The significance of Vultures to the ecosystem is a well-known subject to everybody who has visited one in every of our tasks – spend only a margin of time with our Wildlife ACT screens or managers, and also you’ll hear simply how necessary Vultures are.
As the continuing threats to vulture populations proceed, the variety of nesting pairs throughout the protected areas round us decline. In an try to grasp the decline higher, annual vulture nest surveys are carried out to watch the breeding success of Vulture nesting pairs which in flip is used to measure the well being of the native vulture populations.
Breeding season for many vulture species monitored in Zululand normally lies between June and November – over which period our groups on the bottom begin to be on particular lookout for the pairs in common timber. With only one egg laid per vulture pair, their problem continues – to make sure profitable rearing and fledging of their one-and-only offspring of the breeding season.
This 12 months, the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park Wildlife ACT monitoring groups are absolutely ready to tackle the “ground-truthing” nest survey, complementing the aerial surveys carried out yearly by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife to help the KZN Vulture Technique. The HiP staff met with Anel, Wildlife ACT Vulture Programme Supervisor, to do some in-field workshopping to make sure the staff is well-equipped to conduct profitable vulture nest surveys this 12 months.
To do these surveys, the groups use the GPS places acquired from the aerial survey, in addition to native data from HiP workers to scout and assess the nests from the bottom. At every nest, knowledge corresponding to Nest ID, Location, GPS bearing from the automobile to nest, Estimated distance from automobile to nest, Chicken species, Tree species, Habitat kind, any anthropomorphic disturbance and its distance , Any elephant harm, Exercise of the precise nesting vulture, and any photographs are recorded.
All of this fine-scale knowledge collected from the assorted nest websites throughout the breeding clusters, finally assists in figuring out vulture breeding success charges and potential mortality causes. Additionally they help by giving useful perception to different necessary info, which can contribute to deliberate analysis tasks, corresponding to tree choice, Elephant harm and every other potential threats.
Want our groups luck this season of vulture nest surveys!
Please take into account supporting the Vulture Conservation Programme HERE.
