Hailstorm kills and injures thousands of falcons

14/03/2019

A violent hailstorm in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal has killed and injured almost 2,000 falcons.

The vast majority of the birds involved were Amur Falcons, although smaller numbers of Red-footed Falcons and Lesser Kestrels, which roost among the flocks of Amurs, were also injured. The birds roost communally in large numbers, meaning freak weather incidents such as that on Saturday 9 March can potentially be devastating to wintering populations.

The event unfolded in the town of Mooi River, situated inland some 140 km north-west of Durban, late evening on Saturday, where large numbers of falcons roost during the winter months. Fortunately, volunteers and members of the public were on hand to transfer hundreds of the injured birds to the FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation KZN branch in nearby Howick throughout the early hours of Sunday morning, where urgent treatment began.

In total, 1,090 falcons were treated during 18 hours of constant effort by the team throughout Sunday, with this thought to be the largest single-species rescue ever made in South Africa. Following assessment and treatment, the first 400 falcons were ringed and released back into the wild on Monday, with this figure climbing 970 by the end of Wednesday.

However, it was not all good news. Unfortunately, around 70 of the falcons admitted to the clinic died, while no fewer than 713 corpses were recovered from beneath the roosting tree in Mooi River on Sunday. The deceased birds have been donated to the Durban Natural History Museum, University of KwaZulu Natal and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) for DNA, isotope analysis, gene pool analysis, further research and taxidermy.

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Creation of new nature reserve protects important bird habitat in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is celebrating the publication of the Notice of Intent to Declare the Beaumont Nature Reserve in the Swartberg region of KwaZulu-Natal. 

“The proposed Beaumont Nature Reserve is 1050 ha in size and forms part of the Thule Conservancy, which was created in 2012 ," said Cobus Theron, the EWT’s African Crane Conservation Programme’s Southern Drakensberg / East Griqualand Stewardship Facilitator.

Southern bald ibis

"Many of the properties in the conservancy will also be proposed as Nature Reserves or Protected Environments in the near future. Nature Reserve status represents the highest category in the Biodiversity Stewardship Programme and the Beaumont Nature Reserve will become the first declared nature reserve that EWT has negotiated.”

The Biodiversity Stewardship Programme is a national governmental initiative that aims to complement the expansion of protected areas in the country with particular focus on private and communal land. The programme, which is a process that landowners voluntarily enter into, consists of legally binding agreements with government to enter their land into the protected area network and manage it for biodiversity.

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Mass poisoning of vultures in KwaZulu-Natal

49 vultures killed with carbofuran

July 2013. On the afternoon of the 15th of July 2013 an Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Wildlife light aircraft spotted a large number of vultures lying on the ground on New Hope farm, in Swartberg, during a routine game count. Ezemvelo KZN alerted the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the African Birds of Prey Sanctuary (ABoPS), and the two NGOs visited the site early the next morning.

49 dead vultures

Upon arrival they were greeted by the grizzly sight of the carcasses of more than 48 Cape Vultures and one African White-backed Vulture. Two Cape Vultures were found alive and were treated for poisoning by staff of the ABoPS. Both have fortunately responded to treatment and are expected to make a full recovery.

Poisoned sheep carcasses - Carbofuran used

"Several sheep carcasses found on site are suspected of being intentionally poisoned in order to control jackal predation on new-born lambs. These carcasses, as well as samples from the crop and stomach contents of the dead vultures, were collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis. The subsequent results clearly demonstrate the use of a poison called Carbofuran in the baited carcasses. Carbofuran is a pesticide poison commonly used for destroying worms in crops. This is the worst incident of vulture poisoning in KZN that I have seen in the 12 years I have been working with birds of prey in the province," said Ben Hoffman of Raptor Rescue, the dedicated bird of prey hospital located at the African Bird of Prey Sanctuary.

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