Hello KenyaBirdNetters,
We thought you would all enjoy these two 15-minute inserts on the 2013 Okavango Wetland Bird Survey:
Part 2: http://youtu.be/pM5JywF2rzY (Watch from 8 minutes to see "Croc Alley" and the heart-stopping approach and launch of a 5-meter monster crocodile!)
The Okavango Wetland Bird Survey represents the most complete data set on the distribution, abundance and breeding activity of wetland birds in the Okavango Delta. Each annual data set includes 2,700 - 5,000 bird sightings over a 320-350km transect line with wetland
habitat mapped and identified either side of the transect line. We count wildlife, aquatic vegetation and fish sightings. This 9-year project is an effort to "benchmark" this amazing wilderness as it is now without significant impacts upstream. We are already starting to generate population estimates and are looking at ways of linking sighting frequency to water quality.
These annual wetland bird surveys will be repeated for as long as possible after the 9th expedition in
2018. These annual results (made available via an Open API - http://intotheokavango.org/) represent our best chance at noticing significant changes to the natural functioning of the Okavango Delta. Most wetland bird species like jacanas, Long-toed Lapwings, skimmers, squacco herons, slaty egrets, night-herons, African openbills, etc. are dependent on the receding floodwaters for feeding and breeding opportunities, slowly moving north to catch this change and then following the receding waters to the edges of the main channels
at the end of the flood in September.
Last year, we were there to witness the abundance of life on the main channels in the central Okavango Delta, an untouched wilderness beyond comparison protected by inaccessibility and thousands of hippo. Our bespoke Android Application and tablet malfunctioned a few times due to the sighting frequency and hot conditions. This was our most successful research expedition, as we had found our highest concentrations of
breeding wetland birds so far.
2013 Okavango Expedition was the 4th in a 9-year survey and was aired on 50/50 (SABC2) on the 23rd and 30th December when most of you should have been birding nearby your holiday destination! We hope you enjoy these two inserts and make a plan to go up to the Okavango Delta someday soon...
All the best,
Dr Rutledge S. Boyes
DST/NRF Centre of Excellence Innovations Postdoctoral Fellow
(University of Cape Town , South Africa)