African Bird Club

Multi-coloured Wood Sandpipers
Over the next few years, a project based in eastern Europe will be investigating the migration routes of Wood Sandpipers Tringa glareola between Europe and Africa. Trapped birds will be dye-marked yellow or pink and will also be given a combination of colour-rings. Birders in Africa are asked to watch for these and indeed all colour-ringed birds. Records of waders can be sent to the Wader Study Group, British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK.
Source: British Trust for Ornithology

Black-collared Bulbul is a bulbul
Doubt has long existed over the taxonomic status of the Black-collared Bulbul Neolestes torquatus, it being variously treated as a member of the Pycnonotidae or as a shrike (Malaconotidae, Laniidae or Prionopidae ). A new, multi-disciplinary, review of the species' biology, anatomy and DNA, performed by Bob Dowsett et al, recommends that it be retained as a primitive member of the bulbuls, albeit as incertae sedis.
Source: Source: Ibis 141, pp 22-28

World Birdwatch
We often accord space to stories reported in World Birdwatch, the full colour magazine of BirdLife International. The first issue of 1999 was a special issue devoted to the organisation's seabird conservation programme. Among a number of items of interest to Afrotropical ornithologists, birders and conservationists, Norman Ratcliffe's report on the current status of the important seabird colonies on Ascension Island, and Peter Ryan's profile of the globally threatened Spectacled Petrel Procellaria conspicillata, are likely to be essential reading. World Birdwatch is only available on subscription from BirdLife International, Wellbrook Court, Girton Road, Cambridge CB3 0NA. E-mail: birdlife@birdlife.org.uk.

Snake-Eagle and African Long-tailed Hawk taxonomy revisited
Two recent papers in Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. have shed new light on the taxonomy of African raptors. In the first, Mlíkovský, confirms the earlier (1987) opinion of Olson that African Long-tailed Hawk Urotriorchis macrourus is neither an Accipiter nor closely related to these hawks. Based on a comprehensive review of the species' osteology, the author considers it to belong with the Polemaetus eagles. Secondly, Bill Clark, basing his work on a review of specimen material, photographs and personal field experience, has summarised the differences between Short-toed Snake-Eagle Circaetus gallicus, Black-breasted Snake-Eagle C. pectoralis and Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle C. beaudouini and stressed that they should be recognised as separate species. Many recent publications, e.g. The Birds of Africa and Sibley & Monroe, treat these taxa as subspecies of a single species.
Source: Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. 119, pp 56-59

VIREO reaches 6,000
The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia houses the world's most comprehensive collection of bird photographs (VIREO-Visual Resources for Ornithology). The collection now contains over 95,000 bird images taken by some of the best bird photographers throughout the globe. Photographer Warwick Tarboton recently contributed an image of the 6,000th species on VIREO's files: a Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler Parisoma subcaeruleum, a common resident of semi-arid areas in southern Africa, taken at Nylsvley, a nature reserve in northern South Africa. VIREO is utilised by research scientists and commercial users throughout the world. The editors of Bull. ABC would like to acknowledge the important assistance VIREO affords the Club's publication by providing photographs from the collection free of charge. For further details of the collection contact VIREO, The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA. E-mail: VIREO@say.acnatsci.org
Source: VIREO press release, 9 April 1999

SOUTHERN AFRICA
New subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird
A new subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon lepturus has been described from Europa Island, in the southern Mozambique Channel. Birds from this isolated population were found to be significantly smaller than those of the two previously recognised subspecies from the Indian Ocean, and also had a high frequency of golden morphs, a feature not present elsewhere in the western Indian Ocean taxa. It also differs from the two small subspecies occurring in the central and eastern Atlantic Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean by the frequency of the colour morphs and the distribution. The new subspecies, named europae, is endemic to Europa Island and has been estimated to number c1,000 pairs.
Source: Ibis 141 pp 233-239

The Atlas of the Birds of Southern Mozambique
The three years of fieldwork for the bird atlas of southern Mozambique-namely the area between the Sabe River and the KwaZulu-Natal border-has been completed. This work, begun in 1995 and largely undertaken by Vincent Parker, has demonstrated that species' distribution patterns are far more complex than previously thought. In a country recovering from the ravages of 20 years of civil war, with a road system in tatters, Parker has accessed 98% of the 210 grid cells and visited more than 95% of them in each of the three 'seasons' that constitute the Mozambique year. Apart from distribution maps, the atlas presents information on the conservation status of all species, with special emphasis on those that are threatened, and includes data for adjacent Zimbabwe, South Africa and Swaziland. It covers all 523 species, except vagrants. All profits from the sale of this atlas will be committed to funding fieldwork for the next three years to produce the atlas for central Mozambique, between the Sabe and Zambezi Rivers. The last part of the project will also be the most difficult: the survey of northern Mozambique. Orders may be placed with the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Private Bag X11, Parkview 2122, South Africa; tel.: (011) 486 1102; fax: (011) 486 1506; e-mail: ewtsa@global.co.za
Source: Africa-Birds & Birding 3 (6), p 19

Oldest White-backed Vulture
The oldest White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus on record was found dead on 3 October 1998, 19 years after it had been ringed as a nestling, in September 1979, in the Kimberley district of the Northern Cape, South Africa. With this record, the known longevity for this species is nearing that of Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus, which has been found to reach 21 years of age.
Source: Africa-Birds & Birding 3 (6), p 19

More on tracking by satellite
We previously reported (Bull. ABC 5: 88) that German researchers had tracked, by satellite, a Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga from its breeding grounds in Poland to Zambia where it wintered in both 1996 and 1997. Remarkably this was the first record of the species in the country. A second bird has recently been tracked to a nearby wintering area in Zambia; this bird has bred in the same area of Poland where the first bird nested.
Source: World Birdwatch 21 (1), p 5

Longevity in Pale Chanting Goshawk
A female Pale Chanting Goshawk Melierax canorus found dead in central Namibia, 20 years and nine months after it had been ringed as an adult, in January 1978, just 12 km from the recovery site. This is the second oldest Pale Chanting Goshawk in the SAFRING databank: the oldest was recovered 21 years after it was ringed.
Source: Africa-Birds & Birding 3 (6), p 19

SAFRING and review of raptor recoveries
1998 saw the 50th anniversary of bird ringing in South Africa. Ringing was initially administered by the Southern African Ornithological Society until SAFRING commenced in 1971. The number of birds ringed in southern Africa now total over 70,000 annually. Terry Oatley, who administered the scheme from 1981-1987, has recently reviewed the recoveries of raptors ringed in southern Africa. An example of the species text, published in Bird Numbers (a publication of the Avian Demography Unit), reveals some fascinating facts about the movements, ecology and longevity of Pale Chanting Goshawk Melierax canorus (see item above). This publication can be obtained from the Avian Demography Unit, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. The price of the book which features 41 species and contains 64 A4 pages is R60 including VAT (R70 for addresses outside South Africa).
Source: Bird Numbers 7 (2), pp 3-4

Oil spill contaminates penguins
In May 1998, an oil pipeline fractured and released 500 tons of oil into Cape Town harbour. A total of 505 African Penguins Spheniscus demersus was collected from Robben Island and taken to the South African National Foundation for Conservation of Coastal Birds' (SANCCOB) rehabilitation centre in Table View. African Penguin has undergone a massive decline throughout the 20th century from 1.45 million adults in 1910 to only 180,000 in 1991-94. Several of these birds had been oiled previously, in 1994, highlighting just how serious the problem of oil pollution is for these birds. The first birds to be rehabilitated were marked with yellow dye and released in June. Rehabilitation of oiled birds is an enormous amount of work and it is important to monitor just how effective it is. The penguins' return to Robben Island was monitored and up to 43% of the birds collected at Robben Island did return to the island. The location of the remainder is unknown and only long-term monitoring will reveal the full impact of this oil spill.
Source: Bird Numbers 7 (2), p 7

Is size important?
A recent analysis of birds in southern Africa's protected areas posed the question: is it better to have a small number of larger reserves or a larger number of small reserves? Nature conservation in Africa is one of many priorities in the continent and the scarce resources devoted to it need to be efficiently used by policy makers. To be effective, policy must be based on sound research.
The study undertaken by James Harrison and René Navarro took species that are found in the woodland biome. After removing rare species, they tested whether certain bird species exhibited associations with larger or smaller protected areas. Of the 317 species considered, 63 (20%) showed significant associations between protected area size and bird abundance. Of these, 59 had a positive relationship and these included raptors, hornbills and to a lesser extent woodpeckers, rollers, shrikes and cuckoos. The reasons for this are varied and may include the foraging ecology of the individual species outside protected areas (especially raptors and vultures) and greater habitat diversity in larger areas. The authors conclude that many woodland species occur more frequently in larger reserves than in smaller reserves and that this is relevant for conservation policy.
Source: Bird Numbers 7 (2), pp 28-31

Songwewelala bites the dust
Songwewelala Local Forest Reserve in Zambia is well-known to Zambian Ornithological Society (ZOS) members as an excellent place to see miombo endemics, in particular Bar-winged Weaver Ploceus angolensis. In 1997, ZOS decided that the area should be included in the list of proposed Important Bird Areas (IBAs), one of only 30 across the whole country. However a visit last year revealed that there has been extensive logging activity and clearance for farming. The reserve had been degazetted, a fate shared by other similar areas, and conservationists are having limited success in protecting these areas.
Source: Zambian Orn. Soc. Newsletter 28 (4), p 1

Zambia bird report 1997...
A warm welcome to the first Zambia bird report, which has been produced, under the editorship of Peter Leonard and Wouter Peters, by the Zambian Ornithological Society (ZOS) and with financial support from the Paul Flew Memorial Fund. In addition to the all-important systematic list, there are a number of articles and notes providing new information on Zambian birds. Chief amongst these are three new species to the country accounts: Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, Franklin's Gull Larus pipixcan and White-winged Warbler Bradypterus carpalis. Additional material includes short papers on forest birds in Western Zambezi district, notes concerning Afrotropical bird movements near Kafue, ornithological research priorities within Zambia, and recent changes to the country's list. The report is obtainable from the Zambian Ornithological Society, PO Box 33944, Lusaka 10101, Zambia. E-mail: zos@zamnet.zm.

...and a request
All 1998 species records will be published by the Zambian Ornithological Society in a report at the end of the year. Observers are requested to submit all records to ZOS, Box 33944, Lusaka 10101, Zambia. E-mail: zos@zamnet.zm.
Source: World Birdwatch 21 (1), p 5

| Africa Round-up: 2 |

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