The wildlife

This beautiful lady has adopted us and AHF as her home. This free-roaming lady chose our place for safety and security. She is a loaner and stays away from her troop. She prefers relaxing alongside all the other animals at the foundation. It warms our hearts when outside wildlife claim this as their home – just another reason moving would be detrimental to our surrounding wildlife. From the monkeys, and jackals to the birds of prey – they have chosen us to help take care of them. This is such an honor.

Swallows are small birds with dark, glossy-blue backs, red throats, pale underparts, and long tail streamers. They are extremely agile in flight and spend most of their time on the wing. They are widespread breeding birds in the Northern Hemisphere, migrating south in winter.

As suggested by its name, the yellow-billed kite is easily recognized by its entirely yellow bill, unlike that of the black kite (which is present in Africa as a visitor during the North Hemisphere winter). They are found in all habitats, including parks in suburbia, but rare in the arid Namib and Karoo. They feed on a wide range of small vertebrates and insects, much of which is scavenged.

The hamerkop is a medium-sized wading bird. The shape of its head with a long bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, which has given this species its name after the Afrikaans’ word for hammerhead. It is a medium-sized waterbird with brown plumage. The hamerkop takes a wide range of prey, mostly fish and amphibians, but shrimps, insects, and rodents are taken too. Prey is usually hunted in shallow water, either by sight or touch, but the species is adaptable and will take any prey it can. The species is renowned for its enormous nests, several of which are built during the breeding season. Unusually for a wading bird, the nest has an internal nesting chamber where the eggs are laid. Both parents incubate the eggs and raise the chicks.