Denham's Bustard - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Alan Manson
Midmar, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, January 2010

Alternative name: Stanley Bustard

Neotis denhami

Identification

Photo by birdboybowley
South Africa, October 2010

80–100 cm (31½-39½ in)

• Brown upperparts
• White underparts
• Pale grey neck with an orange nape
• Black crown stripes
• Pale yellow legs
• Brown, white and black wings
  

Female has lighter brown upperparts and shows less white in the wings when flying

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Niger, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland

Taxonomy

Photo by PEC
Masai Mara, Kenya, April 2001

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies¹:

• N. d. denhami:

• South-western Mauritania and Senegambia to northern Uganda and Ethiopia

• N. d. jacksoni:

• Kenya and western Tanzania to Botswana, Zimbabwe and southern Angola

• N. d. stanleyi:

• Swaziland and South Africa

An additional subspecies burchelli is not recognised by most authorities²

Habitat

Grasslands and savanna; open ground, including agricultural land, flood-plains and burnt fynbos.

Status

Classified as Near Threatened in the 2008 IUCN Red List.³

Behaviour

They have a very varied diet which includes insects, small vertebrates and plant material.

Breeding

The male inflates his throat to display a globe of white feathers

Polygynous; no evidence of territoriality. One to two eggs are laid on the ground in a small open space between grass tufts, forbs, shrubs or rocks; incubated for 23-25 days by the female.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2018)
4. BirdLife International
5. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Denham's Bustard. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Denham%27s_Bustard

External Links

Search for photos of Denham's Bustard in the gallery