Denham's Bustard Neotis denhami Scientific name definitions

Male 100 cm, 9000–10,000 g; female 80 cm, 3000 g. Upperparts  dull brown with fine black vermiculations, tail  with several creamy bars; large panel on folded wing  mottled white on black; crown grey bordered black, long white supercilium , black line through eye  , chin white, cheeks, neck and breast grey, hindneck orange-brown, belly white; legs pale yellow, bill whitish horn with darker culmen and tip. Female smaller than male , with grey replaced by buff; more patterned upperparts and a finely barred foreneck. Immature similar to female; immature male generally rather variable, with neck almost black in form “burchellii”. Race <em>jacksoni</em> slightly smaller, darker on hindneck (intermediates in SE Sudan); race <em>stanleyi</em> darker and more richly coloured on hindneck , paler on back, with foreneck white in breeding male.

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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.

Grasslands including high plateau downland up to 3000 m, grassy Acacia-studded dunes, fairly dense shrubland, light woodland , farmland and crops, dried marsh and arid scrub plains; also grass-covered ironstone pans and burnt savanna woodland in NW Sierra Leone. In South Africa, a bird of high rainfall sour grassveld, and planted pastures and cereal croplands in fynbos, favouring natural vegetation in the breeding season and harvested cereal crop fields at other times.

Nominate denhami migrates N generally in May–Jun but as late as Aug; returns Sept–Oct or as late as Dec, following rains and usually, or at least sometimes, then breeding (but not in Senegal); only present in S Niger and Ivory Coast in dry season, but considered sedentary in Central African Republic. Movements of race jacksoni also unclear, but present May–Oct in SE Zaire, and Aug–May (mostly Dec–Apr) in Zimbabwe and Botswana, suggesting a N-S shift, though also present Aug–Jan in E Zaire; montane populations in E may move lower, Jun–Aug; records from S Congo and W Zaire are all of non-breeding birds. Race <em>stanleyi</em> also shows movements to lower regions in period Jun–Aug, with an apparently immigrant summer breeding population in coastal Zululand, South Africa, from Sept onwards.

Wide range of foods recorded, including many different arthropods (in places nymphal stages of invasive Orthoptera), small vertebrates and various parts of plants including flowerheads. Recorded defending active termite mound, pecking at animal droppings for arthropods, wading in pools apparently for frogs on emergent stems, and gathering in small numbers on recently burnt areas.

Mostly silent. Known to give a guttural, barking 'khha khha' call (7 Mackworth-Praed, C. W., and C. H. B. Grant (1962). African Handbook of Birds. Series Two. Birds of the Southern Third of Africa. Volume 1. Longman, London, UK. Close , 8 Borrow, N., and R. Demey (2001). Birds of Western Africa. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Displaying male emits a deep booming sound (9 Sinclair, I., P. Hockey, W. Tarboton, and P. Ryan (2011). Birds of Southern Africa. Fourth edition. Struik Nature, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ).

Breeding schedule unclear in many areas, possibly reflecting opportunism based on rainfall; Jun–Oct in Sahel; nuptial display in Jan in Sierra Leone, Feb–Mar (dry season) in Ivory Coast; May in Nigeria; Dec–Feb in N Zaire, but in S Zaire nuptial display in Jun (dry season); Jan–Mar and Jul in E Africa; chiefly Oct–Jan (Aug–Apr) in C & S Africa. Nest is a shallow scrape on bare ground, usually amidst grass or on low prominence. Eggs 1–2; chick has buff down mottled and striped black.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. CITES II. Global population is unknown but thought to be undergoing moderately rapid global population decline owing to hunting pressure and conversion of grassland habitat for agriculture. It is common in the Central African Republic and parts of Chad and  Uganda , but has declined in the north of its range in Sudan, and hunting is widespread in the Sahel zone. A notable decline in numbers in Nigeria is due to hunting and trapping. The population in Zambia remains sizable and apparently healthy (10 Dowsett, R. J., D. R. Aspinwall, and F. Dowsett-Lemaire (2008). The Birds of Zambia. Tauraco Press & Aves, Liège, Belgium. Close ). Threatened in Kenya, a former stronghold, where range contraction is well documented and the population may be as low as 300–400 birds; also in South Africa , where total Transvaal breeding population only numbers c. 300 birds, and S Cape Province winter population an estimated 956 birds; in both countries the decline is related to competition with man for land. Collisions with powerlines may also be a significant problem locally, for example in the Western Cape, South Africa (11 Shaw, J. M., A. R. Jenkins, P. G. Ryan, and J. J. Smallie (2010). A preliminary survey of avian mortality on power lines in the Overberg, South Africa. Ostrich 81(2):109–113. Close ).