Archive for July, 2010
Bird of the week – Week 27 : Water thick-knee
July 11th, 2010 | 
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Posted in Previously known as a “dikkop” from the Afrikaans for “thick-head”, I suppose the recent change to “thick-knee” could be seen as a small improvement! Its relatives in some parts of the world, though, are known as “stone-curlews”, which somewhat less derogatory of the birds intelligence or physique. On the other hand, one of its relatives is apparently called a “goggle-eyed plover”, so it could be worse.
The Water thick-knee is a plover-like bird with a length of about 40 cm and a wingspan of about 200 cm when fully grown. The sexes are alike; Â streaked dark brown on light brown over the upper body, with grey wing bars that are conspicuous when the bird is not flying. The underparts are lighter in colour and the birds are streaked with brown on the chest. The eyes are yellow or pale green; the bill is black and the legs and feet a greenish-grey.
Locally common, the Water thick-knee is found in the wetter eastern parts of Southern Africa, and in Namibia is limited to the wetter extreme northern part of the country. They are generally found along rivers or at dams, lakes, swamps or on beaches, where they feed on termites, insects, molluscs, small fish, and crustaceans.
They are usually solitary birds, found in pairs when breeding but may also be found in small flocks when not breeding. They are mainly nocturnal or crepuscular but may be quite vocal in full daylight, calling with a mournful “ti-ti-ti”. Although they can fly strongly, they seem to prefer to run than to fly when disturbed.
Water thick-knees are monogamous and their nest is no more that a scrape in the sand, usually hidden amongst stones or bushes on the bank of a river or dam, usually quite close to the water. The female lays a clutch of two pale cream-coloured eggs that may be marked with brown splotches and that hatch after an incubation period of around 24 days.
The scientific name for the Water thick-knee is Burhinus vermiculatus; “Burhinus” from the Greek meaning a huge nose and “vermiculatus” from the Latin for vermiculated (which, in simple English means “decorated with wormlike tracery or markings”). According to its name, then, a bird with a large beak and which is decorated with wormlike tracery or markings.
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Waterberg Revisted
It’s amazing how two weekends spent camping in the same area can be so different. We recently revisited the Waterberg about 280 kms north of Windhoek as we particularly wanted to hike up to the plateau with a guide. Although we enjoyed our first visit to the Namibian Wildlife Resort of the Waterberg, it was marred somewhat by a noisy busload of students who partied the whole weekend. Not wanting to be caught a second time, we opted to camp at a private nature reserve called the Waterberg Wilderness Lodge, a short way up the road. This proved to be an excellent choice.
The campsites were a fair distance from each other and were well equipped with a shelter, a barbeque area and a private, albeit very rustic, bathroom. Firewood was provided and on arrival we were offered a number of activities to choose from. We opted for a guided walk up on the plateau and an exorbitantly priced game drive in the afternoon.
Our guide for the hike was a friendly young man called Wesley, who turned out to be very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna in the area. He took time to stop at the more interesting plants and trees to describe their uses to the indigenous people of Namibia. His first plant of interest was the sansevieria, similar to a mother-in-law’s tongue, which the Bushmen used for making bow-strings.
He gave Rob a quick lesson on how it was done.
The hike up to the Waterberg plateau wasn’t too strenuous as we stopped often to photograph the trees or discuss our surroundings.  Lots of wild animals live up there, but we were only privileged to see two little klipspringers peeping at us through the trees before they made off at great speed.
Whenever we take a guided hike I like to ask about the spiritual beliefs and traditions of the African people. Wesley belongs to the Herero tribe, who often combine Christianity with ancestral worship. His family commune with their paternal ancestors through dreams. He was delighted that we had taken an interest in his community and their traditions and explained at length about life in their village. I will write more about this in a blog dedicated to the Herero people of Namibia.
The views from the top of the plateau are amazing. We stretched our eyes for miles and miles over the plains of the Kalahari sandveld.
Just being at the top of the mountain with the air so fresh and our bodies invigorated by the climb up there, was wonderful. We almost had to drag ourselves away as we had already overrun our three hour time for the hike.
That afternoon we joined the game drive for a tour around their massive ranch. We saw lots of giraffes, kudu and other little animals, but the highlight of the trip was seeing a pair of white rhinoceros. Our guide and Rob left the vehicle and tracked these two enormous animals on foot in the bush, managing to get really close to them. I had my camera poised and ready in case Rob came haring back with a rhino on his tail!!
This beautiful Spotted Eagle Owl was flushed out of the bush as we drove past and settled on a tree just long enough for us to get a nice photo. It’s not often that birds are so obliging.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. The June weather was perfect and we were treated to a beautiful full moon – always lovely to have that when one is out camping.
Bird of the week – Week 28 : African darter
The African darter differs from most other waterbirds in that its feathers do not contain any oil and do not, therefore, repel water. This means that the darter is less buoyant and it is able to dive more easily. It does mean, though, that the feathers can become waterlogged during diving and in order to enable the bird to fly and also to assist in restoring the feathers insulating properties, the feathers must be dried. For this reason the African darter is often seen perched on a convenient rock or tree with its wings spread wide to the sun and the wind.
The darter is sometimes referred to as the Snakebird, a name derived from the fact that it swims very low in the water, with just its long, snake-like neck and narrow head protruding above the surface as it moves forward with snake-like movements.
Fairly common resident in all but the driest areas of Southern Africa, darters are found on almost any inland body of water of any size and preferring quiet dams and slow-flowing rivers. The African darter is fairly large, with a length of approximately 80 cm. It is slender, mostly very dark in colour, with a long neck and a fairly long tail. Eyes are golden yellow. The yellowish-brown bill is straight and pointed, without the hook that is common to the cormorants. The front of the neck is light chestnut. The sexes are similar.
African darters feed mainly on fish, but also on frogs and arthropods. Fish are usually speared with the sharp beak as the birds swim underwater.
The darters are usually silent, although they may croak harshly while roosting. The nest is a platform of sticks that is about a half a metre in diameter. It is a colonial nester, often sharing a site with cormorants and herons. The nest is built in a tree or bush, most commonly over water. The female lays 3 to 5 greenish or bluish eggs that hatch after an incubation period of approximately 25 days.
The scientific binomial of the African darter is Anhinga rufa; Anhinga being a South American native tribal name for the darter and rufa or rufus being the Latin for red.
