THE DISTRACTION BEHAVIOUR OF A FEMALE KORI BUSTARD Ardeotis kori

摘要

The Kori Bustard Ardeotis kori is a large, mainly ground-dwelling bird of eastern and southern Africa. Numerous accounts describe the sexual display of the male (Astley-Maberley, 1937; Hoesch, 1938; Urban et al. 1986; Heimlich, 1988). However, littlehas been written about the incubation by the female and the behaviours associated with incubation. This is likely due to the secretive nature of the female during the incubation period. Only the female Kori Bustard incubates the eggs and rears the chicks. Like other bustards, female Kori Bustards lay their eggs on the ground in a shallow scrape. Nests are usually partly hidden by tall grass, small trees or bushes (Mwangi, 1988; Maozeka, 1993; Osborne & Osborne, 2002) and are near a natural feature suchas a bush (Osborne et al. 1984) or rocks (Maozeka, 1993). Usually the first sign that a female has bred, is that she is accompanied by chicks. Because females are well camouflaged and are inconspicuous during the incubation period, it is not surprising that a thorough description of distraction behaviour has not been documented for this species.