Thor's Cape Parrot Site

Counting Parrots- Report on the 2002 Cape Parrot Big Birding Day

Colleen T. Downs & Louise Warburton

Cape Parrot Working Group, School of Botany & Zoology, University of Natal, P/Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa. Email: downs@nu.ac.za, warburtonL@nu.ac.za

“‘They must have been beautiful birds’ she said.

I said, ‘Yes they were’ and almost added, ‘They all are’.

From ‘Hope is the thing with feathers’, Christopher Cokinos 2000

On the afternoon of May 11^th and morning of May 12^th 339 volunteer observers were posted at 144 observation points throughout the range of the Cape Parrot. A total of 476 parrots were seen during the afternoon count and 634 the following morning. In total 1791 manhours were spent watching for parrots, and observers saw parrots at 41 and 44% of the observation points in the afternoon and morning respectively. The aim was to determine just how many parrots survive in the wild and monitor their population trends.

This is the fifth year that the Cape Parrot Big Birding Day has been held since the pilot study in 1997. Standard bird counting techniques are not suitable for Cape Parrots as they are nomadic feeders and their behaviour is unpredictable. The birds are highly mobile, moving between forest patches, visiting orchards and coastal forests. They are most active for several hours after dawn and before sunset, usually circling over the forest and calling loudly. Flock sizes vary from single birds and pairs to groups of 5 – 6 birds. However, at localised food sites, flock size may increase to 20 -70 birds as the parrots congregate from a wide area giving a false idea of localised parrot density. The parrots are difficult to locate once perched in the forest but their loud harsh call whilst in-flight makes them unmistakable. These characteristics led to the conclusion that a total count would be the most practical method of determining the number of parrots left in the wild.

This is a difficult task as it requires knowledge of the often-remote forest habitats and suitable observation posts, parrot movements and enough volunteers to cover the areas where parrots occur. As the Cape Parrot is rare, there is some feeling that a conservation effort like this may be exposing the location of the birds to those who are intent on catching them. This is a paradox. We feel that the need to know whether the population is in decline or increasing is fundamental information for the overall conservation effort. Furthermore, the increased public awareness brings about an unofficial monitoring system of the species in addition to the formal conservation effort through the Cape Parrot Working Group.

Other problems with such a census is whether:

• all areas are covered,
  
• volunteers are knowledgeable and have good vantage points,
  
• the weather is good for observations,
  
• parrots are not counted more than once when moving between locations.
  

This year there has been an increased number of observers (221% increase on previous years) at localities throughout the Cape Parrot’s range, and the weather was excellent for observations. Consequently, the number of birds observed was the highest ever recorded (a maximum of 634 compared with the previous highest count of 459 in 2000). This is largely a consequence of increased observer coverage with all of the species range covered. Four groups of observers identified parrots at nest holes. Juvenile birds were also identified at some localities, a few were still soliciting food from adults. Some observers feel disappointed not to have seen parrots and that their time and effort was wasted. This is definitely not the case. A zero count is important information. The Cape Parrot is a species in decline, and one whose movements are unpredictable. All observation points are within the range of the species and a sighting is possible – that’s why the site was chosen! Also, some people are dismayed at how long it takes to get the final results published but all data sheets need to be scrutinised to avoid double counting. Some people post their returns and others who saw nothing do not always send a return and have to be chased up.

The most birds (302) were recorded in the Eastern Cape in the Amatola Mountain area from Alice to Stutterheim. The former Transkei had 111 birds while KwaZulu-Natal recorded 171 birds of which most were in the Creighton area. In the Northern Province greater numbers (50) were recorded than in the past. These results highlight the patchiness of the birds and make conservation difficult.

The Parrot Day 2003 will be held on the Saturday afternoon of the 3^rd May and the morning of the Sunday 4^th May. Please diarise this! Many wonder why the day is held in May but weatherwise this is best. Also the birds often congregate at feeding sites at this time of year and are easier to count. This year a number of birds were observed feeding outside of forest usually on pecan-nuts.

It is of little use attempting to conserve Cape Parrots without conserving their special forest habitat. Yellowwoods are common canopy trees in certain forests in South Africa, but are also a source of valuable commercial timber and were intensively logged in the past. In the Eastern Cape, there is continued logging of Yellowwoods under permit and in certain rural areas Yellowwood trees are being felled for building materials. Although only dead trees are supposed to be removed, there is little control of this logging and live trees are being harvested. As the Cape Parrot requires holes in dying/dead trees for nest sites, this habitat reduction is likely to have serious consequences to the bird’s population.

With a stable population and age structure, and age of first breeding at about 5 years of age in the wild, there will be large numbers of non-breeders. Adding to that adult pairs that fail early, lose a nest site, lose a mate, do not breed in a given season, or produce chicks with disease, do not contribute to the effective breeding population. The sex ratio may be imbalanced, and some birds are naturally pre- or post- reproductive individuals. Therefore a population of 600 Cape Parrots may only have a 100 breeding pairs as has been shown in Amazon parrots in South America, which are similarly sized and occupy a similar niche in the forest. Thus, the viability of this Endangered species is likely less than the numbers above might suggest.

Most bird guides for southern Africa still classify the Cape Parrot as one species with the Grey-headed Parrot. The latest Robert’s bird book (in press) will show them as separate species. Cape Parrots are restricted to the afro-montane forest regions and show a more golden head colour compared with the Grey-headed Parrot which inhabits dry woodland areas and whose range extends from Northern Province through south Central and East Africa.

Acknowledgements

The increased effort and number of volunteers was partly due to the workshops, presentations and television coverage. This would not have been possible without the 2002 financial support of the Wildlands Trust and the Natal Ornithological Society for which we and the rest of the Cape Parrot Working Group are most grateful. Once again the regional co-ordinators did a sterling job in organizing observers in their areas and our sincere thanks goes to all (Malcom Gemmel, Mark Brown, Vernon Green, Malcom Anderson, Sandy Laurens, Russell Hill, Callum Forsyth, Pat Lowry, Dan Dekker, Louis Nel, Kathryn Costello, Gertie Griffith, Peter Mather-Pike, Jaap Pienaar, Glyn Kessel, Paul McKay, John Duff, & Jeanne-Marie van den Berg). Many thanks also to all the volunteer observers – without you no count could take place. In addition the contribution of the DWAF, Sappi and Mondi foresters and E.Cape Nature Conservation and KZN Wildlife officials is greatly appreciated.