We're at the 24th Fundamentals of Ornithology Course in Naivasha
enjoying some wet weather and dozens of Willow Warblers - almost
2-3 in every tree, hundreds of Barn Swallows and many Sand
Martins, House Martins among the migrants passing through - and 8
Steppe Buzzards high and heading north 3 days ago. We have been
atlassing and teaching participants how to use BirdLasser - but
today we looked at some of the results from the atlas so far and
especially changes in distribution since the first bird atlas
(published 1989).
So we have gone back to the first atlas, dug out the map of some
species and compared with the current bird atlas coverage - and
got a serious shock at the reality of what the data is
saying. i.e. we all 'know' that certain species, especially
raptors, have declined over recent times - but nothing beats
actual data from shouting loudly what is going on - and
especially visual results... like a map.
We are working to get the first atlas maps up on the Kenya Bird Map website - which will be hugely useful for showing this and as a tool for conservation, but in the meantime here are some scans from the first atlas and what the current coverage shows:
First, how much of Kenya has been covered by those of you who have done an awesome job at playing a part in collecting these records? Coverage for Full Protocol cards (ad hoc records are not shown on the coverage map) currently stands at:
...so a good part of central Kenya, the Rift, the coast and a reasonable scattering of pentads across western Kenya have been covered pretty well. Thus at least for these areas, if the birds are there, then we can be pretty sure they would have been picked up. Now to some comparisons:
African
White-backed Vulture: (link takes you to the species map in
the Kenya Bird Map)
in the 1970s and early 1980s on the left (large black squares are
confirmed breeding, small black squares are confirmed presence;
grey means historical records - i.e. pre-1975) and as at 21st
March 2018 on the right (red and pink = high reporting rate,
yellow = very low reporting rate; grey = single record or less
than 4 full Protocol cards submitted):
We all know about the Egyptian Vulture population having declined hugely but look at this! In the '70s and '80s African White-backed Vultures were right across the country - breeding in many places. Only in western Kenya nearer to Kisumu was there a suggestion of a decline (the small grey squares) which would make sense since human population and agriculture spread sooner on that side of the country. Today, of the areas that have been covered, it is almost only Mara, the Athi-Kapiti plains and a few scattered places also mostly tied to protected areas that White-backs are found...
A well-known decline - BUT when you SEE the change in
distribution, it is truly shocking. Today, in the past four years
of atlassing, there have only been a handful of records submitted
despite there being reasonable coverage (see above).
...again a massive contraction in range - only in Mara, Amboseli, Nairobi National Park and Tsavo East are there any level of reporting rate. For the rest of the country where records have been submitted - gone.
And the story goes on. These results are critical for us as we
seek to address issues of poisoning, maintaining protected areas
etc. Hard data cannot be beaten - especially when collected
following a tight and proven protocol. But we can only fight the
problems if we get the data in. As can be seen from the coverage
map, there are still large gaps - and for best results regular and
repeated coverage of pentads generates a solid understanding of
what is going on in a species.
There are a good number of skilled birders whose records would
make a significant contribution to the bird atlas and to Kenyan
conservation and research. If you have not yet joined the growing
team of atlassers in Kenya, can I urge you to do so? Contributing
to eBird etc is great but unfortunately as eBird does not insist
on a tight protocol tied to set locations, data from eBird cannot
be simply imported to the Kenya Bird Map and even then could not
be used for Full Protocol card analysis (reporting rate etc), only
distribution - however, the other way round is very possible and
indeed, BirdLasser now allows you to export your BirdLasser data
to your eBird profile.
These KBM maps are immediately available online and the basic
data can be downloaded for free (see link below the maps on the
species page) and we are working on developing more tools for
analysis online direct from the website (watch this space!).
It is awesome to see how my and your records can contribute
immediately to our knowledge of birds and to conservation so
directly - as you submit your record of Egyptian Vulture and it is
vetted and accepted, the species distribution map is updated real
time.
Thanks again to all those who have contributed - keep it up!
Colin
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Colin Jackson
A Rocha Kenya
Cell:
+254 (0)722 842366
http://www.arocha.org
http://www.assets-kenya.org
http://kenyabirdmap.adu.org.za