Bird Monitoring

Bird Monitoring

Our bird research initiative monitors crucial behavioural, dispersal and ecological data for several bird species, many of which are severely understudied. 

Since 2015, ALERT has been involved in several bird monitoring projects such as contributions to South African Bird Atlas in Zambezi National Park in 2017, and in 2018, we continued these efforts in conjunction with ZPWMA using methods developed by the 2nd South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2); a project that aims to monitor bird populations across the region including Zimbabwe, Lesotho, South Africa, Namibia and Swaziland.

Our current research initiative focuses our efforts in Chizarira National Park, where we conduct species monitoring for the Verreaux’s eagle (also known as the black eagle), lappet-faced vultures and secretary birds (both species being currently listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species), ground hornbills (currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species), and white-headed vultures (currently listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species), among other bird species. The data we collect from monitoring will allow for a better understanding of bird ecology in Chizarira National Park, including species behaviour and seasonality, occupancy of raptors through monitoring and nest site records, species distribution and dispersal patterns, and other ecological dynamics, with potential for identification of invasive, indicator and migratory species in the National Park with future research.