The Drabardi Donkey

Kraal

The flightless bird of Drabardi. It belongs to the Ratites, and the base form of it looks much like its australian cousin, the cassovary. It is most commonly found on the open grasslands as well as the forests, but have been seen to venture up on the mountain meadows as well on occation. It is thought that the birds name come from the way the nest is built, and come from the Afrikaans/Dutch word that means enclosure.

Physical characteristics

Adult Kraals have an average weight of about 20-27 kg, usually stand about 1.5 m tall and often measure 127-140 cm long from beak to tail. The males are generally bigger than the females. A Kraal have a fluffy, somewhat tattered-looking plumage, in gray or brown, with high individual variation, but in general, males are darker than females. Leucistic individuals (with white body plumage and blue eyes) as well as albinos does occur from time to time. The kraal do not have tail feathers. Even if they are flightless, they have nonfunctional wings that each have a small claw at the tip, similar to the Hoatzin. Sometimes they flap their wings when running, and it is thought to be a means of stabilising themselves when moving fast. It's legs are devoid of feathers and underneath its feet are thick, cushioned pads. They have three toes with sharp claws and these are it's major defensive attribute. They can run as fast as 50 km/h and jump up to 1.5 m.

Both sexes of kraal possess 'ornamental elements' on the birds head and neck such as caruncles (looks like fleshy bumps), wattles (flappy skin) and snoods (similar to a turkey) but they are more pronounced in the male. Normally these fleshy 'ornaments' are pale, but when the male becomes excited or during courtship, the ornamental elements get filled with blood, become bright colored red, blue, yellow or white and enlarged. To have large and colorful bright ornamental elements indicates high levels of testosterone, that they are well-fed and healthy, able to escape predators therefore showing off their excellent genes.

Biology and behavior

Kraals are diurnal (dayactive), but may also be active on moonlit nights. They are most active early and late in the day. They spend their day foraging, preening their plumage with their beak, dust bathing and resting. They forage for a variety of plants including shoots and grass seeds, in addition to fungi, invertebrates, and small vertebrates as well as insects, but have been known to go for weeks without eating.

The vocalisations of kraals mostly consist of various booming and grunting sounds. Males typically boom in defence of their territory and harem of 2-7 female. The successful male may then mate with several other females in the area, but will only form a pair bond with a one female. The eggs that are greyish white or soft blue, are laid in a communal nest with low 'walls' built with mud or stones, and are under the incubation cared for by the 'top female'. Usually the top female eggs are in the center of the nest with the less dominate female eggs on the outside near the edge of the nest, possibly as sacrifical eggs in case of nestrobbers. The eggs hatch after around eight weeks, the newly hatched chicks are active and can leave the nest within a few days. They have distinctive brown and cream stripes for camouflage, which fade after about 3 months and the chicks reach full size after around six months. They can remain as a family unit until the next breeding season.

Normally the kraal spend the winter months in pairs or alone. During breeding season and sometimes during extreme rainless periods ostriches live in nomadic groups of 5-20 birds (led by a top female) that often travel together with other grazing animals, such as donkeys or even domesticated animals such as cattle or sheep.

Drabardi Paradise Duck

Just as colorful and with almost as elaborate feathers as the bird of paradise, adding in the special fleshy 'ornaments' called caruncles making it look much like a muscovy duck, to who this type of duck is believed to be related. It is most commonly found in the southern parts of the island where it live in either rivers or other larger collection of water.

Physical characteristics

The male have on his head a mass of fleshy ornaments, the female not as large or as much on her head. The bill is blueblack with the tip of it a lemony yellow. A dark red knob can be seen at the bill base, and the fleshy ornaments of the face is similar to that in color, often becoming more red when the male court the female or get excited. The eyes are golden yellowbrown. On the male the most striking feathers must be the golden feathers on the lower part of its chest in combination with the spotted upper chest over the dark irridesent bottom. The legs and webbed feet are bright blue and they are together with the males colorful plumage used to woo the female that are more bland looking, similar to a mallard female. It has long claws on their feet and a wide flat tail. The Drabardi paradise ducklings are mostly yellow with some buff-brown markings on the tail and wings. The juveniles lack the distinctive wattles that the adult individuals have, and rather look like the offspring of various other ducks such as mallards, the only thing that make it differ is that its larger.

Biology and behavior

The Drabardi paradise duck does not form stable pairs, instead forming new ones each breeding season. After a quite intense courtship the female lays a clutch of about 8-16 white or bluetinted eggs, usually in a tree hole or a hollow, where the eggs are incubated for about 35 days, the male wont help with this part. The sitting female will only leave the nest to drink, eat and sometimes bathe, once every day. After the ducklings have hatched the Drabardi paradise duck male will walk with the young during their normal travels in search for food, providing protection.The drake of a Drabardi paradise duck has a low breathy call, while the hen have a more quiet trilling 'coo'.

Columba

The Columba or the Drabardi Pigeon can be found all over the island. The preferred habitat is open grassland plains, clumped grasses and small shrubs with open spaces.

Physical characteristics

The bird is often seen on the ground, where it runs with a somewhat waddling gait. Flight is direct and swift. The wings can make a whistling "frrr" noise when flying. Just like the Paradise Duck and the Kraal it has facial ornaments (both sexes) but they are with the Columba reduced to only have small darkred wattles at either side of the birds mouth. It is has short legs, short beaks with a fleshy base, and small heads on rather large, compact bodies. The males chest are colored a warm earthy brown, the back of the head and topside of the body is of a darkbrown almost black color. Iridescent bars of blue/green can be seen across the inner secondary feather of each wing . The back of the neck have a stripe of white and patch of shimmering gold. The head fades to a creamy-white colour. Its eyes a light turqoise. Legs are of a medium brown color.The female usually a more rufous-brown version of the male. Immature birds have duller colours, lack the white facemark and has no iridescent bands on the wings.

Biology and behavior

Seeds of grasses, herbs and shrubs form the major component of the birds diet, even if it can also feed on fruit. It searches foraging primarily on the ground singly or in pairs. The search can sometimes last for days. The pigeon must drink frequently, and utilizes watering holes or any other available source of water at dawn or dusk, approaching cautiously after landing a short distance away. Breeding occurs throughout the year with highest levels during spring and summer, coinciding with peak rainfall periods and increased supply of food. When males are displaying mating, bowing occurs with a soft, trilling coo. The nest is not much more than a scrape in the ground, lined with grass and twigs, usually between the shelter of clumps of grass or shrubs. In the nest the columba female lay a clutch of only one or two eggs that are sandy colored with speckled. Both parents share the responsibility of caring for the young. The young bird leave the nest after about 14 days. These birds, like some other pigeons will produce something called "crop milk" that they will feed to their young. These birds are rarely seen in flocking formation, preferring to move singly, in pairs or small family groups; the largest recorded gathering was a group of eight birds. Calls of the columba are a distinctive and melodious 'coo-a-woo' or 'coolicoo'.

Harakka

The Harakka or the Drabardi magpie is one of the most intelligent birds of the island.

Physical characteristics

It has the typical bodyshape of a corvid. The head, neck and breast goes from a very pale to a medium brown; the belly are a glossy black with a metallic green and violet sheen. On its head it has long, pale feathers that form a shaggy, manelike crest. Around its eye it has a patch of black feathers. The shoulder feathers are white; the rest of the wings are a glossy golden yellow with bluepurple band. The graduated tail is a glossed yellowgreen. The legs are greyish black; the iris is mostly red with a yellow inner circle, tail feathers of both sexes are quite long. The bill of the bird is half black with the outer part is a medium orange. The plumage of the sexes is similar but females are slightly smaller. Immature birds have red brownish eyes until around two years of age and it is at this time they also develop the crest. Both sexes look like eachother

Biology and behavior

The Harakka is almost exclusively diurnal (day active), it is omnivorous, with the much of its varied diet made up of invertebrates. They use their bills to probe into the earth or otherwise overturn debris in search of food.It has an array of complex vocalisations and the bird can mimic many different species of other bird species, as well as other types of animals. The nest is a bowl-shaped structure made of sticks and lined with softer material such as grass and bark. Here a clutch of two to five light blue or greenish eggs are laid. When the nestlings are hatched they are fed exclusively by the female, though the male will feed his partner