Exploring Pigeon Valley: The Bar-throated Apalis

This is the 93rd article in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article is on the fruits the Bar-throated Apalis.

My photograph of the Bar-throated Apalis suggests a sinister predator skulking in the thickets. I guess, if you are a caterpillar, that is about right. For humans, though, our main experience is of the frequent and prolonged tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik-tik that we hear coming from the bush with an occasional dash of a little bird, with a flash of white on the tail, that charges into the undergrowth.

While we often don’t see it, it is not particularly shy, and can come close. This is one of Pigeon Valley’s most numerous residents, found wherever there is dense bush, and also one of the most constantly active. The names comes from the line beneath the bird’s throat. It is closely related to Rudd’s Apalis, an uncommon bird found in Zululand and to the Yellow-breasted Apalis, which is found in our reserve in much smaller numbers, and which lacks a bar.

ALSO READ: Exploring Pigeon Valley: Fruits of the forest

Natural areas that are free from the poisions that we spread around us are full of insects, and the warm, wet conditions we currently experience mean that they reproduce in large numbers. What stops them from overwhelming the area is the constant activity of birds. The diet of the Bar-throated includes spiders, flies, beetles and, of course, alates (‘flying ants’) in season, as well as a little fruit.

Crispin Hemson chairs the Friends of Pigeon Valley, a group that undertakes clearing of alien plants, keeps records of bird and mammal sightings and alerts management to any problems.

The Friends have a monthly walk at 7.30am on the second Saturday of each month. Email: friendsofpigeonvalley1@gmail.com.

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