Behaviour This species is an intra-African trans-equatorial migrant¹ making movements that are triggered by the rains². It breeds during in the rains when snails (its main prey items) are most readily available and nests in colonies of various sizes¹ often with other species². Nesting may only occur in years when local food supplies are plentiful however, so may not occur regularly at the same site². The species feeds in loose groups^{2, 3} that may contain up to 50 well-dispersed individuals (flocks of over 7,000 may also occur in some seasons)². It migrates in flocks¹ and roosts communally in trees³. Habitat The species inhabits freshwater wetlands¹ with shallow waters and a large abundance of aquatic molluscs² including marshes, swamps, rice-fields, flood-plains, the backwaters and margins of lakes or rivers¹, ponds and streams². It may also frequent moist savanna or burnt grassland as well as occasionally forest clearings¹, coastal mudflats and mangrove swamps². Diet In many regions the species may depend entirely upon molluscs² such as aquatic snails (e.g. Pila spp. or Lanistes ovum)¹ and freshwater mussels (Ampullaria spp.)¹. Other prey items taken include frogs, crabs, worms, fish and insects¹ (e.g. locusts and beetles)². Breeding site The nest is a small platform of sticks and vegetation¹ positioned in trees and bushes over water^{1, 2} (e.g. inundated in standing water on flood-plains)³, or alternatively in reedbeds¹. It nests colonially, often in mixed-species groups².

Red List Category

Red List Criteria

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The species is threatened by habitat loss, entanglement in fishing lines and environmental pollution (e.g. pesticides applied to water for mosquito control)⁴. It also suffers from hunting, poaching and the destruction of breeding colonies by villagers on Madagascar^{1, 2}. Utilisation The species is hunted and traded at traditional medicine markets in Nigeria⁵.