The black-bellied bustard, also known as the black-bellied korhaan, is an African ground-dwelling bird in the bustard family.
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa
Typical Environment
Occurs widely across eastern and southern Africa in open savannas, moist grasslands, floodplains, and lightly cultivated fields. It favors areas with tall grasses or sedges that provide cover, especially near wetlands and seasonal pans. Avoids dense forest and true desert but uses bushy savanna and fallows. Local movements often track rainfall and grass height, leading to temporary absences from overgrazed or burned sites.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 2000 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Also called the black-bellied korhaan, this bustard is a wary, ground-dwelling bird of African savannas. Males perform a distinctive display with a squeaky whistle followed by a sudden popping “cork” sound and a brief vertical launch. The species relies on tall grasses for cover and often freezes when alarmed, making it surprisingly hard to spot. Sexes differ: males show the namesake black belly, while females are more cryptic below.
Maasai Mara - Kenya
Temperament
solitary and wary
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with brief glides
Social Behavior
Typically solitary or in loose pairs; males display from elevated tussocks or open patches, sometimes using low-intensity lek-like arenas. Nests are simple scrapes on the ground with 1–2 eggs, and chicks are precocial, leaving the nest soon after hatching. When threatened, birds often crouch and freeze, relying on camouflage before flushing reluctantly.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Male display call is a high, thin tik-tik-tik followed by a sudden popping cork-like plop and brief silence. Also gives harsh rattles and grating notes when agitated. Vocal activity peaks at dawn and dusk during the breeding season.
Plumage
Upperparts finely mottled and vermiculated brown and buff with darker barring; underparts in males show a bold black belly contrasting with paler chest and throat. Females and juveniles are more uniformly mottled below, lacking the solid black belly. In flight, both sexes show striking white wing patches against darker flight feathers.
Diet
Eats a varied mix of large insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, and termites, along with spiders and other invertebrates. Also takes seeds, green shoots, and occasionally small reptiles or amphibians. Forages by walking slowly through grass and picking items from the ground or low vegetation. Diet composition shifts with season and rainfall, increasing in insect content after burns or rains.
Preferred Environment
Feeds in tall or medium-height grasslands, at edges of marshes, and in lightly cultivated or fallow fields. Often uses recently burned areas where insects are abundant, retreating to taller cover between feeding bouts.
