First arrivals

The first Wahlberg’s eagle was spotted on 8 August in Shingwedzi, Kruger National Park

European rollers are due to arrive this month (Picture © Jeanette Bowers-Winters)

The first Klaas’ cuckoo was spotted on 6 August at the Mapungubwe National Park (Picture © Neil Crawford)

- By Nicola Stevens, Data Manager, SAEON Ndlovu Node

At the beginning of August 2008 the SAEON Ndlovu Node put out a call for volunteer birding enthusiasts to help the node monitor the arrival dates of common migratory birds in the savanna/ bushveld areas of South Africa.

We asked people who bird regularly to record the arrival dates of migratory birds in their area.

Our call for assistance received great publicity in the print and online media in numerous national and regional papers and magazines. The great coverage ensured that we had volunteers offering to assist from all over the country. Though the initial enthusiasm of some volunteers has waned, we have a core group of about 40-45 registered birders who are active participants in the survey.

Personal datasets

On reading the articles, a few citizen birders contacted me offering me their personal datasets of bird migrant records that they have been collecting. Four people have passed over their datasets to Ndlovu, most of them recording one or two species’ arrival dates over the past 15 years.

This year we have already seen meaningful results. With the increased numbers of participants covering a broader geographical area, we are getting some significant clues on how birds disperse themselves when they first arrive.

The most notable example we have had is of the Redchested cuckoo (piet-my-vrou). The first batch of sightings of these birds was reported as early as July in the Johannesburg/ Pretoria regions. However, these birds weren’t sighted in the savanna region until the first week of October, almost a full two months later than their highveld counterparts.

A similar situation has been observed with European bee-eaters. They were first observed in Cullinan on 16 August 2008. The first report of them in the lowveld was on 1 October 2008.

So far our first arrivals have been: