Baby Boom on Big Game Parks - November 2009

As spring moves swiftly into summer, the evidence of “spring fever” reveals itself!!!

While sitting in a quick meeting with Ted Reilly on the lawn at Reilly’s Rock Hilltop Lodge in the first week of November, the first Crested Guineafowl chicks made their appearance, sticking close to their parents in the cold, wet garden.  Usually these regal birds have 6-8 chicks, but there were only 2 in tow.  The little family was busying themselves, scraping and pecking and no doubt consuming anything that fits with their omnivorous taste.

While watching the little fluffies, Ted Reilly stated he sighted his first blesbuck lamb on Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary on 11th November.  Unlike either mum or dad (who look exactly the same to the untrained eye – including mine!) these babies look like real lambs – the woolly sort.  They literally hit the ground running, agile and made to outrun predators.  They may be seen taking a nap, or tacked close to mum’s side, on the run.  Ted Reilly has always maintained that the season’s first blesbuck lamb never arrives before the 5th of November – and I’ve long watched for the exception to this rule, but the years pass and only serve to concrete this theory.

While on this tack, the first warthog piglets (I still believe hoglets is a far more appropriate word!) bounced out of there burrow on the 9th November.  They are now exploring the Rest Camp at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary.  Talking hogs…. Lets talk Hlane Royal National Park…

When we upgraded Hlane’s restaurant from a wooden deck to a solid tiled floor, we compensated for the warthogs which previously burrowed beneath the deck.  The deck floor has tunnels specially for warthogs, and to allow drainage for the trees.  Last year, these were not used (to our knowledge) but this year, the hogs have done us proud!  A young mother gave birth to two tiny warthogs mid-November.  For some reason – and there is always a reason – she chucked out her little boy.  Watching his lack of reaction to any stimulus this could have been a brain issue, but who knows for sure, he was only a few days old, with his umbilical cord longer than his legs.  The little male was 23cm long, from tip of nose to start of tail, with his head responsible for 9 of those centimetres!!!  Tiny!  His little warts (2 sets, being male) were evident, his teeth sharp and his tusks all present and ready for growth.  Warthogs keep their little ones underground in an old aardvark (or other) burrow for the first two weeks, during which the hoglets grow fast.  The first hog babies we get to see are a lot stronger and bigger than a newborn. The little man sadly didn’t make it.

A little news on our Birding …

And you wondered why the birds sing during spring?!?!  Nesting has been high on the bird priority in the past 2 months, with the first few fledglings appearing already.  A Black Collared Barbet at Mlilwane was warding off a tenacious Honeyguide, who was set on dropping her eggs in their nest.  Unfortunately, being away for a few days, I didn’t see the end result, but there is no evidence of the Honeyguide and the Barbets are very actively delivering food to their hole-nest, which emits chirping sounds.  Honeyguides are “brood parasites” – birds which lay their eggs in other birds nests and disappear, leaving the host to raise their chick.  The host’s baby is often evicted, killed but in some circumstances may be raised alongside the parasite chick.  Now to see what emerges from the Barbet nest… a Honeyguide or a Barbet?
 
Mkhaya Game Reserve has to be THE place to sight Narina Trogan – camp staff reported a single sighting of 9 birds in Stone Camp!  Still, the nest(s) have not been located, but there is definite activity.  Staff are on the look out for flashes of red and beak-fulls of soft caterpillars – any clue to find their nests from a distance.  While visiting Mkhaya yesterday, I watched a Groundscraper Thrush proudly manning her nest in a Marula tree from the parking lot.

And of course Hlane’s populations are not standing still – African Hoopoe, Red-billed Oxpeckers and Violet-backed Starling are all busy nesting within Ndlovu Camp, while the Paradise Flycatchers’ activity suggests its only a matter of time before their nests are spotted.

With so many nests in the camps, photography and birding opportunities are boundless.  Grab your bino’s, bird book and camera and find your spot on a log, a rock or under a tree…