Double-banded Courser
Smutsornis africanus
Beautiful, cryptic, upland shorebird. Adults show a scaly back and two bands across the chest. Juveniles lack the chest bands but usually associate with adults. Found within savanna and grassland in very open microhabitats such as gravel plains and heavily grazed patches. Call is an accelerating series of high whistles. Somewhat similar to Three-banded Courser but is more diurnal and has a less complex head and chest pattern.
Identification
The bird's crown is pale and streaked with brown/black feathers. A narrow black stripe extends from the base of the bill, through the eye to the nape. The cheeks, chin, throat and neck are buff/white flecked with dark brown. The feather of the back and wing coverts are sandy brown with dark centres and broadly edged with white/buff. The short bill is blackish, eyes are dark brown and the legs and feet are pale grey.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Smutsornis africanus
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1807)
- Order
- Unknown
- Family
- Strigidae
- Genus
- Smutsornis
Range and habitat
The double-banded courser is found in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania. The bird is widespread enough to have practically no chance of becoming endangered or extinct.The double-banded courser lives and breeds in flat, stony or gravelly, semi-desert terrains with firm, sandy soil and tufty grass or thorn scrub.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Double-banded coursers breed in monogamous pairs. Breeding begins after a mating dance where the male dances in semicircles around the female. The female then lays one egg, which the parents take hour-long shifts incubating. After about twenty-five days, the egg hatches. The chicks leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching, although staying close to the nest until 3–4 days old, at which point it joins its parents. Both adults feed the chick with small insects until it becomes self-providing at about 5–6 weeks old.<p>The breeding season varies by country:<p>Ethiopia - April–June; Somalia - February–July (mainly May–June); Tanzania - November; South Africa - all year, peaking in October–November.<p>The bird eats mostly insects, such as ants, termites, and beetles. It catches its prey by quickly running after it and jabbing with its bill.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Psalidoprocne albiceps
A small, fork-tailed, sooty-brown swallow with different plumages for the sexes: distinctive male has a pure white head and narrow black eye stripe; female has a mostly ashy head with white throat. Immature lacks white on the head. Pairs use clearings and edges of evergreen forest, open woodland, and cultivation. Resident in East Africa, but an intra-African breeding migrant in Zambia and Malawi between October and May. Superficially more similar to swifts than other swallows. Note the differences in flight style: flightier with deep wing beats and rapid changes of direction, as opposed to the more stiff-winged flight of swifts.
Long-tailed Widowbird
Euplectes progne
Large dark widowbird. Breeding males, with massive tails and red and white highlights on their broad black wings, are unmistakable. Non-breeding males lose their long tails and become streaky and brown but keep the distinctive wing pattern. Females are brown and streaky year-round. Breeds in moist grassland but sometimes found in cultivation and other open habitats. Usually in flocks, especially when not breeding. Males give a very slow display flight in which the huge tail hangs down. Song is a sizzling trill. Females could be confused with many other species but even during the non-breeding season usually associate with males, which show a distinctive wing pattern.
Orange-winged Pytilia
Pytilia afra
Unusual and pretty member of the waxbill family. Shows fine olive-green barring below, yellow edges to the wing feathers, and red on the tail. Generally scarce and inconspicuous. Found in the understory of moist habitats, including miombo and other lush woodland, and in forest edge. Usually seen singly or in pairs. Calls include inconspicuous “tew”, “tip”, and rasping notes. Similar to Green-winged Pytilia but found in moister habitats and separated by finer barring below, yellow wing edges, and different pattern of red on the face of the males.
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