Geese and Red‐knobbed Coot on the Kafue Flats in Zambia, 1970–1974

Abstract

SummaryThe occurrence, chronology of breeding and wing‐moult, and feeding habits of the Pigmy Goose Nettapus auritus, Knob‐billed Goose Sarkidiornis melanotos, Spur‐winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis, Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca and Red‐knobbed Coot Fulica cristata on the Kafue Flats in Zambia are described based on observations made between October 1970 and January 1974 at Lochinvar National Park and, from the air, over the central section of the Flats.The Pigmy Goose, Knob‐billed Goose, Egyptian Goose and Red‐knobbed Coot fed largely by grazing. They were most abundant between March and June, occurring in greatest numbers at Lochinvar. Egyptian Geese occasionally nested on the flood‐plain at Lochinvar between August and January, but there was no proof of the other species nesting there. Many Pigmy Geese and male Knob‐billed Geese moulted on the lagoon at Lochinvar between March and June; small numbers of Egyptian Geese and Red‐knobbed Coot also moulted in the Park, the former between February and May, the latter in June and July.The Spur‐winged Goose fed mostly by grazing and grubbing. Numbers on the Flats were greatest between June and November when 60,000–90,000 moved downriver as the floods subsided. Many bred between January and March in the fringing zone and moulted on the floodplain between May and July.A hydroelectric scheme, completed in 1975, may benefit the Pigmy Goose and Red‐knobbed Coot but harm the Spur‐winged Goose.