Unacceptable Bee-Eater Behaviour

White Fronted Bee-Eaters are reputed to have the most complex family based social system in the birding world.  Having watched these birds for hours on end in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland, I am inclined to agree.

White Fronted Bee-Eaters live in large colonies where closely related birds help each other out.  A breeding pair will accept help from non-breeding birds in the form of digging the nesting chamber, feeding the female whilst she is sitting on her eggs, incubating the eggs themselves and even assisting in the upbringing of the fledglings.  Breeding pairs will accept the help of non-breeding birds, but only those which are most closely genetically related, thus building on family ties and ensuring the genetic continuation.  Rather dedicated family behaviour if you ask me and puts us humans to shame.

However, on the down side, non-breeding males will ambush breeding females and force them to the ground and rape them. The egg laying females may then create eggs related to the rapist and not the adult male that is caring for them.

Rather unacceptable behaviour really.

Ground Squirrel Ingenuity

I have just got back from the Lake District where I was amazed at how many signs there were stating that red squirrels were crossing the road, the signs were often accompanied by hazard markings.  I kept my eyes peeled for five days and did not see a single one, probably as it was raining and no self respecting squirrel would be seen in the rain, let alone near to an all singing, all dancing hazard sign.

This can not be said for the ground squirrel of Africa, which is a very cheeky chappie.  They are all singing and all dancing, well they have a high pitched whistle and can be pretty active during the cooler parts of the day.  Ground squirrels often live in colonies of up to 30 squirrels, living in a network of burrows under ground, which they often retreat to when it is hot.  The use of their tail is ingenious, it is used as an umbrella so that when these active creatures are out foraging for food they can have permanent shade.

Top that Mr Red Squirrel.

How To Track African Animals

I have just got back from delivering a talk on how to successfully track African animals in the bush, to a bunch of 5 year olds.  The challenge was not that they did not understand the difference between an antelope and a deer, or that an elephant weighs the equivalent of six short wheeled landrovers (6,000kg), the problem was trying to answer all the questions that were fired at me.  It was inspirational.  By the way, the height of an elephant is 2.5 times the circumference of the hind foot and there are four toes on the front foot and three on the back.

We went through various tracking techniques such as being quiet, remaining down wind of the animal you are following, looking for other signs of the animals you are tracking such as faeces, broken twigs, scraps in the ground and reading the movements of other nearby animals.  I then gave information about twelve African animals and presented the challenge to match up twelve footprints with the twelve animals.  Most of them got over half right, which was pretty impressive.  Why don't you pit your wits against them and see how good you are?  Are You An Ace Tracker?

And for those of you who are still wondering about the difference between an antelope and a deer - antelopes have horns which are permanent, whilst deer have antlers that are shed annually.

Weaver Birds - Fussy Homemakers

Weaver birds build the most extraordinary nests, taking care, time and patience to achieve what I consider a feat in the construction industry.  They build the most elaborate nests of all birds, they are natures engineers.  The males build the nest, the females come in at the last moment to give them the seal of approval, or not. 

First, the males find a suitable collection of branches for their new home.  This has to be hanging in a well ventilated place, safe from marauding snakes and built to perfection.  Normally two or three branches are tied together to form a basis for the nest - imagine trying to tie your shoelaces with your mouth.  Then strands of grass, individually chosen, are woven around these twigs to form a  nest in the shape of a carafe of wine suspended from the ceiling.  It takes the male days to accomplish this, sometimes making up to 500 trips to collect suitable pieces of grass, whilst the female watches his every move. 

Once the nest is ready, the female comes to inspect the nest.  If it is not to a suitable standard she will destroy the whole nest whilst the male looks on in bewilderment.  He must then start all over again, building a new one, and to a better standard than the previous one.

Sound familiar?