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Orange-throated longclaw/ Cape longclaw

Macronyx capensis

Habitat:

Endemic to southern Africa, occurring in two separate areas: Zimbabwe and adjacent Mozambique as well as South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (absent from the karoo and Kalahari). It generally prefers moist short grassland and fynbos, also occupying pastures and the edges of vleis.

Notes:

Food It mainly eats insects supplemented with seeds, doing most of its foraging on the ground, plucking food from vegetation and hawking prey aerially. The following food items have been recorded in its diet: Insects Coleoptera (beetles) termite alates grasshoppers (Orthoptera) Seeds Breeding Monogamous territorial solitary nester, with males performing displays in which they flutter to about 10 metres above ground while singing, before dropping down again. The nest (see image below) is built solely by the female, consisting of a deep cup of coarse grass stems lined with fine rootlets, typically well concealed between two grass tufts. Egg-laying season is almost year-round, peaking from August-October in the Western Cape, but from November-January elsewhere. It lays 1-4 eggs, which are mainly incubated by the female for about 13-14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest after approximately 13-14 days.

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staccyh
Spotted by
staccyh

Mogale City Local Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa

Spotted on Dec 22, 2013
Submitted on Dec 22, 2013

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