Bird Conservation

Vulture Culture with a difference

The White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) is an old-world Vulture in the family Accipitridae.

It is the most common vulture species in the continent of Africa. The White-backed Vulture is a typical vulture with only down feathers on the head and neck, expansive wings, and short tail feathers. Like many African Vultures, this species has suffered rapid decline. When first assessed in 1988, it was classified as a Least concern species with an extensive range population. It was reassessed from Least concern to Near Threatened species in the 2007 IUCN Red List after the beginnings of a major decline were noticed. In 2012, more information about population trends was available, and the estimate suggested that the vulture population would decrease by 50 % within the next three generations. The Vultures were then added to the Endangered species list. The White-backed Vulture was bumped up to Critically Endangered in 2015. The decline in numbers has reached a magnitude that puts the vultures at an extreme risk of extinction.

Dronfield Game Farm and Nature Reserve in the Northern Cape is known for its White-backed Vulture Population, which Angus Anthony has actively monitored over the last 30 years.

This project involves the monitoring and breeding success of this species so close to extinction. Big threats to this species are poisoning and powerlines.
Ekapa Minerals has been involved with the ringing adventures once a year at Dronfield since 2019. This happens yearly when conservationists and other interested parties from South Africa, England and France gather to ring and measure the young vultures from that specific breeding season.

This is a fascinating process. First, the bird must be removed from the top of the well-known Camelthorn tree. This involves a lot of skill and manoeuvring. The bird must then be safely taken down to the ringing station, where it must be kept still to be measured, weighed and ringed. Some of them are lucky enough to be tagged and tracked as well. No ringing weekend goes without incident. It could be a bird bite, claw injury, or a vomit rocker from a bird trying to scare you away. But this is all in good spirit. After all the data have been processed and captured, the bird is placed back into the nest. The ringing and tracking data assists with the path the birds travel as well as the age of the birds over the years. In 2023, more than 50 young birds will be ringed, and data will be captured. Angus monitors more than 100 nests on Dronfield alone. Breeding success is also measured. When nesting season starts, Angus checks all the marked trees and other trees for new and old nesting activities. This all takes place in August of each year. Every October, the team returns to monitor the breeding success of the active nest and then the ringing and data capturing starts.

Ekapa is proud to be part of such a project.

Lesser Flamingo Conservation Project

With the Lessor Flamingo on the near-threatened list, Ekapa committed to being a founding member of the Save the Flamingo Association (StFA) and was the primary sponsor, designer, and constructor of the internationally famous Flamingo Breeding Island within Kamfers Dam near Kimberley in the Northern Cape of South Africa.
The StFA was established to contribute to the Lesser Flamingo's global conservation through advocacy, monitoring, and assistance with conservation measures at Kamfers Dam.
In 2006 an artificial breeding island was built in Kamfers Dam by Ekapa, collaborating with the Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation. The breeding ground aims to reverse the decline in numbers by providing a safe haven free from poaching and human disturbance.
Large numbers of Lesser Flamingos are attracted to the wetland to feed and raise their chicks due to the high concentration of blue-green algae in the dam's water. The flamingo breeding island successfully produced about 80 000 chicks over the following four years. Kamfers Dam became one of only four breeding sites for the Lesser Flamingo in Africa. The others being Sua Pan in Botswana, Etosha Pan in Namibia, and Lake Natron in Tanzania. Ekapa was awarded the Nedbank Green Mine award in 2007 for our efforts in the conservation of these birds.

Since the breeding ground was established, many challenges had to be overcome, such as the severe drought and unstable water supply in 2019, resulting in approximately 2000 chicks being abandoned by their parents. Ekapa, in cooperation with a number of our partners and the community, joined forces to rescue the chicks. Ekapa flew the chicks to various rehabilitation centres across South Africa and has ever since been involved in the rehabilitation and release of chicks returned to Kamfers Dam. Ekapa, in partnership with Birdlife South Africa, continues to monitor the water quality and flamingo numbers of the site regularly and report on the availability of food. Kamfers Dam supports the largest permanent population of Lesser Flamingos in southern Africa that at times reaches up to an estimated 60 000 birds. We remain committed to conserving these majestic animals for generations to come and will continue to find ways to ensure the Lesser Flamingo population at Kamfers Dam can prosper.

Conserving The Secretary Bird: The Story Of 'Little Ekapa'

Ekapa, the little secretary bird, hatched on Rooifontein which forms part of the mine's property in September 2020. The nest was monitored by the environmental department for about four weeks. Birdlife South Africa was invited to fit the secretary bird with a tracking device. The device was fitted on 22 October 2020 when the bird was between 8-9 weeks old. Little Ekapa started moving to and from the nest daily on 9 November. On 11 January 2021, the signal was located near Potfontein, a little town situated between Strydenburg and Phillipstown. Ekapa's movements are monitored weekly by Birdlife South Africa and the mine. Valuable information is being gathered that can be utilised in the conservation of this species. We are proud to be part of this ground-breaking initiative in conserving the secretary bird.

Bird Life South Africa Science And Innovation Programme

We believe in caring for our environment and being involved in environmental initiatives so that we can leave a legacy for generations to come.

Ekapa has been supporting BirdLife South Africa's Science and Innovation Programme since 2017. The primary focus is on the conservation of threatened birds and their habitats in the Northern Cape.

Ekapa and Bird Life South Africa Partnership

Ekapa and BirdLife South Africa combined efforts to conserve a wide variety of landscapes and biodiversity in South Africa. Below you can find a brief description of some of these projects.

Rooifontein

BirdLife South Africa supports the management of the beautiful Rooifontein property located near Kimberley in the Northern Cape. This work includes monitoring projects and the development and implementation of a management plan.

BirdLife South Africa and other birders do regular bird monitoring (using the mobile app BirdLasser), and through the use of camera traps, mammals and other species are monitored. The management plan will set out objectives and activities which will guide conservation activities on the property. Other ad hoc projects include tracking the progress of rehabilitation projects using remote sensing.

Citizen Science

BirdLife South Africa is a project partner to southern Africa's largest bird citizen science initiative, namely the South Africa Bird Atlas Project 2.

This project collects valuable bird distribution data that can be used in various ways, such as in academic studies or to plan conservation initiatives. Also partnering with the mobile application BirdLasser, and more specifically the Threatened Species Cause with which BirdLife South Africa is affiliated, thousands of point locations of threatened bird species are collected every month. This resultant dataset helps direct conservation efforts and capacitates further work conducted by various projects within BirdLife South Africa.

Conservation Planning in
South Africa

Accurate bird data tells you if conservation efforts are effective, and if not, decisions can be taken to adapt conservation strategies.

South Africa has a well-developed spatial planning sector, aiming to plan and delineate land use in South Africa. The spatial planning project aims to provide accurate spatial data to this sector which can then feed into various conservation planning tools such as Critical Biodiversity Areas. These maps form the basis for regional planning, and avian spatial data must be included in these datasets. By combining species distribution models and data from the Southern African Bird Atlas project, fine-scale maps comply with the standards as set in legislation and guideline documents. The layers are also submitted to the National Web-based Site Screening Tool, making a valuable contribution to the environmental impact assessment process in South Africa.

Species Projects

Ekapa and BirdLife South Africa partnered in several species-specific projects. The White-backed Vulture study's purpose is to compare the movement behaviour and survival rates of newly fledged juveniles exposed to high lead levels to those with minimal exposure to lead. It is hoped that this work will provide valuable insight into the impact of lead on White-backed Vultures. Recently, tracking devices were fitted to vultures at Dronfield Nature Reserve, near Kimberley in the Northern Cape.

As part of the Secretary bird monitoring project, a young Secretary bird was fitted with a tracking device on Rooifontein, a farm near Kimberley in the Northern Cape, in October 2020. The monitoring of this bird is part of a more significant project to understand Secretary birds' movement and habitat requirements better. The data already collected helped raise the threat status of this species to Endangered.