Africa Wild

070. Slaty Egret Egretta vinaceigula (Rooikeelreier)
ORDER PELECANIFORMES. Family Ardeidae


Description
60 cm. Dark, slaty-blue. Pale throat. Dark reddish foreneck (only visible at close range). Greenish-yellow or grey legs and toes.
In breeding plumage adults have long head plumes and their feet become chrome yellow.
Jvenile: Paler than adult, lacks crest plumes; legs greyish green.
Similar species: The Slaty Egret is distinguished from the Black Heron by its slighter, thinner posture, red throat and yellow legs. The slaty egret does not display the characteristic "mantling" behaviour of the black egret.

Distribution
Endemic to south-central Africa, occurring from Zambia and south-eastern Angola to northern Botswana, the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), north-western and northern Zimbabwe and southern Limpopo Province



Habitat
It generally favours the shallow margins of wetlands, sometimes moving into temporary wetlands in otherwise arid areas.

Movements and migrations
Mainly resident in large, perennial wetlands, although in summer rains it may make movements to ephemeral water bodies and flood plains.

Diet
It mostly eats fish, tadpoles and aquatic insects, doing most of its foraging in shallow water with emergent grasses or sedges, wading quickly and chasing down prey (which it regularly flushes by stirring its feet). It often joins mixed-species foraging flocks along with storks and other herons.

Breeding
Usually breeds in mixed-species colonies along with Dwarf Bitterns, Rufous-bellied Herons or even Red-billed Buffalo-weavers. The nest is a platform of twigs with a central depression, lined with reeds or grass and typically placed in a bush over water, such as a Water Fig (Ficus verruculosa) or Acacia kirkii (Flood-plain Acacia), or alternatively in a reedbed. Egg-laying season is from February-May, peaking in March. The females lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated for 21-24 days. The chicks start to move around close to the nest after a week or so, leaving completely at about 40 days old, at which point they perch on trees nearby.

Call
Mostly quiet; squawks near nest. It utters a typically heron-like, sharp kaark, kaark, kaark.

Status
Locally common in Okavango Delta, elsewhere uncommon. Resi­dent, disperses widely during summer rains. This species is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because it has a small and declining population.

070. Slaty Egret Egretta vinaceigula

© PRWIN
Botswana, Xhoro Pools

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/070.pdf
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
SASOL
Heron Conservation

067. Little Egret Egretta garzetta
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Ardeidae


Description
Sexes alike. 55-65 cm. A small white heron with black bill and black legs with yellow feet. Most of the year, the lores are bluish gray, but in high breeding they can become yellow, orange, or even red.
In breeding plumage it has two long plumes from the back of the head and plumes on the back and breast. Legs are often orange to red with orange deet. The bare skin between the bill and eyes becomes red, black or blue.
Juveniles are similar to non-breeding adults but have greenish-black legs and duller yellow feet. They lack the plumes on the head and on the back.

Distribution
Occupies much of sub-Saharan Africa, largely excluding the equatorial lowland forest of the DRC and west Africa. In southern Africa, it is uncommon to locally common in central and southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern and eastern Botswana, patches of Namibia and much of South Africa, largely excluding the arid Northern Cape.

Habitat
Shallow water bodies. It generally prefers the shallow margins of rivers, lakes, estuaries, pans, marshes and saltpans, but it also moves into mangroves, open coastal flats and man-made habitats such as sewage works, canals and dams.

Diet
Fish and other aquatic prey. It forages by wading or running through the water, stabbing at prey. It also uses a technique in which it hovers above the water surface then dives down to catch its prey. Foraging techniques sometimes exploit the movements of other animals, such as Hippopotamus, cormorants or African Spoonbills, as it catches the prey they disturb.

Breeding
Monogamous and colonial. It breeds in groups of roughly 2-120 nests, interspersed with those of other water birds in a large, mixed-species colony. The nest is built by the female with material provided by the male, consisting of a platform of sticks and reeds, typically placed in a tree or bush above water or a reedbed, although it is rarely positioned on cliffs or rocks. Egg-laying season is from August-March. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for roughly 21-25 days. The chicks are brooded and fed by both parents, leaving the nest at approximately a month old and fledging 10-20 days later.

Call
Harsh rattling ggrow. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Fairly common resident with some nomadic movements.

067. Little Egret Egretta garzetta

© Sprocky

© leachy

© BluTuna

© harrys

Links:
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
Sabap2
Heron Conservation
ARKive: http://www.arkive.org/little-egret/egretta-garzetta/
Biodiversity Explorer: http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/bir ... rzetta.htm
Oiseaux net: http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-little-egret.html

Family Scopidae (Hamerkop)
Scopus umbretta Hamerkop 081

The Hamerkop is often included in the Ciconiiformes, but might be closer to the Pelecaniformes. It constitutes a family (Scopidae) and genus (Scopus) all on its own because of its unique characteristics.

081. Hamerkop Scopus umbretta (Hamerkop)
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Scopidae


Description
Length 48-56 cm. Weight up to 535 g. Its plumage is a dull brown. Heavy backward pojecting crest. Brown eye. The black bill is long, flat, and slightly hooked. The neck and legs are short. Black legs and feet. The Hamerkop has partially webbed feet, for unknown reasons. It middle toe is comb-like (pectinated) like a heron's. Its tail is short and its wings are big, wide, and round-tipped; it soars well. When it does so, it stretches its neck forward like a stork or ibis, but when it flaps, it coils its neck back something like a heron. Sexes are alike.

Habitat
It generally favours the shallow margins of lakes, pans, swamps, rivers, marshes, streams, seasonally flooded ponds and even small puddles in gravel roads.

Diet
It eats mainly the adults and tadpoles of platanna frogs (Xenopus), which have a very similar distribution to the Hamerkop, suggesting that it is dependent on them for food. It also eats other frogs, small fish and insects, using a variety of foraging techniques, such as wading through the water and stabbing prey, still-hunting at the water's edge or pouncing on prey from the air. It has also been observed robbing Hadedas of earthworms that they pulled up from a sports field.

Breeding
Monogamous solitary nester. The nest is usually built by both sexes, or rarely a group of up to seven birds, with construction taking anything from 40-43 days to several months. It consists of a uniquely-shaped, large pile of material with an interior chamber and entrance low down on the side. At first, a supporting structure of sticks similar to an inverted pyramid is laid down. The walls are then built by interlocking twigs and finally the whole structure is covered with stalks, sticks, reeds, grass and twigs, while it often decorates it with a variety of both natural and man-made materials, including cardboard, plastic, leaves, bark, aloe stems and stones and wool. It is typically placed in a tree over or next to water, occasionally on a bridge, dam, wall, house or even on the ground. Other animals often usurp the nest of the Hamerkop, such as bees, reptiles and other birds, including Barn owls and Black sparrowhawks. Egg-laying season is almost year-round, peaking from August-September in Zimbabwe and from July-January in South Africa. It lays 3-9 eggs, which are incubated by both adults for about 26-30 days. The chicks leave the nest after 45-50 days and can fly strongly a few days later.

Call
Nasal wek-wek-wek. And loud, high pitched yelping sound: yip-purrr....yik-yik-yik-yik-purrrr, purr-yik-yik, sometimes in chorus. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Widespread. Common resident, sedentary and found singly or in pairs.

081. Hamerkop Scopus umbretta

© Dewi

© Flutterby

© Dewi

© Pumbaa
The nest is an elaborate hollow structure of sticks usually built in a fork of a tree.

© BluTuna

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

Family Balaenicipitidae (Shoebill)
Balaeniceps rex Shoebill

Family Balaenicipitidae is a family of birds in the Pelecaniformes order, although it was traditionally placed in Ciconiiformes.

Shoebill Balaeniceps rex
Order: Pelecaniformes. Family: Balaenicipitidae



Description
110 to 150 cm, 4 to 7 kg
A male will weigh on average around 5.6 kg and is larger than a typical female of 4.9 kg. The signature feature of the species is its huge, bulbous bill, which is straw-coloured with erratic greyish markings. The exposed culmen (or the measurement along the top of the upper mandible) is 18.8 to 24 cm (7.4 to 9.4 in), the third longest bill among extant birds after pelicans and large storks, and can outrival the pelicans in bill circumference, especially if the bill is considered as the hard, bony keratin portion. The sharp edges in the mandibles help the shoebill to decapitate their prey and also to discard any vegetation after prey has been caught. As in the pelicans, the upper mandible is strongly keeled, ending in a sharp nail. The dark coloured legs are fairly long, with a tarsus length of 21.7 to 25.5 cm. The shoebill's feet are exceptionally large, with the middle toe reaching 16.8 to 18.5 cm in length, likely assisting the species in its ability to stand on aquatic vegetation while hunting. The neck is relatively shorter and thicker than other long-legged wading birds such as herons and cranes. The wings are broad, with a wing chord length of 58.8 to 78 cm, and well-adapted to soaring. The plumage of adult birds is blue-grey with darker slaty-grey flight feathers. The breast presents some elongated feathers, which have dark shafts. The juvenile has a similar plumage colour, but is a darker grey with a brown tinge. When they are first born, shoebills have a more modestly-sized bill, which is initially silvery-grey. The bill becomes more noticeably large when the chicks are 23 days old and becomes well developed by 43 days.

Distribution
The shoebill is found in central tropical Africa, from southern Sudan through parts of eastern Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, western Tanzania and northern Zambia. The species is most numerous in the West Nile sub-region and adjacent areas of the south Sudan; it is also significant in wetlands of Uganda and western Tanzania. More isolated records have been reported of shoebills in Kenya, the Central African Republic, northern Cameroon, south-western Ethiopia, Malawi. Vagrant strays to the Okavango Basin, Botswana and the upper Congo River have also been sighted. The distribution of this species seems to largely coincide with that of papyrus and lungfish.

Habitat
The shoebill occurs in extensive, dense freshwater marshes. Almost all wetlands that attract the species have undisturbed Cyperus papyrus and reed beds of Phragmites and Typha. Although their distribution largely seems to correspond with the distribution of papyrus in central Africa, the species seems to avoid pure papyrus swamps and is often attracted to areas with mixed vegetation. More rarely, the species has been seen foraging in rice fields and flooded plantations.

Diet
Shoebills are largely piscivorous but are assured predators of a considerable range of wetland vertebrates. Preferred prey species have reportedly included marbled lungfish and Senegal bichir as well as various Tilapia species and catfish. Other prey eaten by this species has included frogs, water snakes, Nile monitors and baby crocodiles. More rarely, turtles, snails, rodents and small waterfowl have reportedly been eaten. There exists a single report of shoebills feeding on lechwe calves, although this would need confirmation. Given its sharp-edged beak, huge bill and wide gape, the shoebill can hunt large prey, often targeting prey bigger than other large wading birds.

Breeding
The solitary nature of shoebills extends to their breeding habits. Nests typically occur at less than three nests per square kilometre, unlike herons, cormorants, pelicans and storks which predominantly nest in colonies. The breeding pair of shoebills vigorously defends a territory of 2 to 4 km2 from conspecifics. In the extreme north and south of the species' range, nesting starts right after the rains end. In more central regions of the range, it may nest near the end of the wet season in order to hatch around the beginning of the following wet season. Both parents engage in building the nest on floating platforms. The large, flattish nesting platform is often partially submerged in water and can be as much as 3 m deep. The nest itself is about 1 to 1.7m wide. Both the nest and platform are made of aquatic vegetation. From one to three white eggs are laid. Incubation lasts for approximately 30 days. Both parents actively brood, shade, guard and feed the nestling, though the females are perhaps slightly more attentive. Food items are regurgitated whole from the gullet straight into the bill of the young. Shoebills rarely raise more than one chick, but will hatch more. The younger chicks are intended as back-ups in case the eldest dies or is weak. Fledging is reached at around 105 days and the young birds can fly well by 112 days. However, they are still fed for possibly a month or more after this. It will take the young shoebills three years before they become fully sexually mature.

Call
The shoebill is normally silent, but they perform bill-clattering displays at the nest. When engaging in these displays, adult birds have also been noted to utter a cow-like moo as well as high-pitched whines. Both nestlings and adults engage in bill-clattering during the nesting season as a means of communication. When young are begging for food, they call out with a sound uncannily like human hiccups. In one case, a flying adult bird was heard uttering hoarse croaks, apparently as a sign of aggression at a nearby marabou stork.

Status
The population is estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 individuals, the majority of which live in swamps in Sudan, Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. There is also a viable population in the Malagarasi wetlands in Tanzania. BirdLife International has classified it as Vulnerable with the main threats being habitat destruction, disturbance and hunting.

Shoebill Balaeniceps rex

© nan

Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoebill