#numida

Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), family Numididae, order Galliformes, Nairobi National Park, Kenya

A helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) on watch in Kruger National Park, South Africa

@south-africa-official! the guineaflings, they live!

they now have a little routine of coming through my house, taking advantage of my dog's water bowl, cooler temperatures inside, & the shade on the deck. my dog just lays there sleeping on the cold tile floor, she could not care less, while the parents coo & the keets walk a little more warily past her (same goes when we walk by them resting in the bushes).

i've also never seen birds so small & so young jump so high! i watched them just vertically spring up the tall pines, up to where their parents were settling in for the night roost.

By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0 

Etymology: From Numidia

First Described By: Linnaeus, 1764

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Galloanserae, Pangalliformes, Galliformes, Phasiani, Numididae

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Numida has been known since about 2.6 million years ago, in the Piacenzian of the Pliocene of the Neogene, through today 

The Helmeted Guineafowl is known from across sub-Saharan Africa 

Physical Description: The Helmeted Guineafowl is an exceptionally distinctive bird, with a very round, large body, and a small but visually appealing head. They range from 53 to 63 centimeters in length, with the females slightly smaller than the males in terms of size, but otherwise identical in color. Their bodies are dark brown to black, with distinctive rows of white spots across all parts of it; they have long grey legs, with large flat feet. They have tiny heads with different colors, depending on the subspecies - the West African population has a white head, with a red wattle under the chin; the Saharan population has a blue head with a red patch on the top of the head; Reichenow’s population has red patches on the top and the bottom but also a blue head; and similar patterns can be seen on the Tufted population. All of these birds have an orange to brown crest on the top of the head, leading to its common name of Helmeted. The young start out brown and yellow striped, with a little brown patch on the top of the head; they begin to turn into a dull dark brown as teenagers, before transitioning into adult plumage. 

By Roland Hunziker, CC BY-SA 2.0 

Diet: The Helmeted Guineafowl is a true omnivore, feeding on a variety of seeds, tubers, bulbs, roots, berries, flowers, insects, snails, ticks, worms, and millipedes. Though they eat more plants than animals, it seems that is mainly due to relative abundance.

Behavior: The Helmeted Guineafowl is an extremely social bird, forming flocks of about 25 birds that spend all their time together - foraging and nesting; sometimes these flocks can even grow up to 100 individuals. They don’t fly often, but rather run about from place to place. They forage on the ground, scratching with their feet to dig up available food. These flocks are extremely complex, with the highest ranking males fighting to organize the flock’s daily activities, and the two highest ranking males will work together to fight off intruders into the habitat. Breeding females usually associated mainly with the high ranking males, especially the highest; leaving lower ranking males to lead the flock during this time when the higher ranking males help with rearing the chicks. 

By Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0 

These birds begin breeding right after it rains or during the rainy season, which varies across its range. They are monogamous for the mating season only; these pairs are not maintained after the year is up. Early on in the season, even, the males will try to mate with multiple females. The nests are scrapes in the ground, made by the females and lined with grass and feathers - usually these scrapes are made in areas with long grass and hidden under brush. Six to twelve eggs are laid on successive days; sometimes more than one female will lay in a single nest, leading to up to fifty eggs. These eggs are usually yellowish to pale brown, with dark specking. The eggs are incubated by the females for about a month; the male then takes over in brooding the chicks the first two weeks after hatching. They can then fly poorly at two weeks; they fully fledge at a month; and they reach adult size after thirty weeks. The females are sexually mature at around that time. The family groups rejoin the larger flock when the chicks are about one to three months of age. Most of the chicks die, especially in cold weather. 

By Snowmanradio, CC BY-SA 2.0 

The Helmeted Guineafowl makes loud, cackling calls with a variety of intensities, including at roosts; they contact each other with more metallic clanking and far-carrying cheer-ing. The females will make nasal “ka-bak” calls that can increase in pitch to call to males. They don’t migrate, but rather, stay within one territory for their whole lives within their flocks. They do move to find sources of drinking water, as well as roosting sites.

Ecosystem: The Helmeted Guineafowl can be found all over the place, from the edges of forests, to the savanna, to thorn scrub, to steppe, to subdesert, to woodlands. They are especially common in the savanna. They are generally limited by the availability of drinking water and suitable nesting sites in trees and bushes. They are found occasionally in human-cultivated areas, even suburbs. They are usually found below 3000 meters high in elevation, and can be found in very large numbers around watering holes. 

By Bernard DuPont, CC BY-SA 2.0 

Other: The Helmeted Guineafowl is not, on the whole, threatened; there may be up to a million of these birds all over Africa. That being said, plenty of populations are more threatened than others, especially due to hunting and egg collecting. At least a few populations are more threatened than others. They have also been introduced to the Americas, specifically to aid in controlling Lyme Disease due to their propensity for feeding on ticks. These birds are often domesticated by people and served for their meat and eggs.

~ By Meig Dickson

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