Vulture massacre

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

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?

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

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!

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

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?

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.