I love bustards. They are attractive regal looking birds that scream African savannah to me, even if the first I ever saw was in Australia. They are proud stalkers of the plains that are every bit as fierce-some as the dinosaur ancestors they evoke in the mind’s eye. And if you like bustards, you could do a lot worse than the plains, deserts, fynbos and grasslands of Southern Africa, which hold a number of species including several endemics.
One such endemic is the Southern Black Bustard (or Southern Black Korhaan, as small bustards in South Africa are known as korhaans) This species has a pretty restricted distribution, confined to the fynbos scrubland around Cape Town in Southern Africa’s Western Cape. It’s not even a spectacularly hard species to find, if you know where to look, and with a guide I was able to find one pretty quickly about an hour north of the city. As localised endemics go, it’s a pretty sweet species to pick up on a visit. This individual was located on a small road off the main coast road north of the city, less than a hundred metres from the road. There were also several others around calling.
Southern Black Bustard
They called a lot on my visit
A great bird to see in the wild!
Cool post Duncan. I have always wanted to see this smart looking dino relative.
Great photos! Almost looks like it’s eating that branch. Southern Black Korhaan was one of the first cool birds I saw on my South Africa trip, right on the road at West Coast NP.