Kroonkiewiet
Vanellus Coronatus
The Crowned Lapwing occurs in large areas of our Southern Africa and moved into our cities where they have annexed about every park they can find. They love short grassy areas and together with tons of water and food parks and recreational areas provide a perfect home for them. However I am not so sure that everybody is great fans of these rather innocent looking birds for when they are breeding (August - December) they will vehemently defend their eggs and chicks by dive bombing the intruder, being a dog or human being.
This bird was photographed in the Pretoria Botanical Gardens where Crowned Plovers are very common.
When disturbed they will crouch in this unusual manner.
This is an example of a typical nest - a small scrape in the ground with a few pebbles, or in this case, the droppings of a Scrub-hare, lining the nest. Even though the nest is right in the open (see photo below) it is not easy to see.
The circle indicate the location of the nest depicted in the previous photo.
1 comment:
Hi Ernst, this is an amazing addition to your blog, well done on the idea. I'll still get to write that book that we spoke about a few months back!!!
Trish
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