African Wildlife And Environment Issue 73

BIRDING They feed by sweeping their bill from side to side. Their toes are partly webbed, and they often swim, up-ending duck-like in deeper water. Their diet consists of insects, crustaceans, worms, molluscs, small fish, some seeds and other plant material (like detritus scooped up from bottom of flooded areas). They breed from August to November, singly or in loose colonies, but opportunistically in any month after suitable rains, mostly in ephemeral wetlands. The nest is a shallow scrape, lined with vegetation and other material. Their pre-copulatory display is highly ritualised, and begins in water with both adults involving in much head-rolling. This may continue for 45 minutes before copulation occurs. The male jumps sideways onto the female’s back with wings outstretched and bill slightly open, while the female moves her head from side to side. A clutch is normally four light greenish- to grey eggs, boldly spotted with black and grey. Incubation is done by both sexes for 16 days. Both the male and female care for the fledging chicks for a period 57 days. The young can fly at about five to six weeks. The largest concentrations of the Pied Avocet are to be found at Walvis Bay and Swakopmund in Namibia, while large numbers are also seen at Etosha Pan and in the Makgadikgadi system of Botswana.

Albert Froneman http://www.wildlifephotography.co.za

43 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 73 (2019)