Denham's Bustard - Behavior

Behavior

Denham's Bustard are often solitary outside of the mating season, although they congregate at large food sources and temporarily band together for migratory movements. Migration is usually in search of food sources and follows passages of rain. 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.

Like all bustards, the male Denham's Bustard performs a courtship display to attract the attention on females, on what is called a lek. During his display, the male puffs up his head and chest and flairs his tail, thus appearing larger, and calls loudly while he struts about. Breeding occurs over varied times of the year, being especially indefined in East Africa. Breeding may brought on by presence of rainfall. The nest consists of a shallow scrape, in which the female lays one or two eggs, which (if they survive) she will raise alone.

Read more about this topic:  Denham's Bustard

Famous quotes containing the word behavior:

    “The ease with which problems are understood and solved on paper, in books and magazine articles, is never matched by the reality of the mother’s experience. . . . Her child’s behavior often does not follow the storybook version. Her own feelings don’t match the way she has been told she ought to feel. . . . There is something wrong with either her child or her, she thinks. Either way, she accepts the blame and guilt.”
    —Elaine Heffner (20th century)

    “There is a striking dichotomy between the behavior of many women in their lives at work and in their lives as mothers. Many of the same women who are battling stereotypes on the job, who are up against unspoken assumptions about the roles of men and women, seem to accept—and in their acceptance seem to reinforce—these roles at home with both their sons and their daughters.”
    —Ellen Lewis (20th century)

    “The type of fig leaf which each culture employs to cover its social taboos offers a twofold description of its morality. It reveals that certain unacknowledged behavior exists and it suggests the form that such behavior takes.”
    —Freda Adler (b. 1934)