THE HAWK CONSERVANCY TRUST

The Hawk Conservancy Trust is a UK registered charity whose mission is the conservation of Birds of Prey.  Bahati actively supports their research efforts in Coutada 10 as it offers the opportunity to study birds of prey in a truly wild environment and the specific focus is on the White-headed vulture Aegypius (Trigonoceps) occipitalis. 

Read more about them at www.hawk-conservancy.org    

The contact person is Mr Campbell Murn – he is the Chief Scientific Officer at the Trust, for any queries about this project – campbell@hawkconservancy.org

This is an excerpt from their 2008 annual report …

White-headed Vultures

Research on this poorly known species started in 2007, the same year it was listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable to extinction. The project aims are to investigate the White-headed Vulture's habitat associations, feeding ecology and Inter-specific relationships. Based in Kruger National Park, the project is registered with South African National Parks and the Trust has also received valuable support from the Birds of Prey Working Group.

In July, as a guest of Bahati Adventures, the Trust visited Coutada 10 in central Mozambique to assess the potential of the area as a field site for White-headed Vultures and other raptor species.

Compared to other areas in Southern Africa, relatively little raptor research has taken place in Mozambique and it is clear that Coutada 10 and the surroundings concession offer a huge resource of potential information.

The interest, forward thinking and support of Bahati Adventures has enabled the development of this valuable collaboration. The Trust is looking forward to Coutada 10 becoming a valuable research site that demonstrates the benefits of active conservation management for wildlife.

The research and conservation work of the Trust overseas is directed primarily at vultures. These ecological important birds face a range of threats, and populations are under pressure in many parts of the world.

In Southern Africa during 2007 and 2008 the Trust continued existing its project near Kimberley, working in partnership with Birdlife South Africa and De Beers. New project links were developed with other organizations in Southern Africa in connections with a new project on White-headed Vultures.

Since the early 1990s vulture nestlings near Kimberley had been ringed with a combination of metal and plastic color coded rings. From 2005 the vultures were also wing-tagged. Whilst these forms of marking had provided some useful information, the number of re-sightings or ring recoveries was low. The GPS tags will provide valuable data on a daily basis and hopefully pro-vide insights into vulture movements and foraging ranges. Since 2007 this species has been listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN, and these new development are an important boost for conservation and research efforts on this species.

Other components of the Kimberley White-backed Vulture project include research on nest-ing habitat, food availability and mortality factors. Although much information has been collected for the Kimberley area, there are now opportunities for comparative studies with other areas in southern Africa.