Orange River Francolin Scleroptila gutturalis Scientific name definitions

c. 32–35 cm (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); male 340–538 g (2 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), female 379–450 g. Large rufous patch in wing is visible in flight. Sexes similar, but male has single, longer spur (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Irides brown, bill brownish black with yellowish base and legs  dull yellow (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile duller, barred below, lacks black collar. Races separated by intensity of ground colour and also of underparts markings: <em>gutturalis</em> is most distinct taxon, having undelineated white throat, rufous head and neck sides, chestnut-streaked greyish breast, becoming buff with black streaking over rest of underparts; lorti differs in having finer dark markings on rear underparts than gutturalis, but greyer flight feathers than S races; levalliantoides is highly variable race, being darkest in SE of range and palest in N and W, being extremely pale and sandy, with much-reduced chestnut markings on underparts in C Botswana; and jugularis has whitish underparts with very few chestnut flanks markings but a broad black-and-white breastband (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Occurs in wide range of grassland  and woodland habitats, ranging from boulder-strewn grassy mountain slopes with thorn scrub, through scrubby grassland to dry woodland. Recorded to 2500 m (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Sedentary, although local movements (c. 10 km) are strongly suspected in parts of South Africa, with birds moving to slightly higher ground during the wet season (4 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Notes on behavioural ecology of Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides on farmland in the Heidelberg district, Gauteng province, South Africa. Ostrich. 83(1): 55–58. Close ). Coveys generally live 200–400 m apart (5 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Vocal behaviour of Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides based on visual and sound-playback surveys. Ostrich. 83(3): 147–152. Close ).

Bulbs and corms, fallen seeds and fruits, and insects, such as bugs, grasshoppers and beetles. Recorded in parties of up to 10–12 birds (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close , 4 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Notes on behavioural ecology of Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides on farmland in the Heidelberg district, Gauteng province, South Africa. Ostrich. 83(1): 55–58. Close ).

Repertoire includes seven vocal and one mechanical sound (5 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Vocal behaviour of Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides based on visual and sound-playback surveys. Ostrich. 83(3): 147–152. Close ). Male’s advertising call is similar to that of S. shelleyi, but is faster with briefer pauses between notes and is a screeching “weecheele-weecheele-weecheele, pirrie-perrie”, repeated 3–6 times, to which female responds with a three-syllable call, and these two components are given as a duet by paired birds; young males in a covey can give the advertisement call in a chorus, while chicks give a “cheep” note in contact and adults a faint “kok, kok” when isolated from other covey members (or by a female to her young); in alarm, covey members give a squealing call when flushed, although this is not usually emitted by a solo individual taking flight, as well as a wing-whirring sound produced by the wings (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close , 5 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Vocal behaviour of Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides based on visual and sound-playback surveys. Ostrich. 83(3): 147–152. Close ).

Lays in Feb–May and Sept–Oct in Transvaal, but recorded in all months in S Africa (6 Tarboton, W. (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ); Jun in Namibia; Apr, Aug and Dec in Angola (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); Feb and Apr (7 Ash, J. S., and J. Atkins (2009). Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea: An Atlas of Distribution. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) in Ethiopia (race lorti); and May–Jun in Somalia (also race lorti) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Probably monogamous; territorial and usually observed in pairs during breeding season (2 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Nest is a slight hollow, c. 17 cm wide by 6·5 cm deep (6 Tarboton, W. (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ), under or between grass clumps, and lined with dry grass (6 Tarboton, W. (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ). Clutch 3–8 (usually 4–5) (6 Tarboton, W. (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ) pale pink to yellowish-brown eggs that are sometimes speckled brown (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); size 34·4–40·8 × 28–32 mm (race levalliantoides) or 40·9–41·8 × 30·6–31·8 mm (race lorti) (2 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); incubated 20–21 days (in captivity) by female alone; young (cared for by both sexes) capable of brief flights at 12–14 days, but fledging takes 5–6 weeks (6 Tarboton, W. (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ). Subadults eventually form their own coveys, comprising only birds of this age group, which remain together until the height of the following breeding season (4 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Notes on behavioural ecology of Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides on farmland in the Heidelberg district, Gauteng province, South Africa. Ostrich. 83(1): 55–58. Close ). Female may lay replacement clutch if first lost early in breeding cycle (6 Tarboton, W. (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Mace Lande: safe. Very widespread species occurring in suitable habitat throughout c. 997,000 km². Fairly common in S Ethiopia (race archeri), but is generally uncommon or even rare in N & NE Ethiopia, neighbouring Somalia and Eritrea (lorti and gutturalis) (8 Ash, J. S., and J. E. Miskell (1998). Birds of Somalia. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close , 7 Ash, J. S., and J. Atkins (2009). Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea: An Atlas of Distribution. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close , 9 Mills, M. S. L., and C. Cohen (2015). Birds of Somalia: new records, range extensions and observations from Somaliland. Scopus 34:31–39. Close ); formerly occurred in Djibouti; no recent information from Sudan (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Known from just one specimen (Oct 1973) (10 Turner, D.A., Zimmerman, D.A. and Pearson, D.J. (1991). Two previously undocumented first records for Kenya. Scopus 15(1): 44. Close ) and more recent sight records (Jan and Nov 1989) (11 Pearson, D.J. and Coverdale, M.A.C. (1991). Smith’s Francolin Francolinus levaillantoides and other distributional records from the Huri HiIls, northern Kenya. Scopus. 15(1): 44–46. Close ) in Kenya, with just three records in Uganda (and none since 1966) (12 Carswell, M., D. Pomeroy, J. Reynolds, and H. Tushabe (2005). The Bird Atlas of Uganda. British Ornithologists’ Club and British Ornithologists' Union, Oxford, UK. Close ). In South Africa only found in NW Cape Province, where probably numbers fewer than 500,000 individuals, and is thought to have declined during present century. In Namibia, numbers are stable and may be increasing, although has been suggested that range might have been over-estimated there (13 Dowsett, R. J., C. A. Brewster, and C. Hines (2011). Some bird distributional limits in the Upper Zambezi Valley. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 18(1):17–30. Close ). Possibly fairly common in Botswana; no recent information available from Angola but range is more restricted than previously thought, and no recent records from Lesotho. Occurs in Mudumu National Park (13 Dowsett, R. J., C. A. Brewster, and C. Hines (2011). Some bird distributional limits in the Upper Zambezi Valley. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 18(1):17–30. Close ), Etosha Game Reserve and Daan Viljoen protected area in Namibia, but probably does not occur in any such reserve in South Africa; status in protected areas elsewhere not known; in Namibia these areas afford excellent protection, although species is widely distributed outside such reserves, and is unlikely to require protected areas for long-term survival. Main pressures are on habitat, with conversion to agricultural land and degradation through overgrazing; recent studies in South Africa indicate that species can survive in areas modified by farming practices, provided adequate natural grassland exists outside of floodplains and wetlands, with such unimpacted areas being especially important for breeding (14 van Niekerk, J.H. (2012). Habitat use by Orange River Francolin Scleroptila levaillantoides on farmland in the Heidelberg district, Gauteng province, South Africa. Ostrich. 83(1): 43–49. Close ). Species may not be in need of immediate attention, but more detailed data on abundance and actual or potential threats required. Two other fields of investigation merit consideration: research to provide a basis for protection and management; and promotion of sustainable sport hunting as a way of raising profile of Galliformes in Namibia, and providing an economic incentive for habitat conservation.