MABIRA BANSHEE

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James Chapin, author of The Birds of the Belgian Congo, first heard it in 1910, in north-east Congo: a low-pitched, mournful hooting, with the pure quality of a tuning fork, issuing at night from dense vegetation bordering village clearings in the forest. Each note started faintly, became very loud and then ceased abruptly after 3-5 seconds. Chapin's African companions disagreed about what creature made this call, which has been variously attributed to a large snail, a skink, a tortoise, the puff adder and other snakes, a mammal, a nocturnal bird of prey, and a chameleon mourning for his mother whom he has killed in an argument over some mushrooms.

Only some years later did Chapin establish that the mysterious call was made by the Buff-spotted Flufftail Sarothrura elegans. In Uganda the hooting was known as the voice of the Mabira Banshee, named after the Mabira Forest, and in a 1948 Audubon Magazine article Chapin gave an entertaining account of the legends relating to the call.

Until recently very little was known about the Buff-spotted Flufftail, and watching these birds has always been regarded as extremely difficult. However by using taped playback, providing food and water for breeding birds, and using decoy models, observation becomes relatively easy. This article summarizes some of my research on this species, especially a two-year study of breeding birds in the garden of the Clowes family at Scotston farm, Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal.

Although Buff-spotted Flufftails are unaffected by people in a hide, they may not behave normally if an observer sits unconcealed - unlike the White-spotted Flufftails S. pulchra which I studied for four years in Kakamega Forest, Kenya. I never used a hide to watch them, and one pair would bring their chicks to forage around my feet as I sat by their stream - but that is another story.

At Scotston we provided the Buff-spotted Flufftails with water and an almost unlimited supply of mealworms. When two breeding pairs were under continuous observation, the garden sometimes held about 15 flufftails and their consumption of mealworms exceeded 1000 a day, which frequently stretched our mealworm-breeding capacity to the limit. To allow easy identification of individuals for our studies of breeding and behaviour, we colour-ringed all the birds which nested in the garden, plus all the young which they hatched during both seasons, as well as almost all the birds which appeared temporarily in the garden while seeking a breeding site or undergoing post-breeding dispersal.

It may seem strange that this secretive forest bird also occurs in farm and suburban gardens but it can adapt to a very broad range of forested and densely bushed habitats. It occurs widely through sub-Saharan Africa from Guinea and Sierra Leone east to southern Ethiopia and Sudan, and south through Central Africa to South Africa. It is generally absent from low-rainfall regions and is localized and often uncommon over much of its range, being most widespread from Zambia and Malawi south to eastern South Africa. In KwaZulu-Natal I have found it to be more common than anywhere else in its range.

This species is entirely diurnal and crepuscular, except for males which call at night and birds which disperse or migrate at night. It favours clearings and disturbed or secondary growth in forested areas and it occurs widely outside forest in dense evergreen and deciduous thickets. It also frequents neglected cultivation and other overgrown areas, and it occurs in gardens with dense areas of azalea, privet and other exotic shrubs. As well as having dense woody cover, suitable habitat characteristically includes a foraging substrate of leaf litter or soft soil, and dense, low ground vegetation in which the nest is often situated.

Its principal food is macro-invertebrates, which are as abundant on substrates below exotic vegetation as on those below indigenous plants. It eats earthworms, snails, amphipods, woodlice, millipedes, ants, termites, grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, beetles, bugs, moths and flies. Grass seeds are eaten occasionally and hard seeds of trees such as bugweed Solanum mauritianum and pigeonwood Trema orientalis are frequently taken, probably to assist in grinding food in the gizzard. The birds forage in leaf litter, short grass, dense ground vegetation and, in gardens, in the soft soil of flower beds and herbaceous borders. They also readily take prey from mud and shallow water.

Over much of its range this flufftail is not typically associated with water but in South Africa it frequently occurs at small streams, having expanded its foraging niche to include this habitat which, in tropical forest areas, is occupied by the White-spotted Flufftail. Streamside habitat becomes important in the dry season, when normal foraging areas often become dry. A male was once even seen in May foraging in shallowly flooded reedbeds within a Red-chested Flufftail S. rufa territory, some way from its own forest habitat.

Although the Buff-spotted Flufftail is generally regarded as resident, throughout its range there are numerous records indicative of long-distance movements or vagrancy, including birds found in desert areas such as Lake Turkana, Kenya, and the Wagar Mountains, Somalia, and also in arid areas of Namibia. In KwaZulu-Natal I found evidence for regular altitudinal and coastal movements, possibly over long distances and involving more first-year birds than adults. In habitats such as deciduous or exotic thickets this flufftail may occur only in the rainy season, when sufficient food and cover are available. In KwaZulu-Natal almost all records at an altitude higher than 950 metres occur in September-April and at only one upland site, a farm at 1 570 metres, did I find birds throughout the year. As well as having woody evergreen plants and a permanent stream with good ground cover, this farm garden was watered with sprinklers throughout the year, which produced permanently damp ground and leaf litter.

Buff-spotted Flufftails are paired throughout the breeding season and, when sedentary, possibly throughout the year. They are strongly territorial when breeding, and both sexes take an active part in territory defence. Males normally attack any conspecific intruder; however they will also court and try to mate with other females - but only when their own mate is not around. Females normally attack only other females. Non-sedentary males set up temporary territories during the non-breeding season, when most females are very unobtrusive and difficult to observe. Adults with young will threaten any potential predator, from a rat to a human, with a display in which the wings are opened, held above the back and tilted so that their upper surface faces forwards. The bird walks around giving 'chek' calls and then rushes forward, sometimes striking the intruder with wings or bill.

The courting male assumes an upright posture with the neck and head plumage roused and the tail wagged from side to side. He then struts or runs to the female. If she walks away the male follows and the display may develop into a courtship chase; if she stops and crouches to the ground, the male mounts and copulates, pecking gently at her head and neck and wagging his tail. After copulation the birds may stand close together for a short time. During courtship the male often gives a loud 'ooooo-eeeee' call, and at the start of the breeding season this call may be given periodically all day, sometimes continuously for long periods, to attract the female.

The nest is built by the male, usually in an area shaded by tall trees or within clumps of bushes. It is placed on the ground and is usually well hidden in dense ground vegetation or under leaves of large plants. Most nests are domed, with an entrance hole at one end, and are built of the most readily available materials, including dead leaves, grass, moss, twigs, roots and bark. In dense ground cover the nest is approached by way of a tunnel through the vegetation. It is normally difficult to observe nest building, but one obliging male at Scotston built a nest in ground creepers only a metre from the lounge window; during his three days' work he was filmed, and was watched by many people from the window.

Incubation takes 15-16 days; the male incubates during the day, the female at night. The black downy chicks leave the nest after two days and are cared for by both parents. Chicks beg by crouching or standing, sometimes with wing-flapping, and giving 'zeek' calls; they also stand behind the parent, push the head and body forwards between the parent's legs, and stretch the neck up to take food from the parent's bill; when doing this, large chicks may raise the parent off the ground or cause it to overbalance. Chicks jump well and run strongly from 3-4 days; they bathe regularly from 10 days, and climb in bushes from 15 days. They are almost fully feathered, and can just fly, at independence (19-21 days), when they are driven off by the parents, which often re-nest immediately. Full juvenile plumage, which is predominantly pale grey-brown, is attained at 27-32 days and young are fully grown at six weeks. Post-juvenile moult to adult-type plumage may begin at three weeks of age.

Chicks are vulnerable to mammalian predators such as rats, cats and mongooses and, when young, are also vulnerable to bad weather. At Scotston one brood of four appeared the day after hatching, the nest having been disturbed by a predator. That night it rained heavily and early the next morning three of the chicks, very wet and extremely weak, were found in a flowerbed where the family had roosted. After being dried, kept warm and given small mealworms, they recovered fully. They were taken into the garden, where their loud calls immediately attracted the female, which walked around agitatedly in cover until I placed the chicks on the ground, whereupon she immediately approached and led them into cover. The entire brood survived to independence.

Although the normal clutch size is 4-5, the mean size of broods observed during the study was two, so chick mortality is probably high. Of the nine clutches laid in the Scotston garden, one was destroyed by a predator and eight hatched successfully. The first two broods of the original pair in the first season were reared with little supplementary feeding and only two young from each of these broods of four and five survived to independence. However all chicks of the third brood, and all chicks of all broods hatched by both pairs in the second season, survived well beyond independence. This success was undoubtedly strongly influenced by the artificial food supply.

At Scotston each resident pair raised 3-4 broods between October and March, with an inter-clutch interval of only 30-40 (mean 36) days. This species probably suffers relatively high mortality because of its tendency to wide dispersal and movements, while chick mortality is also high. Its breeding strategy enables it to produce the maximum number of offspring in the shortest possible time. In contrast, the sedentary White-spotted Flufftail, which occupies more stable forest habitats, maintains a permanent territory, has a small clutch size (usually two), high breeding success, and apparently rears only one brood per year.

Dispersal of young was recorded from mid-December at Scotston, where birds moved away from the breeding territories when they were 6-10 weeks old. Nine unknown immatures were recorded in the garden, eight in January-February, the estimated ages of these birds on arrival (45-60 days) approximating to those of the garden-reared immatures when they finally left the area. Three birds which arrived simultaneously in February 1991 stayed for 8-32 days but all birds arriving in early 1992 stayed for only one day. In February 1991 the garden contained only one breeding pair of flufftails, which occupied less than half its area, so that the immigrants could easily avoid the territory holders, whereas in 1992 two breeding pairs occupied the entire garden.

Notwithstanding its generally interesting behaviour, it is the calling of this bird which is particularly fascinating. One obliging male, which once called for several nights from a small cotoneaster bush in the Scotston garden, was photographed with a camera set up 1.5 metres away. It was unaffected by the camera flash, the prolonged use of a torch for observation of its calling, and the quiet movements and talking of observers 2-3 metres away. It crouched on a small branch and when about to call it pointed its bill downwards, rose slightly from its crouch, inflated the entire neck and breast, and began the call, keeping its bill closed. The call increased in volume as the bird continued to swell. Between calls the bird deflated its neck and breast. A ventriloquial effect is often produced because the male turns his head slowly from side to side while calling, presumably to broadcast the sound more widely. The hoot is clearly audible for up to a kilometre through forest and up to 2.8 kilometres over open ground.

Examining fresh casualties I found that the oesophagus is enormously distensible to a point just above the syrinx at the base of the trachea and, when fully inflated, it became almost spherical, with a diameter of more than three centimetres. When inflated in life it presumably extends around the trachea to form a resonating chamber which increases the volume of the low-frequency hoot. The skin of the neck is very loose and is covered on its inner surface with a gelatinous layer 2-3 millimetres thick which extends to the base of the neck. It is not clear whether this layer has any effect on the production of the call, or whether it serves a lubricating or protective function when the neck region is inflated.

In KwaZulu-Natal 32 people participated in a survey of calling patterns, and from their detailed observations a model was built to investigate the influence of various factors on calling. The model indicated that birds tend to call more frequently during the evening and at night, in cool weather, and in cloudy conditions. Both drizzle and mist appear to stimulate calling, but rain discourages it. Calling at night has the advantage that there is normally less background noise and atmospheric turbulence to mask or distort the call. A possible advantage of calling in misty or cloudy weather is that increased humidity lessens the absorption of sound signals.

Males hoot when establishing a territory and to advertise for a mate. They usually stop hooting as soon as breeding commences, but if his mate is lost a male will immediately begin calling again to attract another. The male will also hoot when stimulated by the calls of an intruder or by prolonged taped playback. Newly arrived males make relatively feeble hoots and are easily intimidated by the stronger hoots of established birds, or by taped playback.

Fifty years ago Chapin predicted that in days to come, when people recognize the Banshee's call as the voice of a bird, some will listen to it with pleasure and others will complain that it disturbs their sleep. I frequently hear both opinions. For me it is one of the most evocative sounds of the African forest and, although the advance of knowledge has laid Uganda's Banshee to rest, the reality is infinitely more fascinating than the legend.

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03/14/04 22:30 GMT Uganda World Watch Advisory vacationtechnician.com

A ban on smoking in most public places took effect in Uganda March 12, 2004. Penalties in effect. Ugandan authorities imposed a smoking ban in all public places March 12. Smoking is prohibited in restaurants, educational institutions, bars and other places where people gather. Fines will range between USD 10-50.