Observations on Hartlaub’s Spurfowl
by Katrin Denker
Then we went on, balancing over all the lose rubble lying around, along the side of the boulder.
A Hartlaub’s Spurfowl was calling somewhere up at the foot of the cliff. Our path went past a Mountain Thorn standing next to a Shepherd’s Tree about a dozen metres away from the boulder. A half broken-off branch of the Mountain Thorn was hanging over our path.
My father wanted to clear away this branch with a machete, but as the machete hit the branch a bird came fluttering out of the grass at the base of the stems. It was a female Hartlaub’s Spurfowl. She ran a short distance and then flew away, screeching, in a sort of zig-zag.
On 6 June 2021 we found, by chance, the nest of a Hartlaub’s Spurfowl.
We had been up on a mountain to watch a pair of Peregrine Falcons in the cliffs at the top of the mountain. On our way down in the afternoon, tired after a day of cold windy weather and climbing around in the mountains, we stopped to rest for a moment and drink some water at a large boulder which had broken out of a cliff above and where we had also spent some time, trying to spot a falcon, in the morning.
HD
A female Hartlaub’s Spurfowl.
When inspecting the place from where the bird had flown away, we found a nest containing three white eggs. It was located just next to the stem of the Shepherd’s Tree, hidden amongst the grass and was not much lined. There were some rocks around the trees but the nest could not be said to be situated between the rocks. The bird certainly sat very tight. She never moved, or at least we never noticed her, until the machete hit the branch above her, even when we stood right next to the nest.
I had found an eggshell, which might also be that of a Hartlaub’s Spurfowl, on a footpath, running between thick grass, at least two dozen metres away from the foot of the cliff, higher up on the mountain earlier in the day.
The nest containing three white eggs at the stem of a Shepherd’s Tree.
We have always been on the lookout for Hartlaubs spurfowls nests but never found one before. But we might have concentrated on the wrong places as, according to some reference [1], we had thought that they breed amongst rocks or boulders and on ledges and would rather not have suspected a nest in the place where we actually found it.
The nest we found, as well as the eggshells found at the foot of the cliff earlier the day, were concealed in the grass and not at all amongst piles of boulders or on ledges, although both sort of shelters would have been available nearby.
Hartlaub’s Spurfowl are numerous on our farm in the south-western Erongo Mountains (Namibia) and we often hear their calls in the granite behind our house in the mornings and evenings. We have, for several years, occasionally recorded observations on Hartlaub’s Spurfowls.
These were mostly observations that we thought might be relevant to the breeding habits of these birds as we knew that they are little known.
When again reading up on Hartlaub’s Spurfowls after finding the nest, we noticed that some of the information in bird books was different from what we had always believed based on our observations.
Unfortunately the observations that we have recorded are not many, but I have written them down here and I will make more detailed ones in future.
The farm is no longer used for farming but is more a nature reserve and used for tourism. The habitat is partly made up of the basalt mountains of the southern crater rim of the Erongo Mountains. These mostly have steep, gravelly slopes and cliffs at the top. The vegetation is thicker at the base of the cliffs than it is on the slopes, especially where the cliffs face south.
Apart from the basalt mountains there are large areas of granite strewn with boulders and islands of bush and grass. Hartlaub’s Spurfowls occur in both types of terrain (the nest we found was on a basalt mountain). The average rainfall is about 200mm per rainy season.
In bird books it is stated that Hartlaub’s Spurfowls have an average clutch size of three eggs, just as the nest we found had. We have, however, twice recorded Hartlaub’s Spurfowls with more than three young, once with five to six young (on 15 August 2008) and once with four to five young (4 September 2011), as well as one with three young (18 September 2011). A pair with two young (approximately eight to ten weeks old) was seen at the beginning of August 2021. The female was sitting on a dead branch seemingly on guard, while the male and young were feeding below.
According to observations by Osborne [2] adult Hartlaub’s Spurfowls are occasionally accompanied by the chicks of different broods. The young from these observations, however, did not noticeably differ in size.
The surroundings where the nest was found.
I had always been under the impression that Hartlaub’s Spurfowl generally occur in small groups as we mostly seemed to see several adult birds together. When we read up on these birds again we found that, according to most literature, they occur in pairs or small family groups (the pair and juveniles). Unfortunately we have not often recorded the number of adults seen. We have a record of one pair from 9 April 2016, as well as one from 17 July 2020 and another one from 7 May 2021.
This last pair was seen in a valley amongst granite boulders. They were sitting on a boulder on one side of the valley, the male was calling and other Hartlaub’s Spurfowls were calling on the other side of the valley. Eventually the female moved away up the slope, the male followed and they were all silent after a while.
On 26 April 2016 four Hartlaub’s Spurfowls (two males, two females) were seen together. I heard these calling from a bush island in the granite while I was on a walk. I saw one bird standing next to a bush first, then another one came down from the granite and two more came out of the bushes. They seemed to be calling to each other and then moved through the bushes and onto the granite together. When I wanted to follow them they flew away with a lot of noise.
We have a video record of another group of Hartlaub’s Spurfowl. There were a female and at least two males in that group.
Being under the impression that Hartlaub’s Spurfowls occur in small groups I never paid any particular attention to whether some of them were immature birds, but as we always look out for young ones it seems unlikely that I would have overlooked a noticeable difference in age of the birds.
Of the times were the number of adults were recorded, pairs were seen more frequently. But then we did not make notes on the numerous occasion we accidentally flushed a group of birds.
Therefore, from my observations I cannot exclude the possibility that pairs gather in groups outside the breeding season.
KUD
A male Hartlaub’s Spurfowl.
The table below indicates the number of Hartlaub’s Spurfowls (group sizes) seen in each month.
References:
[1] Little, Crowe, Barlow, Game Bird of Southern Africa
Hocky, Dean, Ryan, Roberts Birds of Southern Africa
[2] Osborne, T. (2001). Hartlaub’s Francolin Breeding in Namibia. Lanioturdus
34(1): 16-18.