Scaly-throated Honeyguide ( Indicator variegatus, family: Indicatoridae)

scaly throated honey guide kruger national park birds The Scaly-throated Honeyguide (Latin name Indicator variegatus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 475 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 122 also a picture of the Scaly-throated Honeyguide on page 144. The Scaly-throated Honeyguide belongs to the family of birds classified as Indicatoridae.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Scaly-throated Honeyguide is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Scaly-throated Honeyguide in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Scaly-throated Honeyguide : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Scaly-throated Honeyguide is an extremely small bird about half the size of a house sparrow. The height of the Scaly-throated Honeyguide is about 19 cms and its weight is about 48 gms

The male and female Scaly-throated Honeyguide have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is brown.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is pink.
  • Throat is white.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are green.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Scaly-throated Honeyguide feeds on wing mainly

Invertebrates

Fruits

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Scaly-throated Honeyguide takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Scaly-throated Honeyguide is to use the nest of another bird. The surrogate family then raise the chicks. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 1 per host

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Scaly-throated Honeyguide are: woodlands

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Intakobusi

Zulu ... iNhlava

Afrikaans ...Gevlekte Heuningwyser

German ... Gefleckter Honiganzeiger

Portuguese ... Indicador-de-peito-escamoso

French ... Indicateur vari

Dutch ... Schubkeel-Honingspeurder

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 475

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za