Bird of the Week – Natal Spurfowl
The Zulu Name is isiKhwehle and in Afrikaans Natalse fisant.
THE Natal spurfowl is found throughout KZN northwards as far as Zambia and in parts of the Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and eastern Botswana.
They like dense thickets along watercourses, on hillsides and mountains, coastal dune forests, bushveld and the edges of evergreen forests.
WATCH:
These spurfowls are found in pairs and coveys of up to 10 birds. When flushed they separate but do not fly far, and on landing, they run into dense cover.
They call at dusk and dawn with a harsh, strident crowing ‘chackkity chackkity’, which becomes a louder ‘kacheeky kacheeky’ which slows down and then fades away.
LISTEN:
Food preferences are insects, molluscs, roots, bulbs and seeds.
Breeding season is mainly in the midsummer. Five to eight creamy-yellowish eggs are laid in a nest which is a scrape on the ground, lined with roots and grass stalks.
Incubation is 21 to 22 days and the young fly well at seven to eight weeks.
The Zulu Name is isiKhwehle and in Afrikaans Natalse fisant.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXc7aNcha-v/?tagged=natalspurfowl
