What to Know About the Denham`s Bustard in Uganda?

Denham’s Bustard Previously known as Stanley’s bustard. The question everyone asks is “Why ‘Bustard’”?

By pronunciation it’s the same as” bastard” but with a different spelling and meaning. “Bustard” is a name adopted from the French name “bistard”, itself derived from the Latin avis tarda and meaning ‘slow bird’ referring to their deliberate gait.

The common names for this species refer to the English explorer, Major Dixon Denham, and the English naturalist Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. It is the second heaviest flying bird, after the Kori Bustard.

Denham’s bustard is the largest species in the Neotis genus, although is smaller than the bustards in the Ardeotis genus as well as the great bustard.

The male is 9 to 10 kg and 100–116 cm, the female is much smaller at 3 to 4 kg and 80–87 cm.

How Does the Denham`s Bustard in Uganda Look Like?

The back is brown, darker and plainer in the male, and the underparts are white. The neck is pale grey with an orange nape.

Its grey crown is bordered with black, and a black line runs through the eye with a white line forming an eyebrow above.

The long legs are pale yellow. The wings are strikingly patterned in brown, white and black, the male showing whiter in flight than the female or young birds.

The long legs are yellowish in color and the bill is whitish horn in color

The bustard species lacks the hind toe meaning they cannot perch. They also lack the preen gland, a type of oil gland found in birds; relying rather on powder-down for plumage maintenance.

It is a species of open ground, including agricultural land, grassland, flood-plains and burnt fynbos.

How Does the Denham`s Bustard in Uganda Feed?

This species is omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of foods as it becomes available to them. Among the diverse foods recorded in the species are insects, small snakes, rodents, the nestlings of other birds and various green plant life.

They will sometimes follow ungulate species in order to pick dung beetles out of their droppings.

How Does the Denham’s Bustard in Uganda Breed?

It can be amazing for us and visitors to witness delicate and intricate courtship rituals, but it is important that those rituals are not to be disturbed.

Attracting mates is a demanding process, and any disruption could harm a pair-bond and cause the birds to abandon their efforts; ultimately choosing less suitable mates or not mating at all.

Males form a ‘Lek’ or an area for displaying. They display at regularly used sites. In its Balloon display which is usually given from prominent hillside, mainly in natural vegetation, sometimes in ploughed fields or cultivated pastures, the male inflates the neck and erects the concealed white neck and breast plumes.

Feathers are mantle-fanned to form a broad chestnut panel, the head retracted and bill raised, wings are dropped and may remain puffed out for 1 hour.

It stands, walks slowly and sometimes struts while displaying; intensity of the display varies. At climax of display, it turns the brightly colored mantle towards the female with the white neck visible more than 2 km away.

The male displays intermittently throughout the day, but mainly early morning and late afternoon. In 1800 hectares, 5 displaying males, spaced 700 – 2000 meters apart, each occupying circa 60 hectares with 9 females (at least 2 breading females) are also present. 3-4 male display simultaneously to 1 female.

How Does the Denham’s Bustard in Uganda Reproduce?

Egg-laying season is from September-December.  It lays 1-2 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for 23-25 days.

She usually incubates for 82% of the day, only leaving the nest if she needs to feed.  The chicks are cared for by their mother, who will catch food and put into in front of the chicks, although later they start foraging for themselves.