, Wilderness

© Sharifa
Garden Route National Park, Wilderness

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/006.pdf
Sabap2
Sasol

[Klipspringer]

007. Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis
Order: Podicipediformes. Family: Podicipedidae

Description
Eyes bright red. Breeding adultss have golden ear-tufts, black head and throat, and chestnut flanks. Non-breeding adultss and immaatures have white cheeks, throat and flanks.

Distribution
Occurs across Eurasia, North and South America and sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa, it is uncommon to locally common in patches of Namibia, central Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, from the Western Cape to Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

Habitat
It generally favours large pans and temporary water bodies, particularly those that form after heavy rainfall, as well as natural and commercial saltpans.

Movements and migrations
Nomadic in semi-arid and arid areas, moving in search of temporary pans and breeding wherever conditions are suitable.

Diet
It eats a variety of aquatic prey caught underwater, sometimes foraging in flocks of over 75 individuals. The following food items have been recorded in its diet: fish, aquatic insects, larvae, crustaceans, molluscs.

Breeding
Monogamous and usually semi-colonial, performing a wide variety of territorial and courtship displays. The nest is built by both sexes in about a week, consisting of a mound of algae and other soft plant matter, anchored on an underwater plant in open water. Egg-laying season is almost year-round, peaking in November in the Western Cape and from March to April elsewhere. It lays 1-7 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 20-22 days. The chicks leave the nest immediately after hatching, and are fed and carried on the backs of both parents.

Status
Locally common resident and nomad at lakes and pans.

[Klipspringer]

007. Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis


© nan
Etosha, Namibia


Links:
http://sabap2.birdmap.africa/docs/sabap1/007.pdf

[Toko]

ORDER PHOENICOPTERIFORMES Family Phoenicopteridae (Flamingos)

Phoenicopteriformes is a group of water bird including the flamingos and their extinct relatives. There are six present species in the family of Phoenicopteridae. Four species are found in the New World and two species, the greater and the lesser flamingo, are found in the Old World.
Flamingos are large wading birds. They have long legs, long necks, and large down-curved bills. Flamingos frequently stand on one leg. They tuck their other leg beneath their body. Scientist aren't quite sure why they do this. Some think that is is a way for the flamingo to conserve energy.
Adult flamingos range in color from light pink to pinkish red. Their color comes from alpha and beta carotenoid pigments in the food that they eat. (Carotenoid are the pigments found in carrots!) Flamingos filter feed on red algae, blue-green algae, small insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and small fishes. Flamingos feed by standing in shallow water and bending their head so that their bill is upside down in the water. They then sweep their head from side-to-side to collect food from the water or the mud.
Flamingos are very social and live in large colonies that can contain hundreds, even thousands of birds.

[Toko]

Species indigenous to southern Africa:

ORDER PHOENICOPTERIFORMES
Family Phoenicopteridae (Flamingos)
Phoenicopterus minor Lesser Flamingo 097
Phoenicopterus roseus Greater Flamingo 096

[Flutterby]

097. Lesser Flamingo Phoenicopterus minor (Kleinflamink)
Order: Phoenicopteriformes. Family: Phoenicopteridae

Description
The Lesser Flamingo has a deep red bill, tipped with black. It has faint pink feathers with black primaries and secondaries, and deep crimson legs. The eyes are yellow to orange and are surrounded by a maroon ring.
Sexes are alike, but males are slightly taller than females.
Juveniles are brown becoming paler with age and have brown feathers and a dark grey beak.
Much smaller than the Greater Flamingo with a dark red (not light pink, tipped with black) bill. The head, neck and body plumage are normally far redder than those of the Greater Flamingo.

Distribution
Occupies patches of India, Pakistan, the Arabian Gulf coast and sub-Saharan Africa, isolated along the coast of West Africa but otherwise occurring from Eritrea and Ethiopia through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola to all parts of southern Africa except in the north western areas. Over two thirds of the population are found in the alkaline lakes of east Africa.
In South Africa, a critical wetland for Lesser Flamingos is Kamfers Dam, near Kimberley. At times more than 80,000 Lesser Flamingos frequent this area, with numbers being highest when conditions in the interior of the country are dry. It is also one of only four localities in Africa where Lesser Flamingos have been recorded breeding. Other IBAs of importance to the species are Orange river Mouth wetlands in the northern Cape, Chrissie Pans in Mpumalanga, Lake St Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal, West Coast National Park and Lower Berg river wetlands in the Western Cape. Flamingo Pan at Welkom is also a significant site and it is under review to be declared an IBA.



Habitat
Primarily eutrophic shallow wetlands, especially saltpans.

Movements and migration
This species is itinerant and makes extensive movements in response to adverse environmental conditions. Flamingo movements take place mostly at night. The birds fly in large, V-shaped formations between water-bodies when food stocks have become depleted.

Diet
It has a highly specialised diet consisting almost entirely of microscopic blue-green algae and benthic diatoms found only in alkaline lakes, salt pans and saline lagoons and estuaries.

Breeding
Monogamous; colonial. The species breeds on large undisturbed alkaline and saline lakes, salt pans or coastal lagoons. The timing of breeding is irregular and varies geographically depending on the timing of the rains, with individual adults often not breeding annually. They lay a single chalky white egg on mounds they build of mud. The egg is incubated by both parents in 24 hour shifts for about 28 days. After hatching, the grey chick eats its own shell and is then fed a liquid soup by its parents for the next few months. Chicks join creches soon after hatching, sometimes numbering over a hundred thousand individuals. Each chick must learn to recognise the murr-err, murr-err call of its parents. The creches are marshalled by a few adult birds who lead them by foot to fresh water, a journey that can reach over 20 miles. They learn to fly at 12 weeks.

Call
The flight call is a high pitched honking kwirrik. Feeding or walking birds give a low murmuring murrrh-murrrh-errh.

Status
Locally common, with resident (nomadic) and intra-Africa migrant populations. Despite being the most numerous species of flamingo, it is classified as near-threatened due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites, some of which are threatened by human activities. Only three main breeding sites exist in Africa, all facing threats and requiring protection. The only larger breeding site in South Africa is situated at Kamfers Dam which is threatened by flooding, pollution and encroaching development.

[Flutterby]

097. Lesser Flamingo Phoenicopterus minor



© Toko
Alexander Bay, Northern Cape

© Michele Nel
West Coast

© Michele Nel
Walvis Bay, Namibia

© Tina
West Coast National Park, Seeberg Bird Hide

Links:
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
Sabap2
ARKive: http://www.arkive.org/lesser-flamingo/p ... ias-minor/
Oiseaux net