African Raptors

Introduction

A Young Bearded Vulture at Dawn

The Bearded Vulture is listed as endangered in the Southern African Red Data Book due to its small and declining population size, restricted range, range contraction, and the susceptibility to several threats in Lesotho and South Africa (BirdLife, 2004).  Its red data status and the lack of data on current population size lead to a monitoring programme being implemented in 2000 by Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife to determine the number of breeding pairs in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. [Read more →]

Am Eleonora's falcon just before release (Photo Courtesy: Ugo Mellone)

We examined the connection between  landscape characteristics and behaviour of a long-distance migratory raptor, the Eleonora’s falcon. Our main goal was to test whether long-distance migratory birds adjust their migration programme according to the different characteristics of the habitats crossed during the journey with special emphasis in the so-called ‘‘ecological barriers’’, inhospitable environments where the opportunities to fulfil energy requirements are low or absent and environmental factors could be extremely severe. To this end, 11  Eleonora’s falcons were tracked by satellite telemetry in [Read more →]

Vultures at a carcass

Reports of vulture declines have been numerous over the past decade.  From southeast Asia to West Africa, vultures are declining at alarming rates, making them the most threatened functional group of birds.  Due to their huge ranges, even relatively pristine areas in Kenya have seen large declines in vulture numbers.

Scavengers, especially vultures, provide one of the most important yet under-appreciated ecosystem services of any avian group.  Because they feed by scavenging, vultures are highly specialized to rapidly dispose of large carcasses, thus playing a critical role in nutrient cycling, leading other scavengers to carcasses and reducing the risk of contamination by pathogens by quickly consuming decomposing carcasses.  Despite the rate at which vultures are declining, little is known about the potential consequences of the widespread disappearance of these scavenging birds on other scavengers and rates of disease transmission at carcasses. [Read more →]

African Fish Eagle in full swoop (Photo by Shiv Kapila)

The African Fish Eagles at Lake Naivasha have been studied for over 40 years, firstly by the late Leslie Brown, and more recently, by raptor biologists from The Peregrine Fund, Cambridge University, The University of Leicester and The Earthwatch Programme. I first joined this research programme for my Masters Degree dissertation six months ago and now, with support from The Peregrine Fund and the National Museums of Kenya, I am aiming to build on current data. [Read more →]

Madagascar Serpent Eagle Photo by Lily De Roland Arison

Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world and 250 km east of Africa, has 23 species of raptors of which 17 and 6 are diurnal and nocturnal species, respectively. Of these 23 species, 13 are endemic to the island. Since the installation of The Peregrine Fund’s Madagascar Project in 1990, two endangered species were rediscovered: the Madagascar Serpent-eagle Eutriorchis astur and the Madagascar Red Owl Tyto soumagnei.

The Peregrine Fund’s Madagascar Project is currently and continues to conduct research and conservation on raptors with a focus on three endangered and threaten species: Madagascar Fish Eagle, Madagascar Serpent-eagle and Madagascar Red Owl. Below describes some of the research and highlights on these species from previous years and in 2008.

Madagascar Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vociferoides

We have monitored Madagascar Fish Eagles at two sites on the west coast of Madagascar. The first site is the Manambolomaty Lakes Complex which has been monitored since 1990 and with the highest concentration of nesting fish eagles in western Madagascar and the second site is in the [Read more →]

The African Raptor Expedition mobile

(Part I) Kenya to Botswana

We left Nairobi on February 15th and after spending a few days in the Masai Mara, we drove into Tanzania where we found large herds of wildebeests calving in the southern part of the Serengeti. With them, we found large numbers of vultures feeding on the calves that didn’t make it. We were driving southward along the Pare Mountains at dusk when we spotted a Taita Falcon hunting swifts. Still further south in Mikumi National Park, we saw our first and last Dickinson’s Kestrels of the trip and in Ruaha National Park, large numbers of Eurasian Hobbies were making the most of the rain and the termites that came with it. [Read more →]