THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED
The Pygmy Falcon is a very small raptor, measuring only about 20 cm and weighing in at about 60g makes this one of the smallest raptors. This tiny raptor is merely the size of a Bokmakierie but don't let the size fool you, they are very skilled hunters often nest in the nests of Sociable Weavers providing the weavers with a false sense of security.
A sure sign of a resident Pygmy is the white deposit around the entrance hole. It is worth the time to pay more attention to the huge nests, you never know what else you might spot hiding in them!
A male Pygmy Falcon
A female Pygmy Falcon
Male and female differ in that the female has rufous colouration on the back.
We were fortunate to be able to witness the Pygmy on two separate occasions where they helped themselves to a weaver chick.
The Sociable Weavers were obviously taking advantage of the abundant food and raising a second or possibly even third brood as stopping under or near a nest one could hear the incessant high pitched call of the chicks when the adults entered the nest. These huge nests are home to numerous pairs of weavers and as many as 500 birds can be found in a large healthy nest.
Sociable Weavers are, as their name suggests, very sociable birds. In Kgalagadi they almost exclusively build their nests in Camel Thorn Trees but further out you can see them utilising almost any sturdy structure from road signs to telephone poles.
The Pygmy Falcons we witnessed were obviously also aware of the “free takeaways” still available and would pop up into one of the nests and grab a chick, this to the utter dismay of the protesting adults. We saw this behaviour at more than one nest.
Read the below blog for more stories about Sociable Weavers: