A NEW SIGHTING AT

THE KARKLOOF CONSERVATION CENTRE

Category: News

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On the 28 February 2011, Pat Cahill was down at the Loskop hide and took a photograph of the Lesser Moorhen. This is a new sighting for the Karkloof Conservation Centre, so Pat sent the photographs to Pam Nicol who confirmed that it was definately a Lesser Moorhen.

On the 3 March 2011, Pam Nicol and Karin Nelson came to the centre to see this bird, as it is a rarity.

The Loskop Pan (Wattled Crane Hide) is currently offering the Lesser Moorhen an ideal habitat because it has a lot of grass with patches of water.

The Lesser Moorhen has been spotted by twitchers and our bird guide regularly since.

 

Here are the photographs of the Lesser Moorhen taken by Pat Cahill:

The Lesser Moorhen (Gallinula angulata) is a species of bird in the Rallidae family.

Ecology  Behaviour: This species is an intra-African migrant with movements related to seasonal rainfall, although some populations may be resident all year round in permanent habitats. The timing of the breeding season varies geographically, with the species breeding in solitary well-separated territorial pairs.

Habitat: The species inhabits permanent and temporary freshwater wetlands such as papyrus swamps, reedbeds, marshes with rushes and open water, ponds with floating vegetation (e.g. water-lilies), flood-plains and pans with emergent grass, sedges and floating plants, rank vegetation on the edges of ponds, dams, rivers and forest streams, rice-fields, flooded farmland, sewage ponds, seasonally inundated grassland, gravel pits (Zimbabwe) and coastal lagoons (Ghana); although it shows a preference for temporary waters with abundant emergent vegetation.

Diet: The species is omnivorous, its diet consisting of molluscs, insects (especially beetles) and vegetable matter such as the seeds and flowers of reeds.

Breeding site: The nest is a pad of grass or sedge with a shallow cup that is usually placed on the surface of water or up to 5 cm above it (water typically 20-100 cm deep), alternatively in emergent grass or sedges up to 1.5 m tall.

(http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=2939)

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