- 3,147 records received in September
- Highlights include records from Djibouti and Ethiopia from Evan Buechley and team
- Total records end of September 2017 at 177,178
This month saw a surge in contributions to the ARDB with a 3-fold increase on last months contributions. A real highlight this month was receiving data for Djibouti and Ethiopia from road surveys and the big migration count conducted by Evan Buchley, Andres de la Cruz, Juan Ramirez, Gabriel Caucal and Andres Munoz who collectively submitted 662 observations. As well as several other raptors, the team recorded 6 species of vulture in Ethiopia- White-backed, Hooded, Rüppell’s, Bearded, White-headed, Lappet-faced – five of which are now considered endangered or critically endangered. By contrast, in Djibouti only Egyptian Vultures (also endangered) were observed along with a variety of other raptors that included Verreaux’s and Bonelli’s eagles.
Another large contribution was provided by Karin Nelson from various roads and reserves in Botswana and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. Karin Nelson is a qualified bird ringer and regular contributor to the ARDB and is pictured above running an activity day at the Karkloof Conservation Centre, South Africa. We also received incidental observations as spreadsheets from Sidney Shema Kamanzi for Nairobi National Park in Kenya and from Volker Salewski for Parc National de la Comoé in Cote D’Ivoire.
White-backed Vultures observations were submitted for Ethiopia this month; the wonderful image above was composed by Andrea Botha in 2014 and really captures the character of these important birds.
September saw good contributions for Zambia (thanks Andre Botha) and East Africa from Washington Wachira, Brian Waswala and Sidney Shema. Andrew Jenkins has been very busy with the App sending in records from trips to Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania. Andrew teamed up with Munir Virani to conduct the annual Fish Eagle survey at Lake Naivasha and the ARDB App is proving a valuable tool for monitoring this population. This is one of the few ARDB activities that uses by boat as the survey method!
These African Fish Eagles were photographed by Rob Davies in October 2012, Ruaha National Park.
Rounding off a busy month, we had a query from regular contributor Clive Barlow as to which species of raptors and which African countries have little or no data in the ARDB. After some concerted effort Rob managed to extract the information from the data bank which may serve to focus the efforts of contributors in future months!
No ARDB records exist to date for the following species (a lot of which occur on islands off Africa)
Madagascar Serpent-eagle
Socotra Buzzard
Rough-legged Buzzard
Oriental Honey-buzzard
Reunion Harrier
Madagascar Sparrowhawk
Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk
Henst’s Goshawk
Cape Verde Kite
Mauritius Kestrel
Seychelles Kestrel
Eurasian Eagle-owl
Madagascar Owl
Madagascar Red Owl
Maned Owl
Hume’s Owl
Tawny Owl
Chestnut Owlet
Chestnut-backed Owlet
Pallid Scops-owl
Pemba Scops-owl
Grande Comore Scops-owl
Anjouan Scops-owl
Seychelles Scops-owl
Congo Bay-owl
Shelley’s Eagle-owl
Albertine Owlet
Sao Tome Scops-owl
Annobon Scops-owl
Whilst the following table shows the number of records for species that have been reported in reverse order of frequency:
| Merlin | 1 |
| Akun Eagle-owl | 1 |
| Eurasian Long-eared Owl | 1 |
| Sandy Scops-owl | 1 |
| Madagascar Scops-owl | 1 |
| Long-tailed Hawk | 2 |
| Northern Goshawk | 2 |
| Rufous Fishing-owl | 2 |
| Abyssinian Owl | 2 |
| Madagascar Hawk-owl | 2 |
| Red-chested Owlet | 2 |
| Greater Spotted Eagle | 3 |
| Spanish Imperial Eagle | 3 |
| Madagascar Cuckoo-hawk | 3 |
| Archer’s Buzzard | 4 |
| Fraser’s Eagle-owl | 4 |
| Short-eared Owl | 4 |
| Little Owl | 4 |
| Usambara Eagle-owl | 5 |
| White-tailed Eagle | 6 |
| Congo Serpent-eagle | 6 |
| Madagascar Harrier | 6 |
| Levant Sparrowhawk | 6 |
| Eurasian Scops-owl | 6 |
| Saker Falcon | 8 |
| Frances’s Sparrowhawk | 9 |
| Red-thighed Sparrowhawk | 10 |
| Eastern Imperial Eagle | 11 |
| Banded Kestrel | 12 |
| Red Kite | 13 |
| Vermiculated Fishing-owl | 13 |
| Cape Eagle-owl | 14 |
| Bonelli’s Eagle | 16 |
| Barbary Falcon | 17 |
| Sokoke Scops-owl | 17 |
| Madagascar Fish-eagle | 18 |
| Taita Falcon | 19 |
| Mountain Kestrel | 21 |
| West African Goshawk | 25 |
| Cinereous Vulture | 27 |
| Eurasian Sparrowhawk | 33 |
| Golden Eagle | 37 |
| Madagascar Harrier-hawk | 37 |
| African Grass-owl | 37 |
| Eurasian Kestrel | 40 |
| Hen Harrier | 44 |
| Pharaoh Eagle-owl | 52 |
| Griffon Vulture | 60 |
| Sooty Falcon | 77 |
| Cassin’s Hawk-eagle | 86 |
| Madagascar Buzzard | 87 |
| Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk | 90 |
| Southern Banded Snake-eagle | 105 |
| Bat Hawk | 109 |
| Eurasian Hobby | 128 |
| Bearded Vulture | 138 |
| Western Banded Snake-eagle | 141 |
| Eleonora’s Falcon | 144 |
| Dickinson’s Kestrel | 146 |
| Red-footed Falcon | 150 |
| African Cuckoo-hawk | 152 |
| Greyish Eagle-owl | 154 |
| Marsh Owl | 157 |
| European Honey-buzzard | 163 |
| Pel’s Fishing-owl | 168 |
| Beaudouin’s Snake-eagle | 169 |
| Long-legged Buzzard | 177 |
| Ayres’s Hawk-eagle | 185 |
| Eurasian Buzzard | 186 |
| Southern Ground-hornbill | 197 |
| Black Harrier | 203 |
| Ovambo Sparrowhawk | 239 |
| Mountain Buzzard | 248 |
| White-faced Scops-owl | 291 |
| Giant Eagle-owl | 301 |
| Madagascar Kestrel | 317 |
| Lesser Spotted Eagle | 341 |
| Short-toed Snake-eagle | 348 |
| Forest Buzzard | 419 |
| Egyptian Vulture | 480 |
| African Barred Owlet | 482 |
| Red-necked Falcon | 485 |
| Crowned Eagle | 493 |
| Little Sparrowhawk | 511 |
| Red-necked Buzzard | 523 |
| African Marsh Harrier | 529 |
| Steppe Eagle | 538 |
| Fox Kestrel | 610 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 650 |
| African Swallow-tailed Kite | 677 |
| Pallid Harrier | 721 |
| African Hobby | 722 |
| Booted Eagle | 739 |
| Cape Vulture | 742 |
| African Wood Owl | 779 |
| Grey Kestrel | 813 |
| African Scops-owl | 813 |
| Black Sparrowhawk | 821 |
| White-headed Vulture | 892 |
| Pygmy Falcon | 898 |
| Palm-nut Vulture | 990 |
| African Goshawk | 1033 |
| Pearl-spotted Owlet | 1079 |
| Barn Owl | 1101 |
| African Hawk-eagle | 1130 |
| Osprey | 1161 |
| Spotted Eagle-owl | 1194 |
| Montagu’s Harrier | 1199 |
| Eastern Pale Chanting-goshawk | 1221 |
| Common Kestrel | 1227 |
| Secretarybird | 1259 |
| Verreaux’s Eagle | 1279 |
| Rueppell’s Vulture | 1307 |
| Shikra | 1319 |
| Black-breasted Snake-eagle | 1605 |
| Gabar Goshawk | 1613 |
| Martial Eagle | 1659 |
| Lizard Buzzard | 1769 |
| Rock Kestrel | 1811 |
| Long-crested Eagle | 1947 |
| Dark Chanting-goshawk | 1993 |
| Lappet-faced Vulture | 1995 |
| African Harrier-hawk | 2137 |
| Black Kite | 2157 |
| Western Marsh Harrier | 2223 |
| Grasshopper Buzzard | 2322 |
| Lanner Falcon | 2361 |
| Brown Snake-eagle | 2404 |
| Augur Buzzard | 2449 |
| Lesser Kestrel | 2897 |
| Wahlberg’s Eagle | 2926 |
| Greater Kestrel | 3800 |
| Tawny Eagle | 3995 |
| Amur Falcon | 4232 |
| Jackal Buzzard | 4250 |
| Steppe Buzzard | 5259 |
| African Fish-eagle | 5318 |
| Yellow-billed Kite | 6363 |
| Black or Yellow-billed Kite | 6968 |
| Bateleur | 7145 |
| Hooded Vulture | 7355 |
| Pale Chanting-goshawk | 8169 |
| White-backed Vulture | 11602 |
| Black-shouldered Kite | 11766 |
The map below shows record count by country with under reported countries shown in yellow.
Happy raptor logging!
All the best
Lou and ARDB Team
