HELMETED GUINEAFOWL

Numida meleagris
iMpangele (Zulu) Gewone Tarentaal (Afrikaans)

HABITAT
Found from the mountains of the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park to the sea in KwaZulu-Natal it inhabits a variety of habitats like open grassland, vleis, savannah, cultivated lands and bushveld.

TYPE
A large grey chicken-like bird normally seen in resident flocks that may number up to two hundred. The grey colouration is finely flecked with white. The head is small, naked, blue and red with a conspicuous horny casque on top.

FOOD
Guineafowl forage in flocks, scratching with bill and feet for seeds and insects and other items of food. This food includes bulbs, tubers, berries, insects, snails, ticks, millipedes and fallen grain natural or commercial. The chicks feed almost exclusively on insects for the first few weeks of their lives which makes them very vulnerable to pesticides.

BREEDING
Helmeted Guineafowl pair-up and nest from October to April in a nest which consists of a scrape in the ground lined with grass. Eggs, which are creamy white to yellow brown in colour, can number six to ninteen.

STATUS
A very common resident.