HADEDA NUISANCE OR USEFUL?...

in #genealogy6 years ago

Wherever you go in Africa the screeching call of multiple Hadida, can be disturbing yet known by all, it is part of Africa,I often wondered about them, as the large pepper tree in my back garden, houses a number of them. They alert the dogs, and scare the cats!. This morning they woke me with their calls at the crack of dawn, flying in a big group over my house.

hadeda icon.png..

It is and Ibis, found in Sub Saharan Africa,
Their name comes for the the very loud of three to four notes uttered in flight, and especially in early morning and night as they return to their habitat.
They are not specifically dependent on water, but prefer to be in wetlands, and near to humans, where they can forage in cultivated land and gardens.
Hadeda is a medium sized bird with stout legs, and down curved bill, and a purple sheen.
They are non migrating, and return to their same habitat in the trees every day, except in cases of severe drought
In Africa their numbers are increasing as more trees are planted and due to irrigation of both domestic and cultivated land.
There are three subspecies in Africa, the Nominate form, found South of the Zambezi, paler and with a shorter bill. In Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan they are larger with larger bills.
To the west, from Senegal and Congo and Kenya they are darker brown and more brightly glossed.

Hadeda_Ibis, sub specie.jpg.
Hadeda is a large Ibis 76 cm long, grey to partly brown.Males and females are alike in Plumage, The extremely loud and distinctive haa- haa- haa- de -dah call is where the name Hadeda comes from. The call is a sign of being disturbed or when they communicate socially. While roosting a single loud Haaa can be heard, but when they are foraging their contact call is a low growl like a puppy!
They roost up in trees, an fly noisily out in the mornings, and back in the evenings,
Their diet consists of worms, Parktown Prawns, spiders lizards and garden snails. They are able to extract larvae of moths and beetles that destroy grass roots on golf and bowling greens and are welcomed .

-Hadeda_Ibis_Portrait.jpg

In Leseotho the call of the Hadeda is a sign of rain.
Xosa people calls it the black Ibis as opposed to the White sacred Ibis. There is an Ugandan legend, of a man and his wife who during famine, fed their children all the food they had and starved, but they were turned into Ibises called Mpabaana. So traditionally they are revered.
Colonist hunted them for eating, and some even liked it, but today it is one of the least threatened species, and ever increasing in Africa.
Many people who have left South Africa, have remarked that they miss the Hadedas and even their noise!
So I will tolerate them for the usefulness and uniqueness, and no longer complain when they make a noise above my house.

HadedaIbisHUMA.jpg

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