As the vulture flies ...

BirdLife Botswana, in conjunction with the CKGR Research Group and the Denver Zoological Foundation, recently deployed satellite tracking devices on a pair of adult White-headed Vultures in Khutse Game Reserve. These are the first birds of this species to be fitted with satellite transmitters to determine their movements. The White-headed Vulture is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Data List, but has been little studied and remains an enigmatic species. The White-headed Vulture research is part of a wider ranging Botswana vulture project aimed at providing a sound scientific base for their conservation. The five major Botswana vulture species are all globally threatened, and are nationally regarded as Birds of Conservation Concern. The White-headed Vultures were captured using a compressed-air powered cannon net, activated remotely from a concealed hide; this technique has been used by the team to catch relatively large numbers of Lappet-faced and White-backed vultures as well. The vultures were measured and weighed, and also fitted with unique numbered wing tags to aid future identification, before being released. Although it is early days yet, it is interesting to note that the pair has temporarily split up, with the male moving a few hundred kilometers northwards into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; the female has remained in the vicinity of the capture site at Molose Pan in Khutse. Dr Richard Reading prepares to release the male (Photo: Pete Hancock). We would like to thank the Department of Wildlife and National Parks for their unstinting support of the project, and Kanabo Conservation Link for providing additional funding to facilitate the capture of the birds.

Pharaoh's Chicken visits Botswana

Photo: Brent Harris.

In southern Africa, the Egyptian Vulture is known affectionately as Pharaoh’s chicken, and is viewed with a great deal of interest since it is exceedingly rare. It is extinct as a breeding bird in our area, with the last definite breeding attempt in the region being in 1923. It is a vagrant to Botswana, and there have only been a handful of authenticated sightings in recent times, making it a Category A Rarity (less than 10 accepted records). It is not just in southern Africa that it is rare – it is regarded as a globally Endangered species and there is concern worldwide about its future survival and well-being. This species was last seen in Botswana during 1998, so the sighting of an immature bird at Wilderness Safaris’ Kalahari Plains Camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve caused a great deal of excitement in birding circles. The bird was seen and photographed by Brent Harris on 20th February, and the photos are quite conclusive. The bird is a subadult in its second or third year, with quite a bit of cream-coloured plumage which immediately differentiates it from an immature Hooded Vulture, the only other species with a slender bill (but which doesn’t normally occur in the Central Kalahari). Well done to Wilderness Safaris’ for recognizing the importance of this sighting and reporting it to the BirdLife Botswana Records Subcommittee.

Pete Hancock
BirdLife Botswana

Botswana's National Bird List

The recent addition of the Angola Cave-Chat to the Southern African bird list, and the ‘rediscovery’ of the Green Tinkerbird after a hiatus of 55 years, brings home clearly the dynamic nature of bird movements and distribution. Even in well-studied areas, bird checklists are always changing with the addition of new species and, regrettably, the removal of those which no longer occur. This recently-past Christmas and New Year has been an exciting time for birders in Botswana too. Just prior to this period, the BirdLife Botswana Records Subcommittee announced the acceptance of four additional records to the Botswana National Bird List: they are Lesser Yellowlegs, Rosy Starling, Shelley’s Sunbird and Long-tailed Pipit. This brings the current total for Botswana up to 591 species. However, this total is likely to be increased soon once the Christmas/New Year observations have been scrutinized by the Records Subcommittee. Andy Solomon couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw an African Pitta in his back garden in Maun, and had the good sense to call Mark Muller and Richard Randall to corroborate his sighting. The nearest regular locality for this elusive forest species is western Zimbabwe, but it is known as a migrant which sometimes overshoots its range and ends up in unexpected places. Photographic evidence of the bird’s presence was obtained, and this means that confirmation by the Records Subcommittee is something of a formality. On New Year’s day, an Isabelline Wheatear was seen at Lesoma, another exciting record! This presence of this species in Botswana has been somewhat controversial to date, with a claim by Hockey (1988) being subsequently rejected by the Botswana Bird Club Records Subcommittee (as it was then known - see Herremans, 1997). However, like the pitta, this is also a migrant, and so can pitch up in central and southern Africa irregularly. This is in fact a new record not just for Botswana, but for southern Africa, since previous records are in doubt. An Eastern Nicator from Kasane during December 2012 completed the trio. This is normally a tropical, coastal species which in this case, has probably moved up the hot, humid Zambezi Valley where suitable riverine woodland and thickets exist. It has previously been recorded regularly in extreme western Zimbabwe not far from the Botswana border i.e. it is extralimital, but its presence in Botswana is not entirely unexpected. It is important to emphasise that the jury is not yet out on these observations; nevertheless the point remains that birders who spend their Christmas birding are likely to be rewarded by very exciting sightings!

Whose vulture is this?

Satellite tracking of birds is an expensive undertaking, but the results are invariably worth the cost. This has proved to be the case with a joint project being undertaken by BirdLife Botswana in partnership with CKGR Research and the Denver Zoological Foundation. The project aims to determine the movements of Lappet-faced Vultures in Botswana, specifically to ascertain whether the birds are able to meet their year-round requirements in Botswana’s large protected areas, or whether they scavenge in areas where they could be susceptible to poisoning by humans. The project is in its early stages, but to date we have captured five adult Lappet-faced Vultures using a cannon net, and attached satellite transmitters to all five – four in the Central Kalahari and one in the Makgadikgadi. The precise positions of the birds are recorded every two hours during the day, and initially it was clear that most of them were breeding as they remained in a fairly prescribed area around specific points which we presumed were their nests. Since the end of November, their home ranges have been expanding rapidly, and some spectacular movements have been undertaken. One particular bird made a long-distance foray into southern Namibia, and then returned a few days later, as shown on the map below.

It is important to note that the vulture flew southwest along the upper, slightly irregular route, and returned via the bottom route – which is incredibly straight, as though the bird was in a hurry to return and unerringly took the most linear course! The directness of this line-of-flight is uncanny – it would require a GPS or other navigational aid for a human to achieve this degree of precision! Apart from this feature, the 1,500 kilometre venture also raises some other interesting questions: Was this a deliberate sortie to a predetermined point for a specific purpose? What is at the place in Namibia where it turned around? Why did it return to its point of departure? It seems reasonable to believe that the foray was not accidental; wind direction is prevailingly from the east, and would have aided the bird on the outgoing leg of its journey, but hindered it on its return. It is clearly not being blown randomly throughout the region! When I asked Namibian colleagues what was at the turning point where the bird spent a short while before flying home, Chris Brown, Director of the Sustainable Solutions Trust and ornithologist of note, had the following information: “The map below shows the movement pattern, over more than five years, of a young Cape Vulture fitted with a satellite transmitter captured near Otjiwarongo by Maria Diekmann.

You will notice that the bird spent a lot of time in the Kalahari of south-eastern Namibia, in the same general area as your Lappet-faced Vulture. I went down there one weekend and spoke to the Manager of one of our Gondwana Parks/Lodges, Jaco Visser. Jaco grew up on a farm in the area and knows the farmers and their land uses. We had the specific farms on which the birds spent most time. Jaco immediately recognised these farms, not as game farms, but as commercial livestock farms where the farmers were well known to be poor farmers who regularly suffered high livestock mortalities. Most were sheep and goat farmers. I guess that, over time, these farms become areas well know to the vultures as profitable searching grounds and they keep an eye on what is happening there. The info system of vultures seems to operate at a SADC level!” This definitely adds another piece to the puzzle! It is apparently no coincidence that our bird should go down to the south-eastern part of Namibia to see what, if anything, was on offer there! The picture now emerging is as follows: Lappet-faced Vultures know all the good foraging areas in southern Africa, and it is quite simple for one of them to make a 1,500 kilometre round-trip to one of these locations to assess its current potential as a food source. A direct flight of 1,000 kilometres from the Central Kalahari could put a vulture in any one of seven southern African countries! Another Namibian colleague, John Mendelsohn, who was involved in monitoring the travels of several Cape Vultures said that ”Perhaps the most remarkable finding or all is that these birds avoided the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, rarely even crossing over its border for a sniff or look-see”. The information above immediately answers our fundamental research question about Lappet-faced Vultures: there is no protected area in southern Africa which is large enough to provide safety for this species from the potential dangers imposed by humans. In fact, the scenario is worse than ever anticipated – a single poisoning incident could annihilate a very large segment of the populations of all southern African vulture species, Lappet-faced included.

First catch your vulture!

Preparations are underway to catch five Lappet-faced Vultures in Botswana, to fit them with satellite transmitters to track their movements throughout the country. There are many ways to catch a vulture, but apparently they are all difficult! But catching the bird is the first unavoidable step in this project being undertaken by BirdLife Botswana in conjunction with the Denver Zoo and CKGR Research team. Traditionally, vultures in Africa have been caught successfully using a cannon-net – a cannon which fires a large net over a group of vultures. However, the conventional cannon-net is not a viable option any longer due to restrictions on the possession and movement of the explosives used to power the device. However, colleagues at the Denver Zoo have managed to find a similar device, called a Net-Blaster, which works on compressed air to fire the net. This item is shown below.

The vultures will need to be attracted to a bait within range of the Net Blaster, which can then be triggered remotely to fire the net over the birds. It all sounds very simple! We don’t want to rely on a single method, so we have a back-up option too. Colleagues in the region have done a review of vulture capture methods, excluding those utilising explosives. Top of the list is a walk-in cage trap which has been used successfully in South Africa and Namibia. We are in the process of constructing a portable version which we intend to deploy during June. The photo below shows what it will look like when complete:

In theory, the vultures enter the cage to feed on the bait; the curtain is then closed from a remote, concealed site, and the birds are trapped inside. While not wanting to tempt fate, there is a high possibility that one or both of these methods will be successful! Both however need two additional ingredients – patience and perseverance! The next post on this site will report on our experience with actually catching our target species, and fitting the satellite transmitters. Pete Hancock

Alive and well - Ross's Turaco in Botswana

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

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 . . .

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

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

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

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 . . .

One step away from a catastrophe

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.

Poisoning of wildlife

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

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

(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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Waterbirds arrive at Lake Xau

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

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 ...

… 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.

First catch your flamingo!

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

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?