White-quilled Bustard Afrotis afraoides Scientific name definitions

The White-quilled Bustard was formerly considered conspecific with the Black Bustard (Afrotis afra), and these two similar species are separated into the genus Afrotis by some authorities (e.g., 1 Dickinson, E. C., and J. V. Remsen Jr., Editors (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Fourth edition. Volume 1. Aves Press, Eastbourne, UK. Close ). The two species also hybridize in the Great Fish River valley. Unlike the Black Bustard, which is restricted to the Western and Eastern Cape of South Africa, the White-quilled Bustard occurs further north, over much of Namibia (except its arid westernmost part) and Botswana, as well as across central and north-central South Africa and western Lesotho; the latter has perhaps been colonized relatively recently. The species is principally found in Nama Karoo, Kalahari sandveld, dry grassland, open savanna, and grass dunes, and it apparently nests year-round, although there is a degree of concentrated breeding activity in the austral spring and summer. This apparently highly sedentary species is sexually dimorphic: the male has a largely black head and underparts (including the underwing), a white patch on the cheek, a white collar and band on the wing, and the upperparts appear a mix of golden-brown, gray, and darker brown; females lack the white cheek patch and collar, and have black confined to the belly and posterior underparts, but the upperparts are basically like those of males.