The extraordinary breeding behaviour of the Black Coucal Centropus grillii has piqued the interest of ornithologists for decades, so much so that the species is now regarded as one of the most unusual birds in the world. Of the 28 coucal species found globally, it is the only one known to be polyandrous. The southern African population, moreover, is the only one that is migratory.
Polyandry is rare among the world’s birds and has been recorded in only about one per cent of species. In this role-reversal mating system, after laying the eggs the female plays no further part in raising the young. What makes the Black Coucal even more remarkable is the fact that its offspring are altricial (hatched in an undeveloped state and requiring care and feeding by the parents), which is almost unknown in polyandrous species. In general they rear precocial chicks, which are far easier to manage as, almost from day one, they are able to accompany the males to feeding sites where they are fed and protected by the male. In the subregion, the species best known to practise this mating system is the African Jacana, but there are others, such as the Greater Painted-snipe and the three buttonquail species.
Among polyandrous species, however, the Black Coucal differs in that the males not only are responsible for nest building, incubation and rearing the offspring, but they also have the task of provisioning and protecting altricial chicks for the two-week nestling period. Once the chicks are three or four days old, the male leaves them alone and unattended in the nest for at least 95 per cent of the day while he searches for food as far as half a kilometre away. During this time, he maintains an exceptionally high rate of prey delivery, which can only be achieved at a site where there is an abundant supply of invertebrate prey.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May - June 2020-Ausgabe von African Birdlife.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May - June 2020-Ausgabe von African Birdlife.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.