23 Apr
2019
With a
population of 250, this secretive bird has always been hard to study, but
advances in technology have helped us to discover more than ever. Last year, we
found new breeding grounds - then its call was identified for the first time.
Is this the final piece in the puzzle to protect this bird?
In
December last year, the call of one of the world’s rarest birds was identified
and recorded for the first time by our Partner BirdLife South Africa.
With fewer than 250 mature individuals remaining in the wild, the White-winged
Flufftail Sarothrura ayresi is
Critically Endangered, and at severe risk of extinction. Restricted to
high-altitude wetland habitats in South Africa and Ethiopia, the flufftail’s
secretive nature makes it hard to monitor the species’ behaviour, which in turn
makes it harder to know how best to protect it.
Before
the call was discovered, surveying an area for the bird meant trying to flush
it out, either on foot or by using a rope. This method, however, was intensive,
slow, and yielded few sightings. Then in 2016, BirdLife South Africa developed
an innovative method to survey the species called the BirdLife South Africa
Rallid Survey Method. It uses a camera trap system to record the flufftail’s
behaviour. In February last year, the camera traps discovered surprising
evidence that the species, which was thought to only breed in Ethiopia and
visit South Africa, was actually breeding in South Africa as well.
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