EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Explanation:  In the arid grasslands in northeastern South Africa struts the heaviest flying bird of the region, a Kori Bustard.  In southern Africa, this is a rare to uncommon resident, although it is more common in nearby Botswana.  It is found in dry habitats called karoo, highveld grassland, Kalhari sandveld, arid scrub, Namib Desert, lightly wooded savanna, and bushveld.  There are two distinct and disjunct (widely separated) populations of Kori Bustards:  one in northeast Africa, and one in southern Africa.  

Kori Bustards are one of the world's largest birds, with males weighing up to 35 pounds (16 kg).  

Kori Bustards probe with their bill for food as they slowly walk along.  They seldom drink, instead receiving moisture from what they eat.  Bustards eat a wide variety of foods including plants, leaves, seeds, fruits, flowers, insects, small vertebrates, and even eggs and nestlings of other birds.  In southern Africa they also eat gum from the Acacia tree, giving rise to the local Afrikaans name gompou.

The name bustard has a fun etymological history.  One account suggests that the original name, avis tarda, was Latin for "slow bird."  Over many years the name because abetarda or betarda in Portuguese, avutarda in Spanish, and ottarda in Italian.  The Old French name bistarde eventually evolved to the English spelling bustard.  

Be careful how you ("u") spell it.  A poem by Elizabeth Livingston declares:

The Bustard is an exquisite fowl
With minimal reason to growl
It escapes what would be
Illegitimacy
By the grace of a fortunate vowel.