Black-bellied Bustard

Eupodotis melanogaster

Other Names

  Black-bellied Korhaan   Outarde à ventre noir   Schwarzbauchtrappe   Sisón Ventrinegro Común   Svartbukig trapp   Zwartbuiktrap   Otarda dal ventre nero

World: Africa: Distributed widely S of 15°N except in heavily forested regions. Absent from most of the Horn of Africa.

Kenya: Scarce at the coast and in the lowlands of the N and E, most common in the highlands and Lake Victoria basin.

Generally more common than the similar looking Hartlaub's Bustard the 2 species overlap across some of their range. In Amboseli we most usually see Hartlaub's while in the Maasai Mara you almost exclusively get the Black-bellied. The Black-bellied Bustard tends to prefer higher wetter regions. The 2 species can be distinguished by studying the facial markings, which are far clearer and cleaner in Hartlaub's. Primarily insectivorous eating grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars but will also eat seeds and small vertebrates found by the roadside. In Kenya it also frequents old cultivations in search of particular local herbs.