BirdLife Botswana

2012-01-30T09:22:00.000+02:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More birdlife

Lake Xau comes up to expectations

2012-01-12T11:32:00.005+02:00

Thousands of Ruffs have now discovered Lake Xau.

Lake Xau has been a dry dustbowl for the past three decades. However the exceptional 2011 floods from the Okavango coursed down the Boteti River for over 250 kilometres beyond Maun to reach Lake Xau late last year. Birds have been rather slower than expected in finding this huge, shallow waterbody, but waterbird counts conducted by BirdLife Botswana member, Chris Brewster, over the Christmas period, show that it is well on its way to achieving recognition as an Important Bird Area (IBA).

One of the criteria for an area to achieve IBA status is that it should harbour significant numbers of globally threatened birds. In this regard, the key dryland bird species such as Bateleur and Martial Eagle, and Lappet-faced and White-backed Vultures (long resident in the area) are now being joined by globally threatened waterbirds such as Wattled Crane and Black-winged Pratincole. Congregatory waterbirds have not yet built up to numbers which exceed the critical threshold (0,5% of the global or regional population) but numbers of Ruffs and Great White Pelicans are already notable.

At present, it is the number of Black-winged Pratincoles at the lake (2,000) which is of special interest. In a recent article in Africa Birds and Birding magazine, Phil Hockey (Director of the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology) suggested that this species might be in serious trouble. Very few pratincoles relative to 20 years ago are now being seen (cf the sighting of 10,000 by Penry and Tarboton at Lake Ngami during the 1980s). Phil Hockey suggested that the pratincoles may have shifted their non-breeding range northwards into northern Botswana but this is unlikely to be the case given the few sightings we have. Chris Brewster's count of 2,000 at Lake Xau is the best news we have had for this species in recent years, and highlights the importance of this 'new' wetland.

Apart from the pratincoles, there is much of interest to be seen at Lake Xau - it is certainly a spot worth watching!

Birds and People #31

2011-11-14T10:30:00.001+02:00

Open publication - Free publishing

Alive and well - Ross's Turaco in Botswana

2011-10-13T13:31:00.006+02:00

In a previous blog (26/7/11), a challenge was issued to birders to look out for Ross's Turaco, which has only been recorded once in Botswana - in 1974. Well, some serious guides working for Okavango Wilderness Safaris have risen to the challenge, and followed up the sighting made by Victor Horatius in the Linyanti Concession recently.

Russel Crossey saw a single Ross's Turaco in the same vicinity shortly after Victor (possibly the same bird), and this prompted Dave Luck to keep a sharp look out for it when he was there during August. Whether it was Dave's skill or just luck that he saw one at Boscia Lagoon not far from the previous sightings is immaterial: this is now the third reputable guide reporting the species from the same place, and a proper submission has been made to the BirdLife Botswana Records Sub-committee.

Although the official verdict is not yet out, word has spread among the birding fraternity and the information has caused quite a stir. Rumours started that this is the first record for the Southern African Sub-region, that of Tim Liversedge in 1974 having been "thrown out" because it was subsequently proved to be a joke and not a genuine record. I contacted Tim Liversedge for his comment - he just laughed and said that it was after much deliberation that he 'collected' the bird he saw, and sent it to MPS Irwin at the Bulawayo Museum, because he knew that no-one would believe him - there can be no more concrete evidence than the specimen in a museum! However, he was thrilled that the bird had been seen again, not least because now no-one could accuse him of having shot the first and last one!

At the time of the first record, it was predicted that there would be other sightings and that this was not just an isolated bird. Tim believes that Ross's Turaco, being a forest bird, is likely to move down the riparian woodland of the Kwando River during wet times. However the long intervening period between sightings shows that it is unlikely that the species is resident or even a frequent visitor to Botswana. The current high flood levels in the Kwando-Linyanti system are quite comparable with those of the 1970s, so the wetter conditions may result in other individuals coming into the region. It should be looked out for in northern Botswana, the Caprivi Strip and western Zimbabwe.

So, well done to Vic Horatius, Russel Crossey and Dave Luck for re-confirming the presence of this species in the region. Many keen birders, like myself and Dave Luck, have seen Ross's Turaco in Uganda, and it is an awesome bird. It is however very difficult to photograph, so we are still encouraging photographers to keep an eye out for these magnificent birds, and to send their images to BirdLife Botswana.

Vultures curb spread of disease

2011-10-07T17:03:00.011+02:00

With the recent news headlines in northern Botswana focused on a possible anthrax outbreak, I become nervous lest some misguided person try to implicate vultures in spreading the bacteria. This has happened in the past, so it is worth reading the views of anthrax expert, Peter Turnbull, below:

Nature's clean-up squad in action (Photo: J Bestelink)

"At the time of death in an animal dying of anthrax, the blood and body fluids are loaded with anthrax bacteria: there are more bacteria than red blood corpuscles in the blood. On exposure to the oxygen of the air, these start to form spores - the hardy forms of the anthrax agent which can survive for decades in the soil where blood and body fluids from such an animal have spilled. Vultures, in demolishing the dead animal before much of this sporulation can occur, contribute to reducing the environmental contamination left by the carcase. In theory, the faster the carcase is consumed, the less the chance of sporulation and residual contamination. And, at least to a point, more vultures = faster consumption. Faster consumption aldo reduces the chance of spread of the disease by flies.

The vultures do, of course, get the infected blood and gore on their beaks and feathers and they will go to nearby water to wash this off. However, unsporulated bacteria are fragile and die off quickly in water (they are also quickly killed within the vulture's digestive system). So, although the water may derive some anthrax spore contamination from bacteria that have started to sporulate, this will be low - bacteriological testing has proved how difficult it is to detect anthrax spores in such bodies of water. By the time the birds are airborne again, numbers of spores on their feet, beaks, feathers and in their guts is back to zero or very low.

Vultures are very clean, and bathe regularly (Photo: P Hancock)

Contrary to what you might expect, knowing the infamy of anthrax, it is not a highly infectious disease. That is to say, an animal generally needs to ingest or inhale a large dose of spores to become infected. So, small numbers of residual anthrax organisms on the feet, beaks, feathers or in the guts of vultures constitute essentially zero risk or threat to animals elsewhere. There is again scientific evidence for this.

The decline in the numbers of vultures around is probably already apparent to you where you live and you are probably well aware of the particularly catastrophic decline over the past two decades on the Indian sub-continent largely from inadvertent diclofenac poisoning, but also from other human-made causes also at play in Africa - habitat destruction, deliberate poisoning, capture for traditional medicines, drowning in reservoirs, powerline collisions and electrocution and so on. The apparent consequences of this population crash are not nice. Substantial increases in numbers of rats and of feral dogs have been attributed to the decline in vultures and with that, vastly increased numbers of cases of at least rabies and distemper. In addition to the health issues, there have been consequent costs to the economy estimated at billions of dollars. One British Medical Journal article has even suggested a link (albeit unproven) between absence of vultures and a rise in human anthrax cases.

In Africa, loss of our vulture populations can be expected to lead to similar disturbances in other scavenger popul;ations, again with possible concomitant increases in rabies, distemper and plague. Botulism from decaying carcasses is another strong possibility.

It also needs to be remembered that vultures rely on other vultures to detect carcasses; when vulture populations decline, their ability to find carcasses deteriorates at an accelerating rate.

So, as well as helping to reduce residual contamination at the site of an anthrax carcass and minimizing fly-borne transmission, thereby playing an important role in curtailing the spread of anthrax, the importance of vultures to the overall health of the ecosystem should not be underestimated.

Also not to be forgotten is that circling vultures have always been, and continue to be, the best signal to game managers and farmers that deaths have occurred within their boundaries, enabling prompt action as needed.

In summary, persecuting vultures as an approach to anthrax control is folly, and in the long run, can be expected to increase problems associated with both anthrax and other diseases."

Peter Turnbull, with thanks to Orr Spiegel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Steve Bellan, University of California, Berkeley, and Kerri Wolter, VulPro South Africa, for most helpful comments.

With water comes life . . .

2011-09-29T17:13:00.004+02:00

It is a well-known fact that the 2011 Okavango flood is one of the highest on record - water has surged past Maun (especially when the bridge over the Xotego River broke!), down the Nhabe towards Lake Ngami, and down the Boteti for over 250 kilometres to Lake Xau. While this has had its downside (such as the escape of numerous crocodiles from flooded enclosures at the Sitatunga Crocodile farm!), the news for birds has been overwhelmingly good. BirdLife Botswana has long realised that Lake Xau is likely to become a birding hotspot as it fills, although this did not really materialise last year when the water barely reached the lake-bed. We have been monitoring the situation closely, and BirdLife members Pat Nurse and Ray and Val Lovett recently conducted a partial count of the now extensive lake.Marabou Storks are among the first birds to find new areas such as Lake Xau

Highlights of their count are as follows:
Little Grebe 6
Grey Heron 12
Goliath Heron 1
Great Egret 2
Yellow-billed Egret 9
Little Egret 20
Cattle Egret 20
Squacco Heron 3
Marabou Stork 15
Glossy Ibis 163
White-faced Duck 1
Red-billed Teal 65
Southern Pochard 19
Spur-winged Goose 2
Wood Sandpiper 2
Black Crake 1
Common Moorhen 2
African Jacana 1
Kittlitz's Plover 3
Crowned Lapwing 30
Blacksmith Lapwing 76
Wattled Lapwing 1
Common Greenshank 6
Black-winged Stilt 11
Collared Pratincole 18

The lake is still filling, and it is early days yet. The lake-bed is very uneven with ridges and channels so the water is spreading out into a system of fingers of water. Migrant waders are only just now returning, so it is going to be very interesting to keep an eye on this exciting new birding destination.

Dinner with Phil Liggett

2011-09-21T13:12:00.003+02:00

Phil is the internationally acclaimed commentator of the annual Tour de France cycle race. He has agreed to address us on his other two loves, namely birding and cycling. His first love is obviously his dear wife who will accompany him. He is an outstanding raconteur and we can guarantee an exceptional evening. Please join us at the GICC on Friday night 28th October at 19:30. Better still, please consider reserving a table for ten. Tickets cost P375.00 per person, which is almost a giveaway considering the menu on offer. Tickets can be obtained from our Gaborone office at Kgale Siding, or phone 3190540 and ask for Dikabelo. In all seriousness, we are open to receive bids from those who would like to have Phil and his wife sit at their table for the evening. Please help us advertise this dinner among all birders and the cycling fraternity. The diner will also be of interest to those who like to travel. Come and join us for an evening of fun. Contact Harold Hester on 3190541 for more information.

Tip of the iceberg

2011-09-09T12:01:00.011+02:00

Today it became apparent to me that the poisoning of vultures that we are currently seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. I contacted the Wildlife Department Veterinarian in Maun to find out if there was any information on the type of poison used to kill the vultures recently in the Makgadikgadi area (see blog of 12 August below - One step away from a catastrophe) and he mentioned that even the results from the vulture samples from Sepako had not yet been processed. Sepako? Vultures poisoned at Sepako? This was news to me! Yes, some vultures had been poisoned at Sepako a few months ago. Phone Martin Marumo at the Wildlife Department in Gaborone, he knows about the incident.

Yes, I was on a trip in the area during April when I heard about the incident, but I didn't get an opportunity to investigate it, but why don't you try the Wildlife Office in Sepako?

Good afternoon, Pete Hancock from BirdLife Botswana here, does anybody know anything about some vultures poisoned near Sepako a few months ago?

To cut a long story short, I was fortunate to get hold of Wildlife Officer Kgongwana at Sepako who actually investigated the incident. Five White-backed Vultures were killed on 3/4/11 after feeding on a poisoned skin that had been put out for hyaenas and jackals, although none of these species was killed. Once again, vultures were the innocent victims of poison directed at so-called 'problem' animals.

The five vultures died right next to the poisoned skin, so the poison used muust have been pretty toxic. Near to the carcase was a plastic container with the label METHOMEX. This was new to me, so I read up on METHOMEX, which "is a carbamate insecticide administered as a foliar spray or as a soil treatment for a variety of crops". It is VERY TOXIC, and is even dangerous by contact or inhalation. "A small quantity may be fatal (to a person) if swallowed". It is toxic to fish, bees and wildlife including, as we now know, vultures.

W/O Kgongwana did a thorough job of the investigation and collected some samples from the dead vultures despite the overwhelming evidence from the empty METHOMEX container. A docket has been opened and this incident is under investigation . . .

And so the story goes - we are currently not getting any closer to curtailing the problem, even though it is apparent that it is a much bigger threat than we ever could have envisaged. At this rate, it looks as though we may still be gathering statistics while our magnificent vultures slip into oblivion.
A live White-backed Vulture drying its wings after bathing (Photo P Hancock)

Roadkill

2011-09-05T11:47:00.012+02:00

Recently BirdLife Botswana member, Mike Soroczynski from Francistown contacted me to report significant numbers of hornbills being killed on the road between Dukwi and Kutamagore - he travels this stretch regularly on his way between Francistown and Mowana Copper Mine were he works. He writes "Its quite distressing to see the numbers killed. They seem to congregate at the roadside gravel verges only in the dry season - and coincidentally pror to the breeding season. I wonder what could be attracting them to such precarious areas? Seeds? Termites? Other insects? The gravel itself for egg production? Has anyone else reported such behaviour and fatalities?"
My wife, who is a long-distance cyclist, has reported the same high bird mortalities over a much wider area - she has cycled between Maun and Shakawe, Maun and Kasane, the Trans-Kalahari Highway and other routes and readily notices dead birds due to the (relatively) slow speed at which she cycles. In addition to hornbills, she has seen many Lilac-breasted Rollers, and various owls and nightjars, and a few years ago, large numbers of Barn Swallows following an early cold spell at the end of summer. She has also reported numerous snakes being killed, notably Puff Adders, and often Porcupines, Brown Hyaenas, Aardwolf and Bat-eared Foxes.

This Lappet-faced Vulture was killed during the breeding season, and probably had a chick on the nest which would also have died.

It is not known whether the effect of these mortalities on wildlife is sustainable, or whether it is depressing some populations. The latter is likely to be the case with globally threatened birds such as the Bateleur, and White-backed and Lappet-faced vultures, where numbers may already be low and/or declining due to a variety of threats. These birds sometimes scavenge along national roads and are susceptible to collisions with vehicles.
A beautiful chestnut-backed male Bateleur killed near Nata.

All sensible drivers in Botswana avoid driving at night due to the high probability of hitting a cow or donkey; we also need to take special care when driving during the day. Apart from the impact of roadkill on globally threatened birds and other animals, the impact of a 6kg vulture smashing through your windscreen will not do your vehicle much good either.It's in everybody'y interest to drive carefully . . .

Investigations continue

2011-08-22T13:51:00.005+02:00

Investigations are continuing in the Makgadikgadi area to find the poisoner who killed three globally threatened White-backed Vultures on 9th August, 2011, and likely a Brown Hyaena too (as it dragged off the carcase to its den - see post below on 12/8/11).

Colleagues from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks are following up this and another poisoning incident which took place near Tonota in Central District earlier this month. Obert Gwapela, Park Manager for Makgadikgadi, is still trying to find the perpetrator(s) of the Makgadikgadi incident, and is working on several leads at present. Steven Sekhute, District Wildlife Co-ordinator based in Francistown, despatched one of his officers to the scene of the Tonota incident, but since then the officer has been in the field attending to several cases of human-wildlife conflict, so no information is available yet on how many vultures were killed there.

It looks unlikely that there will be any arrests following the Tonota incident, but we are optimistic that the Makgadikgadi case will soon yield results. As mentioned in the previous blog, an arrest and conviction would go a long way to deterring would-be poisoners, so we will be watching the law take its course with a keen interest.

Safari companies protect key bird breeding sites

2011-08-18T14:32:00.005+02:00

Two of the largest 'heronries' (or 'storkeries' or 'darteries' or 'cormoranteries', whichever you prefer!) in the Okavango Delta are in private concessions, and have been flourishing and attracting ever more breeding birds in recent years.
A pair of Marabou Storks, in nuptial finery, make a plan on their nest.

Lediba la Dinonyane (lagoon of the birds) is the largest and supports a great diversity of waterbird species. It is near Kanana Camp, run by Ker and Downey Safaris, and guides visiting the site always take care not to disturb the birds by approaching them too closely.
The same applies at the heronry at JereJere Lagoon, where there has been an influx of birds due to suitable conditions prevailing here. This heronry is near Xugana Lodge run by Desert and Delta Safaris, and this company is the custodian for this site.

The traditionally spectacular heronries in Moremi Game Reserve, at Xakanaxa and Gadikwe have been diminishing over the past few years, and most of the birds seem to have moved to Lediba la Dinonyane and JereJere. These two sites are well worth a visit as they offer the best of Botswana birding.

One step away from a catastrophe

2011-08-12T09:04:00.012+02:00

Crescent Pan is a beautiful freshwater pan in the eastern Makgadikgadi, used by zebras and Wattled Cranes during summer, and by livestock and a variety of birds which come to drink and bathe during winter. On the 9th of August, guides from nearby Jack's Camp counted over 150 White-backed Vultures and 10 Lappet-faced Vultures drinking and loafing around the waterhole - an idyllic scene.

However, they soon noticed that something was amiss - there were three dead vultures among the throng. When they went closer to investigate, they found that the other vultures were all exceptionally lethargic and did not move away - they were sick and apparently dying too.

Fortunately the grapevine works fast, and the BirdLife office in Maun was able to notify Obert Gwapela, Park Manager for Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan, and he quickly despatched Dr Kebonang Kebonang (DWNP Vet) to the scene.

When the DWNP contingent arrived, many of the sick vultures had recovered and flew off. One of the dead vultures, on examination, was found to have the crop and throat neatly removed, as shown in the photograph below - the rest of the bird was intact.

The dead vulture with crop removed (Photo: John Barclay)

This is most peculiar: the first reaction on hearing of vultures dying at a waterhole is that they have been poisoned with an organophosphate poison since this makes them very thirsty and they go to water where they die - in order to test for the presence of this poison, the best sample to take is the crop with the poisoned meat in it, but here the crop had been removed? This was looking increasingly like another poisoning incident, and perpetrated by someone who knew how to remove some of the evidence!

This led the investigating team to strongly suspect foul play, and a search was initiated for a poisoned carcase in the area. The presence of about 40 Marabou Storks nearby led to a site where a few small remains of a cow carcase were found; unfortunately spoor and drag marks showed that a Brown Hyaena (another globally threatened animal) had dragged off the bulk of the carcase and it is highly likely that it, too, is now dead from the poison.

Miraculously, by late afternoon, most of the vultures had completely recovered - only three had ingested a fatal dose of the poison and died. This is a real wake-up call to the authorities and to all who are concerned about the poisoning of Botswana's wildlife: this could easily have been a major mortality of all 150 White-backed and 10 Lappet-faced vultures, as well as the 40 Marabou Storks and 15 to 20 Black-backed Jackals that were at the site. And this is the real danger of these poisoning incidents: a few cases involving large numbers of vultures, in the middle of the breeding season, could decimate these already globally threatened birds. Currently, the Makgadikgadi is the most important breeding area for Lappet-faced Vultures in Botswana (and probably in the whole of Africa) and if the 10 birds of this species present at the site had been killed, this would have seriously dented the regional population of these magnificent birds.

BirdLife Botswana would like to thank Super Sande from Jack's Camp for reporting the incident so quickly, and Nicky Bousfield and John Barclay from Uncharted Africa for relaying the information, and sending in photos of the incident. Our special thanks go to our colleagues in DWNP who treated the incident with the importance it deserves and who conducted a swift, professional investigation.

Dr Kebonang examines one of the dead vultures (Photo: John Barclay)

Of course, the investigation is not over; samples from the dead vultures are being analysed at the Veterinary Laboratory, and the perpetrator(s) are being tracked down. We urgently need an arrest and prosecution to send a clear message to wildlife poisoners in Botswana that this practice is not acceptable.

Much fuss about nothing

2011-08-04T16:56:00.007+02:00

In recent years, there has been much hue and cry about the spread of avian influenza by wild birds, fuelled in part by the related deaths of nearly 300 people. These deaths caused people to speculate that there could be a new pandemic in the human population, with the virus being spread rapidly by migratory birds which circumnavigate the globe annually. As always, rumours are fuelled by lack of factual information, and in Southern Africa in particular, there has been little information available on the Avian Influenza Virus and its prevalence in the region.

These fears have been shown to be unfounded by work done by Dr Graeme Cumming and colleagues working in Botswana, Mocambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They counted, captured and sampled birds at five sites in the four countries, one of which was Lake Ngami, and did not positively identify any highly pathogenic H5N1. They also found that the annual influx of Palaearctic migrants had no detectable influence on this situation i.e. the migrants did not bring the virus into Southern Africa as had been speculated.

Other avian influenza viruses were found at a low frequency in some waterbirds, especially dendrocygnid (whistling) ducks. The White-faced Duck (shown above) and the Fulvous Duck, both have an extensive range across Africa, and individuals from populations north of the equator may mix with Palaearctic duck species, such as the Garganey, that migrate annually to western Europe. However, these two species had no trace of the lethal H5N1 strain.

For more information, read the original paper (see reference below).

Reference: Cumming GS, Caron A, Abolnik C, Cattoli G, Bruinzeel LW, Burger CE, Cecchettin K, Chiweshe N, Mochotlhoane B, Mutumi GL and Ndlovu M. 2011. The Ecology of Influenza A Viruses in Wild Birds in Southern Africa. EcoHealth Journal.

Poisoning of wildlife

2011-07-29T16:56:00.021+02:00

Poisoning of wildlife, including birds, is a problem throughout Africa, and it is interesting to know what other countries are doing about it. The information below comes from Paula Kahumbu, Executive Director of WildlifeDirect and winner of the National Geographic/Buffet Award for conservation leadership in Africa.

"WildlifeDirect (an NGO in Kenya) is stepping up a campaign to have carbofuran, the active ingredient in the deadly pesticide product Furadan, banned in Kenya and East Africa.

Martin Odino, who is a scientist and an author of the WildlifeDirect blog, Stop Wildlife Poisoning, has reported that despite FMC (the manufacturer of the pesticide) claims that Furadan is no longer in Kenya, it actually continues to be used to poison tens of thousands of wetland birds in Bunyala rice irrigation scheme in Kenya. The product is coming in from Uganda.

He has documented in photographs and film how the birds are killed by lacing a meal of rice with the poison and laying it out in the rice paddies. Ducks and other waterfowl eat it and die shortly thereafter. Insects, amphibians and fish in the water are killed. Predatory birds pick up the carcases and so the pesticide is affecting a whole chain of species. African Openbills are killed by lacing snails and using decoys to attract over-flying flocks. He claims that up to 50% of each flock that lands in these fields dies, and this amounts to some 6,000 bird deaths each month in Bunyala rice irrigation scheme alone. We suspect even higher mortalities in Mwea and Ahero irrigation schemes. The consequence of poisoning to raptors and migratory birds could be catastrophic.

But it's not just birds. The human cost is enormous; the people handling the deadly toxic chemical do so with bare hands. The product is put into the water which is consumed by the community, and the ducks, storks, doves, sandpipers and other species that are killed are sold in local markets as human food. The evidence is shocking and we will be releasing a short documentary on the same shortly.

For latest updates, check out www.stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org/

Farm workers handle a poisoned vulture without wearing protective clothing

Although FMC claims that Furadan is not available in Kenya, it is permitted for use in the production of flowers in Kenya. Our largest flower farms are at Lake Naivasha, a Ramsar site and an extremely Important Bird Area.

We have submitted reports, attended meetings with the pest control products board and government officials and we are part of the government task force, which is under the Ministry of Agriculture and is chaired by the CEO of the Pesticide Products Control Board. However, this Board has not met since September 2010, and few of the actions agree on have been implemented. We believe that the PPCB is not in a position to attend to the problem due to resource constraints and conflict of interest.

We would like you to share this through your networks, put it on your websites, blogs, facebook and e-mail it to everyone.

Our campaign has two targets:

1. The immediate and total ban on use of carbofuran and other carbamate pesticides in any pesticide control product;

2. We are demanding that the government move the Pesticide Products Control Board out of the Ministry of Agriculture where the organisation faces a conflict of interest, and into the Ministry of Environment where it can effectively achieve its mission"To provide professional, efficient and effective regulatory service for manufacture, trade, safe use and disposal of pest control products while ensuring safety to humans, animals and the environment".

We ask that you support our initiative by circulating information, advise us on funding opportunities to continue the research, monitoring, reporting and education, as well as the advocacy to change the Kenyan laws."

A challenge to birders - Ross's Turaco in Botswana

2011-07-26T14:06:00.011+02:00

Photo: Courteousy www.flickr.com/

Ross's Turaco is a strikingly beautiful bird found primarily in riverine and other forests in south-central Africa, with the southernmost tip of its range just touching the northern extremity of Botswana. When naturalist/film-maker Tim Liversedge saw the first one in Botswana near Ikoga on the Okavango Panhandle in 1974, he knew that no-one would believe him, so he 'collected' the bird - it is now a museum specimen so there can be no doubt about the authenticity of this record!

Since 1974, informed birders have been keeping an eye out for this brilliant blue turaco along the Okavango Panhandle and the riverine forests along the Linyanti River, as it is likely to occur sporadically in these areas. There have been some claimed sightings, but none has been accepted by BirdLife Botswana's Records sub-committee, which adjudicates these reports. Recently, one of the top guides in northern Botswana, Victor Horatius, sent in an excited and exciting e-mail saying that he'd seen one in the Linyanti Concession near King's Pool Camp, but unfortunately he could not get a photograph of it . . .

Thus Ross's Turaco remains elusive in Botswana. This bird is undoubtedly seen more than once in 40 years, and in this day and age of high resolution digital cameras, it will only take one clear photo to confirm that the species is alive and well in northern Botswana. This is our challenge to birders - keep your cameras at the ready when visiting the northern part of the country!

Bird Identification training course

2011-06-21T14:29:00.008+02:00

(Photo: P Hancock)
If you can identify the bird above, chances are you don't need a bird identification course! However, if you are struggling, consider enrolling for the part-time bird identification course being organised by the Ngamiland Branch of BirdLife Botswana. This course, to be presented by Richard Randall and Johan van Jaarsveld, will take place on one Saturday every month, starting on Saturday 9th July. The course will be held at the Botswana Wildlife Training Institute in one of the classrooms, and will commence at 8 o' clock in the morning and run for the whole day. There will be a nominal charge of P110.00 per person for the course, to cover course materials, teas and lunches; members of BirdLife Botswana will however pay only P50.00 per person.

The number of participants is limited to 30, so it's first come, first served. Contact Pete Hancock at 74654464 to reserve your space. And by the way, if you thought the raptor at the top is an immature African Fish-Eagle, you were quite right!

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Slaty Egret Action Plan workshop

2011-06-08T12:41:00.006+02:00

The beginning of March saw stakeholders from the Slaty Egret range states in Southern Africa converging on Maun to participate in a workshop funded by the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) to develop an Action Plan for conserving the globally threatened Slaty Egret. The workshop formed a logical follow-on from the baseline survey of the species done by BirdLife Botswana as part of the Okavango Delta Management Plan a few years ago. BirdLife has formed a partnership with AEWA to develop action plans for species that are common to both organisations, and Serge Dereliev and Evelyn Moloko from the AEWA Secretariat managed to secure the necessary funding to make this a reality.

Workshop participants (Photo: E Moloko)

The workshop was organised by Stephanie Tyler and facilitated by Serge Dereliev, and used the ‘problem tree approach’ to identify potential and real causes of declines which could then be ranked to form the basis for remedial action. From the expert inputs from the participants, the final action plan will be compiled by Stephanie, and funding secured to address the major issues.

During the workshop, participants managed to spend some time in Moremi where about 14 Slaty Egrets in total were seen! An unexpected plus from the field outing was information from a local guide working for Letaka Safaris of a previously unknown Slaty Egret breeding site! If any readers of this blog – especially professional guides - have other similar information on Slaty Egrets, please contact Pete Hancock.

Participants in the field looking for Slaty Egrets (Photo: E Moloko)

Thanks are due to Stephanie for all the work she put into organising the workshop, to Serge for ably facilitating the process, and to all participants for contributing generously their knowledge of the species. Dr Lucas Rutina from DWNP travelled from Serowe to participate in the workshop, and we especially appreciate the Wildlife Department’s support as they are our major partner in conserving the species in Botswana.

Waterbirds arrive at Lake Xau

2010-11-29T17:09:00.009+02:00

The arrival of waterbirds at Lake Xau since it started filling has been less than spectacular! However, there is no doubt that the lake is Botswana 13th Important Bird Area (IBA) in the making.

The extent of flooding of the lake in 2010 (Photo: P Hancock)

By mid-November, the Boteti floodwaters, over 250 kilometres south of Maun and still moving, trickled out onto the long dry bed of Lake Xau. They extended about eight kilometres into the huge sump – the river’s natural terminus – and then spread out laterally and formed a shallow, open mudflat before stopping flowing. This waterbody has been colonized by a few dozen Red-billed Teal and Southern Pochard, and lesser numbers of Little and Cattle egrets and Grey Herons.

A Grey Heron drops in for a bit of fishing (Photo: P Hancock)

Wader numbers and diversity are still low, with a few Ruffs, Common Greenshanks, Wood Sandpipers and a single Black-winged Stilt being present. Other species seen at this time include Blacksmith Lapwing, Glossy Ibis and two Yellow-billed Storks.

The shallow mudflats are suitable for waders, including the Common Greenshank (Photo: P Hancock)

There have been quite good rains in the general area of Lake Xau, so that there is standing water on small pans and mudflats between Rakops and Mopipi, and this may have diluted the number of birds. However, the area is still worth a visit as it is likely to attract large numbers of waders still. The habitat is ideal for the incoming Palaearctic migrants and species such as Black-winged (and Collared) Pratincole and Caspian Plovers could reach good numbers. Birders visiting the area are requested to keep good records, and to send this information to Pete Hancock at birdlifemaun@gmail.com.

Water reaches Lake Xau

2010-10-28T16:06:00.011+02:00

Earlier this year, it was predicted that the Okavango floodwaters would reach Lake Xau at the end of the Boteti River. By September, the water had already flowed under the bridge near Mopipi, and it finally reached Lake Xau on 16th October. Pete Hancock was there to witness this momentous occasion.

The Boteti River near Mopipi during September 2009 (top) and 2010 (bottom) (Photos: P Hancock)

In an area where ambient temperatures soar above 40 degrees, and the grass is so desiccated and dry that it seems ready to spontaneously burst into flames, the arrival of fresh, flowing water is nothing short of miraculous. Shimmering mirages turn to real water as I advance into the long dry lake-bed of Lake Xau, to witness the return of the Okavango floodwaters to this distal terminus for the first time in 40 years.

A huge twister lifts the fine dust from the dry part of the lake-bed (Photo: P Hancock)

A towering dust-devil sweeping across the dry plain suddenly collapses as it reaches the water’s edge. As the flood waters slowly advance, they fill small holes and burrows and flush insects and rodents and other small creatures, but as yet there are no waterbirds present to capitalize on this bounty. Only a few wily Pied Crows wade in the shallows enjoying this unexpected bounty.

A Pied Crow catches a spider flushed by the water (Photo: P Hancock)

This is quite different from the first recent flooding of Lake Ngami in 2004, where Marabou Storks, Blacksmith Lapwings and other waterbirds followed the advancing floodwaters to the lake, making an ‘instant’ birding spectacle.

However, it is expected that there will be some similarities between the rebirth of the two lakes. Currently, Lake Xau is heavily overgrazed, so there are extensive, open, shallowly inundated mudflats which will soon attract the incoming summer migrant waders. Lake Xau, like Lake Ngami, is a nutrient sink, and all the accumulated cattle dung, once dissolved, will fuel food chains for aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians and ultimately birds. BirdLife Botswana is committed to monitoring these changes in the hope that Lake Xau will substantially boost local and migrant bird populations.

If at first you don't succeed ...

2010-10-15T15:25:00.009+02:00

… try, try again!

With the water of Sua Pan evaporating fast, Dr Graham McCulloch’s chances of capturing several Lesser Flamingos to fit them with satellite tracking devices were fading too (see previous post dated 21/06/2010). However, the Independence Day long-weekend provided near ideal conditions for a last chance at flamingo capture – the remaining water was restricted to small pools in the Nata River, and four adult flamingos were present together with a number of immatures and juveniles. The challenge was to catch these adult birds before they left the area, so that data would become immediately available on their regional movements, but the window of opportunity to catch them was small ….

One of the few pools of water remaining in northern Sua Pan (Photo: P Hancock)

Long trap-lines were set in the remaining pools with the help of Nicky Bousfield, a qualified bird ringer with years of experience handling and caring for birds of all shapes and sizes. Success was immediate with one adult and several young birds being caught on the first day; the adult was fitted with a PTT backpack and ringed and then released. It remained in the area with the other flamingos, thereby enabling us to see how it reacted to its new hardware; the device fitted comfortably and apart from scrutinizing it closely and preening the feathers around it, the bird seemed quite unconcerned by its presence.

#50 with backpack slightly visible and its antenna protruding backwards (Photo: P Hancock)

The young birds were not targeted for the exercise as they are too small to comfortably carry the satellite transmitter; their capture was purely incidental, but nevertheless they were ringed before being released in the hope that they may still provide information on longevity and sources of mortality.

A juvenile Lesser Flamingo sports identifying rings (Photo: P Hancock)

After the initial success, the remainder of the flamingo group – particularly the adults – was wary, so the team (supplemented by a few local community members) tried a different capture technique. A long mist net, borrowed previously from researcher Tim Osborne in Namibia, was submerged in one of the pools with the aim of triggering it manually as the flamingos walked over it.

The net being quietly set at one of the remaining pools (Photo: P Hancock)

This however was not successful, and with time running out, we reverted to our original method of using the long traplines. Several more immatures and juveniles were caught, but unfortunately no adults.

The way the project stands at present, there are three adult Lesser Flamingos in total with satellite transmitters, and another three spare transmitters that will have to be fitted to flamingos next season. Some information is already coming in from the project, so watch this space for regular updates.

Annual BirdLife Botswana dinner

2010-09-20T10:03:00.003+02:00

The annual BirdLife Botswana dinner will be on Saturday 25th September at 19:00 for 19:30 at the Gaborone Golf Club.

The guest speaker will be Mark Anderson, Director of BirdLife South Africa, speaking on the Lesser Flamingo project at Kamfers Dam near Kimberly, where he and colleagues managed to create an artificial island that was successfully adopted by the flamingos as the fourth breeding site for the species in Africa! This is a truly wonderful conservation achievement, but one which cost him his previous job!

Dress will be smart casual with a cost of P150 per ticket and all members are invited to attend. It should be an excellent affair and is one of the main events on our calendar. Members should buy their tickets early to avoid disappointment. They are on sale at the BLB Office in Kgale Siding and at the shop in the Craft Market, Broadhurst. There will be eight people to a table so you may reserve your table when purchasing your tickets. We have 80 tickets to sell on a first-come-first-served basis.

First catch your flamingo!

2010-06-21T10:38:00.004+02:00

Dr Graham McCulloch has been monitoring the globally threatened Lesser Flamingo in the Makgadikgadi Pans for over a decade and, as is always the case with research, the more you find out about your subject, the more interesting it becomes and the more you realize how little you know!

One fact that is apparent from the monitoring data is that Lesser Flamingo numbers have been steadily increasing. A count of 77,491 Lesser Flamingos at Sua in 2009 exceeded the total estimate for Southern Africa (~65,000). This raises the interesting question: Has the Southern African flamingo population increased by improved breeding success due to better conditions, or has the local population been augmented by an influx of birds from further afield? Because flamingos are highly nomadic, and can travel vast distances, it has long been speculated that birds from East Africa sometimes visit Southern Africa, and vice versa. This could mean that there is one large population with birds moving to and from the best feeding and breeding conditions on the continent; if this were the case, it would have important implications for the conservation of the species.

To find out whether there is any connection between the Southern African and East African flamingo populations, two different but equally innovative approaches could be adopted. Firstly, now that DNA analysis is possible and commonplace, an investigation into the genetics of birds from both areas could tell if there is one large, intermixed population, or two distinctly separate groups. Recent studies comparing the DNA of populations from both regions, using blood samples from the Makgadikgadi, collected by Graham during some ringing excercises some years ago, and samples taken from the soda lakes in East Africa suggest similar DNA and favour a connection between the two populations, or the existence of one interconnected population. Secondly, and also resulting from technological advances, it could be possible to fit individual flamingos with tiny transmitters that send a signal to orbiting satellites which pinpoint their position and relay the information back to Earth! Incredible though this may seem, small transmitters weighing a mere 35 grams are now available with minute but efficient solar panels, that can be fitted to relatively small birds such as the Lesser Flamingo, and this is the approach adopted by Graham in his research.

During 2001, satellite transmitters were deployed on eight Lesser Flamingos from Sua Pan; these were battery-powered (without solar panels) and during the two years that they continued to function, Graham was able to determine that birds from Sua move all over Southern Africa, to the west coast of Namibia, Kamfers Dam in South Africa and even into southern Mocambique. Frustratingly however, none of these birds moved to East Africa! This does not mean that the Lesser Flamingos from Sua Pan don’t go to East Africa – only that these few individuals did not go there during the period of the study!

Base camp for flamingo capture (Photo: P Hancock)

Recently, Graham has been collaborating with the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and they have provided six of the latest solar-charged transmitters for fitting on Lesser Flamingos. This is easier said than done – just how does one catch a free-flying flamingo in the vastness of the Makgadikgadi Pans? In 2001, Graham caught the birds by setting hundreds of small noose-traps in the flamingos favoured feeding areas in the shallows of Sua Pan – once a bird’s foot becomes entangled in the noose, it can be captured without injury or undue stress. But there is more to this technique than betrayed by a simple sentence, as can be imagined! Firstly, it is important to identify the preferred feeding areas on a daily basis, and then set the snares at first light – thereafter, it is a question of waiting patiently at a distance until the birds eventually return and one gets caught!

The first flamingo capture exercise this year took place during early May, just as a practice run, since it was apparent that suitable conditions for initiating this part of the project were returning. It is important to fit the transmitters just before Sua Pan dries up, so that the birds can be relatively easily caught, and will soon start moving away from the Pan – it is pointless paying for the expensive downloads of data from the satellite if the birds are not travelling more than a few hundred metres from one feeding area to another! Two adults were caught in the same number of days – and then late rains put paid to any further capture attempts as Sua Pan filled with water!

A flamingo in the hand is worth measuring in as many ways as possible (Photo: P Hancock)

By mid-June, the shallow, saline waters of Sua had evaporated sufficiently to permit a second capture attempt to be made. Alas, after a few days of setting the trap-lines early in the morning and retrieving them in the evening, no flamingos had been caught - round 1 to the researchers, round 2 to the flamingos!

This is where the project stands at present – we are all looking forward to round 3 so that the real work can begin – that of unraveling the movements of these flambouyantly successful nomads. This blog will provide regular updates, particularly once data become available showing where the birds are, so that the information on their movements can be used to better conserve the species.

Weary team members return at sunset - empty-handed (Photo: P Hancock)

Birds of Lake Xau - 1964

2010-06-11T11:48:00.003+02:00

Reading Smithers (1964) Checklist of birds of the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Caprivi Strip gives one an insight into conditions in the country during the middle of the last century. Particularly fascinating is his account of birds at Lake Dow (Xau) – the frontispiece of the book depicts a Gull-billed Tern foraging over Lake Xau, a Category A rarity (seen less than 10 times in recent years). Here are some of the waterbirds seen at the lake during the late fifties and early sixties, and which may be seen there again when the lake floods in future:

Pink-backed Pelican – January 1959 many were seen in immature plumage
African Darter
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Squacco Heron
Black Heron
Great Egret
Yellow-billed Egret
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Goliath Heron – individuals in immature plumage seen in January
Saddle-billed Stork
Marabou Stork – seen in flocks of 50 at a time
African Sacred Ibis
Glossy Ibis
African Spoonbill
Lesser Flamingo – no nests of this species found at the Lake
Fulvous Duck – occurs in large numbers, January 1959, flocks of 200 at a time
Egyptian Goose
Spur-winged Goose
Comb Duck
Cape Teal – a few seen on Inkokwane Pan near Lake Dow
Red-billed Teal – in huge flocks
Hottentot Teal – common, occurring in flocks of upwards of 50
Southern Pochard
African Fish-Eagle
Purple Swamphen
Red-knobbed Coot
Wattled Crane
Grey Crowned Crane
African Jacana
Water Thick-knee
Kittlitz’s Plover
White-fronted Plover
Chestnut-banded Plover – an immature, hardly able to fly, taken on 18 January
Caspian Plover
Greater Painted-snipe
Black-winged Pratincole
Grey-headed Gull
African Skimmer
Gull-billed Tern – recorded in January 1959
Whiskered Tern – in breeding plumage December 1962 and January 1963
Kurrichane Buttonquail – breeding 15 January 1959, c/4 fresh
Yellow Wagtail – particularly common at cattle kraals
Sedge Warbler
Lesser Swamp-Warbler
Southern Red Bishop – in breeding plumage
Yellow-crowned Bishop – in full breeding plumage in January
African Quailfinch

This variety of birds needs a diversity of habitats, including open water, reeds and sedges, aquatic waterweeds, and short grasslands near water, all of which would have been found around the lake fifty years ago. Difficult to imagine, isn’t it?

Mohamed bin Zayed funds raptor research

2010-04-14T08:32:00.006+02:00

Photo: P Hancock
BirdLife Botswana is grateful to the MBZ Species Conservation Fund for financing a study to determine raptor trends throughout Botswana. The project involves counting raptors along fixed road transects – a standard method used throughout Africa – and already hundreds of birds have been counted along tens of thousands of kilometres. With a scientific study of this nature, one should not have any preconceived ideas in advance; however, many of our raptors are under serious threat from poisoning, habitat destruction and other factors, so the information – when compared with similar surveys from the 1990s and before – will help us to identify priority species for conservation action. Check this blog for regular project updates.

Flamingos of the Makgadikgadi

2010-02-26T16:00:00.004+02:00

PERFORMING AT THE NO.1 LADIES OPERA HOUSE (10-13 MARCH)

This production is a collaboration between internationally-acclaimed Theatre for Africa and a local Botswana company Showtime. It brings you one of Botswana’s greatest wildlife spectacles: the breath-taking flocks of flamingos in the Makgadikgadi. It is told through thrilling physical theatre and inventive design. This production will transport you back into the heart of the African bushveld. The show features Batswana actors who will enrich the story with Botswana’s cultural heritage through song, dance and storytelling. A journey through the Makgadikgadi unfolding without spoken language will move your spirit, tantalise your imagination and make you want to get straight into your car and head into the bushveld! It promises to be a highlight in this year’s cultural calendar and is a must-see for all!

Enquiries can be made to Catja Orford, Manager - No 1 Ladies' Opera House, cell +267 726 86 557. BirdLife Botswana has seen a short excerpt of the flamingo and eagle sequences which are excellent.

2010 membership fees due

2010-02-26T15:55:00.001+02:00

To those of you who have not paid your subscriptions and renewed your membership for 2010, we kindly ask you to do so. We depend on having a large membership base as well as using your subscriptions to do work which we think is of value. You are very important to us.

BirdLife Botswana welcomes Japanese volunteer

2010-02-26T15:50:00.001+02:00

A new recruit from Japan, Ms Yukiko Murakami will be starting with the BirdLife Botswana office in Gaborone towards the end of April. Her field is Environmental Education, which is where we plan to use her skills. However we will also use her wider mature experience in other fields as well, which will lead to her further career development. This posting has been kindly sponsored by JICA, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, for two years.

Volunteer website manager required

2010-02-26T15:34:00.003+02:00

BirdLife Botswana is looking to engage a volunteer IT person to make our website even more attractive than it is at present. We would like to update our website at least twice a week, preferably more often, and to attract advertisers to our site. It is essential that this person should be fluent in written and spoken English, have a knowledge and interest in birds and have website management experience. The successful applicant may well have experience in marketing and in liaising with the press. This person would report to our Board member responsible for our website.

Fund-raiser required

2010-02-26T15:30:00.002+02:00

BirdLife Botswana is looking at increasing and improving our fund-raising effort and have some ambitious plans. However we need a volunteer go-getter in Gaborone to be appointed as fund-raiser for the next year. This person will have marketing experience, be dynamic, like working with an ambitious and hard-working team and will be result-oriented. The successful candidate could be male or female and is probably living in Gaborone as the spouse of an expatriate. Nationality is not important; the person could be a Motswana or Mongolian, but should be fluent in English, have a sense of humour and be literate and numerate. There is no salary attached, the successful applicant will be motivated by achieving agreed financial targets. The successful candidate does not have to be a bird lover, but we think at the end of the assignment, he or she probably will be avi-friendly. Subject to satisfactory performance, it is possible that we may appoint the successful candidate to a permanent paid position after a year.

BirdLife Botswana AGM 2010

2010-02-26T15:27:00.002+02:00

Please make a note of 15th May as that will be the date for our AGM, which will be held at Harold and Geraldine Hester's residence, Mogorosi, Plot 30a Notwane. The meeting will start at 18:00 and will be followed by a light supper. Closer to that date we will circulate the agenda and other details.

Water reaches Savuti Marsh

2010-01-25T10:52:00.004+02:00

Water in the Savuti Channel reaches Savuti Elephant Camp (Photo courteousy Orient Express Safaris)

The high flood levels in northern Botswana during mid- and late-2009 caused great excitement and speculation, with the Boteti River in particular being the focus of attention for many people. However, the highest water levels in decades in the Kwando led to the hope and belief that the Savuti Channel would at last flow again. Indeed, the water soon reached Wilderness Safaris ‘Savuti Camp’ in the Linyanti concession, but as it approached the western boundary of the Chobe National Park it slowed down and lost momentum (most of the water having bypassed the mouth of the Savuti at Zibadianja, and flowed down the Linyanti and into the Chobe River). Eventually the water stopped several kilometres from the Savuti Marsh.

Much to the surprise of many people, the channel started flowing again in earnest in December, possibly due to heavy unseasonal rains that fell in mid-2009, as well as good local summer rains. By mid-January, the water had flowed past the safari lodges at Savuti and was close to the top end of the marsh.

The 2010 floods promise to be above average, with water levels in the Zambezi and Chobe systems having already risen considerably. With plenty of water remaining from 2009, there is a high probability of the Savuti Marsh being seriously inundated later this year. It is entirely possible that Savuti will once again become one of Africa’s most spectacular wildlife areas. Watch this space!

African Emerald Cuckoo seen in Maun

2009-12-29T09:13:00.005+02:00

Over the Christmas period, Richard Randall was fortunate to see an adult male African Emerald Cuckoo at Sexaxa near Maun. This beautiful cuckoo is a forest species and is seldom, if ever, seen in the Okavango. It 'normal' distribution in Botswana is along the Chobe River in the northern part of the country. Like most cuckoos, this species is shy and not easily seen; however its distinctive 'pretty Geor-gie' call is a give-away. The African Emerald Cuckoo parasitises the camaropteras.

Biannual African Waterbird Census

2009-12-28T16:17:00.004+02:00

Photo: Thuto Moutloatse

The January waterbird counts are looming fast, and this is a reminder to all participants to get ready to undertake their counts at their favourite waterbody or stretch of river/waterway. New participants are always welcome; as with Common Bird Monitoring (see previous post) a small individual commitment twice a year adds up to a significant amount of data when information from a large number of counters is pooled. Some of the transects have been conducted twice annually for close on 20 years now, and represent a valuable dataset.

If you would like to find out more, with a view to participating, contact Stephanie Tyler at steph_tyler2001@hotmail.com

Common Bird Monitoring gains momentum

2009-12-20T10:52:00.006+02:00

The European Roller is one of the migratory species being monitored (Photo: P Hancock)
BirdLife Botswana’s Common Bird Monitoring (CBM) project aims to establish trends in the numbers of birds in Botswana, even those which are not globally or nationally threatened, to provide an indication of the status of biodiversity in the country. It is anticipated that the information gathered will be useful for the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as within the country where it will inform conservation priorities in terms of species and issues.

The monitoring is conducted during February and November every year, and the November session has just been completed. Transects were conducted mainly throughout the Chobe, Ngamiland and Ghanzi Districts with lower coverage of other areas, and our sincere thanks go to all who participated. The good returns from the northern part of the country are largely due to the CBM co-ordinators within the Department of Wildlife and National Parks: Mothusi Jenamiso, assisted by BirdLife Botswana member Pete Laver, in Kasane; Zee Mpofu in Maun; and Lucas Matthys and Gloria Ndobano in Ghanzi.

The project only really started in February of this year, and since then the number of participants has increased markedly. However, it is too early for any trends to be determined; these will only become apparent after several years. Consequently we urge participants to prepare themselves for the February 2010 monitoring period. New participants are always welcome, to increase the national coverage. The counts are fun, and only take a morning twice a year. If you are interested in contributing, contact one of the co-ordinators mentioned above, or Justin Soopu at the BirdLife Botswana office in Gaborone (3190541) or Pete Hancock at the BirdLife Botswana office in Maun (6865618/74654464). We especially need more transects done in Central and Kgalagadi Districts.

Special thanks to the following for assistance with the November counts: Danae Sheehan (RSPB), Rumbidzai Kaparadza, Mothusi Jenamiso, Baldwin Mashaba, Thatayaone Rabakane, Kabo Kgopa, Cruise Mollowakgatla, Cedric Somotanzi, Martin Kays, Johnny Mowanji, Kambango Sinimbo, Kevin Grant, Lorraine Boast, Birthe Gjern, TJ Lesifi, Eugenie and Mark Skelton, Zee Mpofu, Gloria Ndobano, Pete Laver, Mike Soroczynski, Nicky Bousfield, Harold Hester, and Oreemetse Dingake. (Photos: D Sheehan)

Capacity-building for communities: Mosu workshop

2009-12-08T09:33:00.005+02:00

BirdLife Botswana and the Dept. of Wildlife and National Parks are conducting a series of capacity-building workshops for the communities of Mmeya, Mosu and Mmatshumo in the southern part of Sua Pan, to empower them to conserve the natural resources of the area (in particular, the second largest breeding site of the Lesser Flamingo in Africa) and to improve their livelihoods through tourism in the Makgadikgadi. The first workshop was held in Mmatshumo Village during October this year, and explored ways of bringing the three villages together to achieve a common vision for their area. This was followed last week by a second workshop in Mosu Village, where community members developed a Strategic Plan to guide their activities. The third workshop will be held in Mmeya Village early in the new year.The first workshop was held at the Gaing-O Trust offices in Mmatshumo
Back to school in Mosu! The second workshop was held at Mosu primary school
The community workshops are part of the UNDP-GEF funded project “Strategic Partnerships to Improve the Operational and Financial Sustainability of Protected Areas”. The project aims to promote stakeholder engagement in biodiversity conservation in the Makgadikgadi area, and is a sister project to the Makgadikgadi Integrated Management Plan currently underway.

African Openbill breeding colonies

2009-11-29T13:40:00.003+02:00

An aerial survey of the wetlands of the Caprivi region (lower section of the Okavango River in Namibia, and the Kwando-Linyanti-Chobe-Zambezi system in Namibia) in September this year revealed approximately 2,000 nesting African Openbills in Lake Liambezi and a nesting site of about 2,500 African Openbills on the Chobe/Zambezi floodplains.

In 2009, the Zambezi River reached its highest level since 1969, inundating most of eastern Caprivi. More than 55,000 people were displaced and 100 people lost their lives. For the first time in 30 years the Okavango Delta is connected to the Kwando-Linyanti and Chobe-Zambezi rivers via the Selinda Spillway. The Savuti River is flowing for the first time since 1983. In early October the water was 8 km east of the Chobe National Park cut-line (the water was ~20 km from reaching the Savuti Marsh).

Chris Brown, Executive Director, Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF)

This observation is of interest since Lake Liambezi is on the border with Botswana, and also because these are probably the largest breeding colonies for this species in Southern Africa (they exceed the largest site in the Okavango Delta, even though they may only be temporary nesting sites). Pete Hancock, BirdLife Botswana

Okavango fish traps

2009-11-11T11:27:00.014+02:00

by Grant Atkinson and Helena Faasen (Okavango Wilderness Safaris)

The recent high water levels in the Okavango Delta are now a thing of the past. One result of this year’s big flood is the exciting bird viewing that is taking place as thousands of fish become trapped by the receding waters.

These fish become a magnet for many species of waterbirds, and on a recent visit to Chitabe Camp we got to experience some of the action associated with these so-called ‘fish traps.” Instead of viewing birds just flying overhead, or standing somewhere, the fish traps bring many species together and the interaction that occurs between them is fascinating. Forced into close proximity with one another, the birds compete, co-operate, fight and steal from one another. The particular pool that we spent most time at near Chitabe was dominated for a while by a pair of Saddle-billed Storks. The pair were happy to share the pool with several smaller species of birds, but objected to a flock of Yellow-billed Storks, and some Pink-backed Pelicans, that joined in the action. For almost an hour the two Saddle-billed Storks chased all the other storks and pelicans away, but eventually they either grew tired of the effort, or else they had caught enough fish for themselves.

Birding action like we observed will be happening all over the Okavango over the next few months, and it will last until the annual floodwaters arrive and once again bring the sanctuary of deep water to the fish.

Vulture massacre

2009-10-04T15:32:00.008+02:00

A few of the 50 poisoned White-backed Vultures (Photo: G Reed)

The wildlife and conservation community in northern Botswana has been appalled by the recent poisoning by poachers of over 50 globally threatened vultures in the Xudum Concession – one of the most serious wildlife poisoning incidents on record. The White-backed and Hooded Vultures, together with Yellow-billed Kites, were found dead at two giraffe carcases that had been laced with poison. The debacle was discovered by Grant Reed from Letaka Safaris while out on a foot patrol in the area. “We were investigating a column of vultures spiralling in the sky, and were expecting to find a lion kill – instead we were confronted by the depressing and nauseating sight of large numbers of dead and dying vultures and other raptors. They had been feeding on the carcases of two giraffe, killed illegally by poachers operating in the area, and sprinkled with poison. It appears as though the poachers are deliberately aiming to eliminate every vulture in the area, since the birds are quickly alerting the concessionaires to the occurrence of their poaching activities” he surmised.

Hooded Vultures were also killed (Photo: G Reed)

The incident was reported to BirdLife Botswana and the DWNP Anti-poaching Unit, and although the poachers escaped, sufficient evidence was gathered to identify the culprits. An empty poison container was found, and the poison was identified as Carbofuran by Dr Peter Apps of the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust. Carbofuran is a highly toxic agricultural insecticide meant for use on non-food crops; it is not registered for use on animals, and it is unlikely that it has any legitimate use in northern Botswana.

“We are very concerned by the escalating indiscriminate use of poisons for killing vultures, as this has decimated their numbers throughout Africa, and is the single greatest threat facing all vulture and raptor species here in Botswana” said Pete Hancock, BirdLife Botswana’s Conservation Officer in Maun. “We are embarking on an awareness raising programme to address this issue, and will also be working for legislation to restrict the availability and use of poisons such as Temik which is highly toxic and a threat to our environment and human well-being” he said.

The perpetrators, when brought to book, will face serious consequences – vultures and the giraffes that were used to kill them are Protected Game Animals in Botswana and the penalty for killing one of them is P10,000.00 and 10 years imprisonment. However, it is a long road between the commission of a crime and final conviction – BirdLife Botswana and other stakeholders will be monitoring the case with interest.

The mortal remains of over 50 poisoned vultures go up in smoke (Photo: G Reed)

Community workshop at Nata Sanctuary

2009-09-25T11:46:00.003+02:00

Nata Sanctuary was a hive of activity during the latter part of August as 35 community members from Trusts throughout the country gathered for a week’s training in bird identification and monitoring. The workshop was organized and conducted by staff from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) and BirdLife Botswana, and was the first of its kind involving community members in Common Bird Monitoring and Important Bird Area (IBA) Monitoring. An introduction to the Management Oriented Monitoring System (MOMS), promoted by DWNP for use in community concession areas, also formed part of the training. Some participants were from new Trusts and were able to interact with, and benefit from, other long-standing Trusts from the northern part of the country which had full-time Community Escort Guides involved in natural resources monitoring.Basic skills in bird identification are needed before anyone can participate meaningfully in bird monitoring, so logically this formed the starting point for the course. The focus for this part was on common birds (needed for Common Bird Monitoring) and ‘trigger species’ for each IBA (needed for IBA monitoring). This led on to sessions on Common Bird Monitoring, presented by Pete Hancock, and IBA monitoring, facilitated by Virat Kootsositse – these included both theory and field practicals so that participants would feel comfortable about initiating these activities back in their areas. The MOMS session, conducted by Malebogo Sentsho, linked very closely with the IBA monitoring, and some of the community members who have already been implementing MOMS contributed meaningfully to the discussions on integrating MOMS and IBA monitoring.

The final day of the workshop was devoted to sharing experiences and lessons learnt in managing Trusts and their activities, for the benefit of the newer Trusts that BirdLife Botswana is engaging with. Boitumelo Sekhute-Batungamile introduced BirdLife Botswana’s PSPA project - centred on promoting community involvement in birding tourism in the Makgadikgadi area – and this provided the necessary background to show where the new community organizations fitted in. Resource persons from Government, primarily DWNP, assisted to facilitate and guide discussions to ensure that the framework provided by the CBNRM Policy was clear, so that all Trusts operate within the parameters set by the Policy.

The highlight of the workshop was the evident willingness of community members to engage in bird monitoring in their areas. Without exception, communities were enthusiastic to become active partners with DWNP and BirdLife Botswana in collecting data which could contribute to the management of their areas, and help meet the Botswana Government’s obligation to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The workshop was made possible firstly by the Nata Sanctuary Trust, which provided the venue, but also by funding from three donor agencies which are supporting BirdLife Botswana projects viz. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Common Bird Monitoring), European Union (IBA/PA monitoring) and GEF-UNDP (the PSPA project) – they are all thanked for their contribution towards making the workshop a success.

Will Lake Xau fill?

2009-09-22T15:39:00.007+02:00

The flow of the Okavango’s waters down the Boteti River this year have been nothing short of spectacular, with the front of the flood approaching Rakops (over 200km from Maun) at present.

While predicting the future is fraught with all sorts of risks, it seems likely that it is a question of when, not if, the water will once again reach Lake Xau, which is the terminus for the Boteti. This assumes of course that Debswana will remove the structures they built previously to channel water into the Mopipi Dam, but given their recent track record (where they removed the bund blocking the Nhabe Channel leading to Lake Ngami), this looks likely. During wetter decades, Lake Xau was a substantial waterbody, and supported spectacular birdlife; the front cover of Smither’s 1964 Checklist of Birds of the Bechuanaland Protectorate depicts a Gull-billed Tern flighting over Lake Xau, and this is the type of rarity that may well turn up at the Lake again when it floods.

Since the Lake has been dry for several decades now, the lakebed has grassed over, and it is currently not unlike Lake Ngami was before the recent floods. Lake Xau is also similar to Lake Ngami in being a nutrient sink with rich soils that, when flooded, will result in nutrient-rich, eutrophic waters in an otherwise dry area. Lake Xau will almost certainly attract and support a diverse suite of waterbirds – in large numbers – when it finally floods. However, it will not be a destination for ‘armchair’ birders – the location is quite remote, there are no facilities in the area, and access will be difficult. For serious birdwatchers, though, it will be worth watching this Blog for updates on the status of the area.
View of the dry bed of Lake Xau (in distance) from Kedia Hill

Coming soon - Avitourism handbook

2009-08-31T10:30:00.005+02:00

BirdLife Botswana staff members, Keddy Mooketsa and Boitumelo Sekhute-Batungamile, are to be congratulated on the development of an avi-tourism handbook – a practical guide to starting a community-based birding tourism business. This handbook provides useful information on how to go about using birds in a sustainable, non-consumptive way (through tourism) to improve rural livelihoods, and thereby create a real value for birds that will ultimately lead to their conservation.

Often people living adjacent to Important Bird Areas (IBAs) do not realize the value of birds, but with birding tourism growing worldwide, avi-tourism is a viable way of generating income from birds, with adequate marketing. Once people see the benefit of birds, it is easy to involve them in the protection and monitoring of the resource. This approach has been successfully used by BirdLife partners in South Africa and Kenya, for example, to create meaningful employment, and to show the value of birds, and BirdLife Botswana is now following their example.

The avi-tourism handbook, which is due out soon, will complement the specialist bird guide training that has already been initiated by BirdLife Botswana staff.

Seeing is believing!

2009-07-28T09:19:00.008+02:00

The rare yellow form of the Crimson-breasted Shrike (Photo: K Oake)

If you've only ever seen an illustration of the yellow form of the Crimson-breasted Shrike in your bird book and, like many others, even doubted its existence, you'll be happy to know that it is alive and well and living at Kgantsang along the Nhabe River in Ngamiland, northern Botswana. This individual was first seen on 19th July by Andy Moore, Chris McIntyre and Tony Caulfield while out mountain-biking along the river; fortunately they realised the rarity and importance of their sighting and contacted BirdLife Botswana member Ken Oake who photographed it and told other keen birders about it. They were also able to relocate it, confirming its existence! As can be seen from the photograph, the breast of the bird is a rich yellow-orange colour, making it strikingly beautiful. Its mate has the normal crimson breast.

Important date change

2009-07-16T17:36:00.003+02:00

Please note that the 2009 BirdLife Botswana annual dinner will be held in Maun on Saturday 15th August this year, not on Saturday 5th September as previously advertised. The dinner will still be at Thamalakane River Lodge and will cost P150.00 per person. We would like those planning to attend, to let Pete Hancock (birdlifemaun@botsnet.bw) know by the end of July please, so that the necessary preparations can be made. After dinner, the guest speaker will be Richard Randall, well known as one of the top birders in Botswana, who will give an illustrated presentation on birding the Okavango.

BirdLife Botswana Board members will be present, so this is also an opportunity to meet them informally and have an enjoyable evening.

Too much of a good thing?

2009-07-16T12:54:00.005+02:00

With the Okavango River at its highest flood level for decades at present, there have been great expectations for good birding as water reaches areas that have been dry for a long time. Throughout the Delta, water levels are high, and this has had the somewhat unexpected effect of forcing wading birds into peripheral areas. The result is that the central parts of the Delta are noticeably devoid of birds.

July is the month for the African Waterbird Counts, and long-standing transects that have been counted in the Okavango so far are turning up very few birds. The heronries at Xakanaxa, Gadikwe and Gcobega have been surprisingly quiet, and the same applies to other areas. Water at Lake Ngami is deeper and more extensive than at any other time in the recent past, and waterbirds are conspicuous by their absence.

However, along the fringes of inundated floodplains such as the Khwai and Gomoti, birding is much better. Unusually, sizeable flocks of Wattled Cranes are being seen along the Khwai River, an area previously considered marginal for this flodplain specialist. These are likely to be birds forced out of their normal areas by high water, or they may simply be taking advantage of the improved conditions at Khwai. The Gomoti floodplain is teeming with Slaty Egrets, Glossy and African Sacred ibis and a variety of ducks and geese.
Glossy Ibis probing the shallow floodplain margins (Photo: P Hancock)

Please keep the BirdLife Office in Maun informed of any build-up of waterbird numbers anywhere in the Okavango Delta system.

Interesting sightings from Tachila

2009-07-13T13:33:00.005+02:00

Tachila Nature Reserve, near Francistown, is a new privately run wildlife sanctuary that aims to provide opportunities for environmental education for schoolchildren from throughout the country. It is also a worthwhile birding destination, and BirdLife Botswana Board member, Nicky Bousfield (who has been the driving force behind the establishment of the reserve)sent in the following highlights recently:
"The following are some of the interesting sightings from Tachila:
Short-toed Rock-Thrush (eastern race, with uniform slate-blue crown) Monticola brevipes pretoriae
Freckled Nightjar Caprimulgus tristigma (this bird is marginal in eastern Botswana)
Black Stork Ciconia nigra (uncommon in Botswana)
Boulder Chat Pinarornis plumosus (marginal in Botswana)
Bronze-winged Courser Rhinoptilus chalcopterus
Three-banded Courser Rhinoptilus cinctus (marginal in Botswana)
Yellow-billed Egret Egretta intermedia (uncommon in eastern Botswana)
Yellow-billed Egret (Photo: P Hancock)

African-Fish-Eagles are breeding at Tachila for the third year in a row. Other raptors seen from time to time include Bateleur, African Hawk-Eagle, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, White-backed and Lappet-faced vultures".

Latest Birds and People newsletter on website

2009-07-13T10:26:00.002+02:00

The latest Birds and People newsletter (#22) is available off the BirdLife Botswana website www.birdlifebotswana.org.bw

There have been some unexpected difficulties mailing it out to subscribers, so if you are in a hurry to receive your copy, please download it from the website.

Ringed Pratincoles at Lake Ngami

2009-07-13T09:45:00.005+02:00

One of the ringed pratincoles (Photo: K Oake)

An observant Maun birder, Ken Oake, recently spotted two Collared Pratincoles with rings (bands) at Lake Ngami, and managed to get a clear photo of one of them. Unfortunately the number on the ring is not legible, making this a somewhat tantalising observation as we cannot be certain of the origin of the bird. It is most likely that it was among the 61 Collared Pratincoles ringed at the Lake during an AFRING training course in December, 2005, and if this is the case, it would mean that the pratincoles are returning to this important site. Only 283 Collared Pratincoles have ever been ringed, so it is great to get a resighting of one of them, even if the information is incomplete.

Birders at Lake Ngami should also keep a look out for other bird species with rings - for example, a large number of Kittlitz's Plovers were ringed there during the AFRING course, and none of them have been re-sighted or recovered to date.

A date to diarise

2009-07-04T18:54:00.003+02:00

The 2009 BirdLife Botswana annual dinner will be held in Maun this year, at Thamalakane River Lodge, on Saturday 5th September. The dinner costs P150.00 per person, and we would like those planning to attend, to let Pete Hancock (birdlifemaun@botsnet.bw) know by mid-August please. After dinner, the guest speaker will be Richard Randall, well known as one of the top birders in Botswana, who will give an illustrated presentation on birding the Okavango.

BirdLife Botswana Board members will be present, so this is also an opportunity to meet them informally and have an enjoyable evening.

New (overlooked) record for Botswana bird list?

2009-07-03T21:35:00.001+02:00

During the Peterhouse School scientific expeditions to Botswana between 1966 and 1970, schoolchildren under the supervision of Peter Ginn (well-known as the editor of ‘A Complete Book of Southern African Birds’) collected bird specimens from the Makgadikgadi area. During one of these outings, a gull that was collected in the Nata area, in the company of Grey-headed Gulls, turned out to be an exciting find. Once the group had returned to Zimbabwe, the gull was tentatively identified by Mr Stuart Irwin from the Natural History Museum as Larus novaehollandiae. This was subsequently confirmed by Messrs CW Benson and PR Colston at the British Museum of Natural History.

When Larus novaehollandiae was later split, the nominate race in Australia retained the name L. novaehollandiae and the southern African birds became L. hartlaubii. This species is restricted as a breeding bird to the coldwater coasts of Namibia and the Western Cape, and sightings inland are quite unusual.

However the interesting thing about this observation is that Larus hartlaubii does not feature on the Botswana bird list. There is no mention of it in the Bird Atlas of Botswana – this ‘bible’ for birds in Botswana included historical data on our birds as well as observations spanning the decade 1980 to 1990. Could this species have been overlooked?

It would be interesting to know the whereabouts of the specimen collected by the Peterhouse expedition, to confirm its identity. Anyone who knows anything about this observation is invited to comment below.

Kwando River reaches all-time high

2009-06-25T11:42:00.005+02:00

As with other rivers in the region, the Kwando River has been rising steadily as the 2009 flood season progresses. It recently exceeded the previous highest level on record (from 1969), but with last week's unseasonal rains has risen even higher.

The Kwando River flows in a south-easterly direction forming the boundary between Botswana and the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, but is diverted in a north-easterly direction when it encounters a slightly elevated faultline - and here it changes its name to the Linyanti. However, a small channel breaches the faultline at the point where the Kwando first meets it, and - unusually - flows out of the parent river to die in the arid Kalahari some 50 kilometres to the south-east. This of course, is the famous Savuti Channel, which dried up during the mid-1980s, and this is the reason why we are so excited about the high water levels in the Kwando River - the Savuti is flowing quite steadily once again, and has almost reached the western boundary of the Chobe National Park. If, or when, the water reaches the Savuti Marsh, it will re-create a wildlife paradise second to none in the region. Birdwatchers are advised to keep track of the progress of the water in the Savuti Channel, since the arrival of the water at the Marsh will undoubtedly bring with it good birding, and possibly a few surprises too.

The top end of the Savuti Channel where it leaves the Linyanti Swamp (Photo: P Hancock)

Peterhouse Expedition to Makgadikgadi revisited

2009-06-25T11:38:00.000+02:00

If you were born in Botswana in the past 20 years, you would find it difficult to believe that the lower Boteti River, from Khumaga down to Sokwane and beyond, was virtually perennial prior to 1990, with water year-round, substantial reedbeds and flourishing riparian woodland. All that remains today is an insignificant, dry channel terminating in a parched dustbowl in the south-western part of the Makgadikgadi Pans.

In order to appreciate how the area looked prior to its desiccation, you need to journey back in time. This is well worth doing, since the water flow in the Okavango system, which feeds into the Boteti, is returning to higher levels, and it is entirely conceivable that the river will once again reach this area, restoring it to a rich biodiverse wetland.

With this in mind, I managed to track down copies of the Peterhouse Natural History Society journals in the Peter Smith collection in the library at the Okavango Research Centre. For a month every year between 1966 and 1971, a group of schoolchildren from Peterhouse School in Zimbabwe visited the Makgadikgadi Pans to research and document the fauna of this – then little-known – area. These were no ordinary school jollies, although I have little doubt that the participants enjoyed themselves immensely – the children collected valuable scientific information including mammal and bird specimens, compiled checklists and found and documented many bird nests. Their reports make fascinating reading, and are a valuable contribution to our understanding of the avifauna here at the time of Botswana’s Independence.

Here are a few interesting highlights:

· Goliath Heron – a number seen along the river at Khumaga
· African Fish-Eagle – very common along river at Sokwane (also breeding here)
· Black Crake – very common along river
· Wattled Crane – seen along river
· African Mourning Dove – common in riverine woodland
· Coppery-tailed Coucal – common near river, in reedbeds
· Giant Kingfisher – quite common along river at Sokwane
· White-rumped (Hartlaub’s) Babbler – common all along river

Standing in the dry riverbed at Sokwane today, it is very difficult to visualize these birds here! We look forward to the return of the river, and to see to what extent they recolonise the area.

Freckled Nightjar reported from Central Kalahari

2009-06-05T15:19:00.002+02:00

During the last week of May, Map Ives and Grant Woodrow of Okavango Wilderness Safaris heard a Freckled Nightjar calling in the northern part of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), well outside its known range.

The Freckled Nightjar is a bird of rocky areas and is abundant in the eastern Hardveld of Botswana - there are also records from the Aha and Tsodilo Hills in north-western Ngamiland. However there is certainly no typical Freckled Nightjar habitat in the CKGR!

Other birders visiting the CKGR should please look out for, and report observations of the Freckled Nightjar from this area.

Perhaps the bottom line here is 'Birds do fly' !!

Okavango floodwaters reach Toteng

2009-06-05T13:57:00.005+02:00

Today, the Okavango floodwaters reached Toteng, flowing strongly down the hitherto dry Kunyere Channel towards Lake Ngami.

It is anticipated that the water will reach the Lake within ten days, filling it rapidly since there is an extensive waterbody remaining from last year's floods. This is great news for birders, as the Lake is likely to expand to over 50 square kilometres in extent, and provide rich habitat for waterbirds. Best time to visit would be late September or October this year when smaller waterbodies in surrounding areas have dried, and migratory ducks and waders would be arriving in numbers.

A Little Piece of the Okavango Restored

2009-06-02T15:56:00.035+02:00

There have been some interesting attempts to manage the Okavango Delta in the past, to ‘improve’ the provision of the ecosystem’s goods and services, but it is doubtful whether many of these were successful. The system is very dynamic and fluctuates hugely within natural bounds, moving to its own rhythm.

During the 1970s and 80s, the flood levels in the Okavango were higher than average, but by the end of this period they declined and the outflow down the Thamalakane and Boteti Rivers no longer reached Rakops and the Mopipi reservoir at the distal end. Since large quantities of water were needed at the Orapa diamond mine, the Nhabe Channel was blocked, thereby diverting water down the Boteti River towards the Mopipi reservoir from whence it was pumped to Orapa. Of course, this deprived people living along the Nhabe from their water supply, but by the mid-nineties this did not make any difference since the Okavango waters ended in Maun, some 25 kilometres short.

The position of the bund at the start of the Nhabe channel

Now with the return of higher floods imminent, Debswana has removed the bund at the mouth of the Nhabe Channel. This is in line with the Okavango Delta Management Plan, and is a highly commendable action aimed at restoring the Nhabe Channel. This watercourse flows westwards to Lake Ngami, some 80 kilometres distant. If it flows this year, it will recreate valuable waterfowl habitat, as well as improving the quality of life for people living along its length, illustrating once again that what is good for birds is generally good for people too. Despite the Nhabe being blocked, Lake Ngami has actually filled to varying extent over the past five years, being fed by the Kunyere Channel, and this is likely to continue, with any water reaching the Lake from the Nhabe being an added bonus.

Work in progress - the pipes have been removed and the bund is being levelled (Photo: P Hancock)

The Nhabe Channel is likely to support significant numbers of ducks and geese once flows are restored, particularly Red-billed and Hottentot teal, White-faced Duck, Comb Ducks and Southern Pochard. For some reason, channels that have been dormant for a number of years (whether due to natural or man-made changes) attract vast numbers of waterfowl when they flow again, possibly due to a build-up of nutrients in the form of dung from the herbivores that graze along the channels when they are dry. It is expected that African Fish-Eagles and other piscivores such as Reed Cormorant and African Darter will soon recolonise the area.

It is likely that the Nhabe Channel will once again support large numbers of waterfowl (Photos: W Tarboton)
Once the Nhabe Channel becomes more permanent, aquatic vegetation in the form of reeds, sedges and waterlilies will become re-established, and provide suitable habitat for African and Lesser jacanas, African Pygmy-Geese and Whiskered Terns. The riparian woodland that has degenerated over the past two decades will also recover and boost numbers of frugivores such as Meyer’s Parrot, Burchell’s and Meves’s starling, Black-collared Barbet and Grey Go-away-bird.

African Fish-Eagles will quickly colonise the Nhabe