Southern Crested Guineafowl

Guttera edouardi

Southern Crested Guineafowl are found in northeastern South Africa and southern Zimbabwe north to Mozambique, southern Zambia, Malawi, and southern Tanzania. Their preferred habitat is forest edges. Generally, they are found in dense thickets. In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, they are generally absent or less common in smaller patches of forest.

Modern science recognizes two subspecies.

• G. e. Barbata lives in Southeastern Tanzania south to northeastern Mozambique and west to Malawi.
• G. e. Edouardi lives in Southeastern Zambia, northeastern Namibia and northwestern Zimbabwe. They are also found in southern Malawi and Mozambique south to northeastern South Africa south to KwaZulu-Natal.

These birds mainly forage on the ground using their feet to scratch in leaf-litter and debris and will at times perch above ground in trees where it eats fruits and berries. They usually forage most intensively at first light. They will also follow troops of Vervet monkeys, feeding on fruits that they drop. Outside the breeding period, they often occur in flocks of 10‒30 individuals, occasionally up to 50. But they are also seen in small groups (e.g., family parties), in pairs, or as singles.

I met these birds under the canopy of enormous trees near the northern limit of South Africa’s Kruger National Park near the border with Mozambique.