Urban birds in the Eastern Cape: local observations from Makhanda (Grahamstown) and future questions
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E, Mullins, R Lorraine G
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E , Mullins, R Lorraine G
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449580 , vital:74831 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2020.1816585
- Description: In Makhanda (Grahamstown), a non-industrial town with approximately 85 000 inhabitants, we have recorded 174 bird species within the urban area, of which 104 species are likely to breed regularly. The source habitats of these birds include all the surrounding habitat types, and the bird community is evidently determined by both local conditions within the town (e.g. tree density) and regional changes affecting the eastern coast of South Africa (range shifts). Topics meriting future research on urban bird communities in South Africa are highlighted.
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Urban birds in the Eastern Cape: local observations from Makhanda (Grahamstown) and future questions
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E , Mullins, R Lorraine G
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449580 , vital:74831 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2020.1816585
- Description: In Makhanda (Grahamstown), a non-industrial town with approximately 85 000 inhabitants, we have recorded 174 bird species within the urban area, of which 104 species are likely to breed regularly. The source habitats of these birds include all the surrounding habitat types, and the bird community is evidently determined by both local conditions within the town (e.g. tree density) and regional changes affecting the eastern coast of South Africa (range shifts). Topics meriting future research on urban bird communities in South Africa are highlighted.
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Pied Crows in the Eastern Cape: what bird club records reveal
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449461 , vital:74823 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2020.1782498
- Description: Published records by bird clubs in Port Elizabeth, Kenton-on-Sea and Grahamstown (Makhanda) show that until 1980 Pied Crows were seldom recorded in this sector of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Port Elizabeth, and apparently also East London, was colonised by Pied Crows in the 1980s, whereas the first records for Kenton-on- Sea and Port Alfred on the coast, and also inland in the Grahamstown (Makhanda) area, were after 1990. Since 2010, this species has been recorded more often both on the coast and in the adjacent inland regions. However, records of both Cape Crows and White-necked Ravens have also increased over the same period, suggesting that there has been no species replacement among the local corvids. Citizen-science data provide valuable information on changes in distribution and abundance of this bird species.
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- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449461 , vital:74823 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2020.1782498
- Description: Published records by bird clubs in Port Elizabeth, Kenton-on-Sea and Grahamstown (Makhanda) show that until 1980 Pied Crows were seldom recorded in this sector of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Port Elizabeth, and apparently also East London, was colonised by Pied Crows in the 1980s, whereas the first records for Kenton-on- Sea and Port Alfred on the coast, and also inland in the Grahamstown (Makhanda) area, were after 1990. Since 2010, this species has been recorded more often both on the coast and in the adjacent inland regions. However, records of both Cape Crows and White-necked Ravens have also increased over the same period, suggesting that there has been no species replacement among the local corvids. Citizen-science data provide valuable information on changes in distribution and abundance of this bird species.
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The birds of Fort Fordyce Reserve, Eastern Cape
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449897 , vital:74862 , https://doi.org/10.15641/bo.v11i0.687
- Description: The avifauna of this forest reserve has been surveyed, based on observations and mist-netting over a ten-year period. We have recorded 175 species, of which 56 are considered" true" forest birds in this region. These include four summer migrants, and four occasional visitors; the others are likely to be resident. Four species of conservation concern, the Knysna Woodpecker, African Crowned Eagle, Lanner Falcon and Bush Blackcap probably nest within the protected area.
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- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449897 , vital:74862 , https://doi.org/10.15641/bo.v11i0.687
- Description: The avifauna of this forest reserve has been surveyed, based on observations and mist-netting over a ten-year period. We have recorded 175 species, of which 56 are considered" true" forest birds in this region. These include four summer migrants, and four occasional visitors; the others are likely to be resident. Four species of conservation concern, the Knysna Woodpecker, African Crowned Eagle, Lanner Falcon and Bush Blackcap probably nest within the protected area.
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Montane forest birds in winter: do they regularly move to lower altitudes? Observations from the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449433 , vital:74821 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2019.1568316
- Description: Seasonal altitudinal migration to lower altitudes including the coast has been ascribed to a number of forest birds, of which 14 species occur at Fort Fordyce Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Based on our observations and ringing at this site (2007–2017), as well as concurrent data from the South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2), we suggest that in this region only three species, the African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta, White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata and Barratt's Warbler Bradypterus barratti, are regular altitudinal migrants. For two other species, the Grey Cuckooshrike Coracina caesia and Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler Phylloscopus ruficapilla, local movements apparently occur, but these may take place within the coastal zone rather than between the coast and inland forests.
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- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449433 , vital:74821 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2019.1568316
- Description: Seasonal altitudinal migration to lower altitudes including the coast has been ascribed to a number of forest birds, of which 14 species occur at Fort Fordyce Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Based on our observations and ringing at this site (2007–2017), as well as concurrent data from the South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2), we suggest that in this region only three species, the African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta, White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata and Barratt's Warbler Bradypterus barratti, are regular altitudinal migrants. For two other species, the Grey Cuckooshrike Coracina caesia and Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler Phylloscopus ruficapilla, local movements apparently occur, but these may take place within the coastal zone rather than between the coast and inland forests.
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Wing moult and sexual dimorphism in the Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Bonnevie, Bo T, Hulley, Patrick E
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Bonnevie, Bo T , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449593 , vital:74832 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/00306525.2012.662918
- Description: Based on ringing data from the Western Cape, Underhill et al.(1995) demonstrated that there was a bimodal distribution of wing-length measurements in the Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor, and they described the timing of wing-moult in this region. Hanmer (1997) reported similar results for Lesser Honeyguides from Mozambique and Malawi. This species remains poorly studied, and we have examined size dimorphism and wing moult for a sample of birds from the Eastern Cape region: 44 museum specimens from the Albany Museum (Grahamstown), East London Museum and the Ditsong Museum (formerly Transvaal Museum, Pretoria), together with ringing data for 94 birds. Wing-length of both museum specimens and ringed birds was measured in the standard manner (maximum chord); weight to the nearest 0.5 g was recorded with a Pesola spring balance. Each bird was checked for wing moult, which was recorded as 0 for an old feather and 5 for a fully grown new feather (de Beer et al. 2001). These moult scores were converted to percentage feather mass grown using a primary feather mass index, Passer9 (Bonnevie 2010a), for analysis using the model of Underhill and Zucchini (1988), as implemented in R (Erni et al. in press), with the data subsampled to prevent non-moulting birds from biasing the estimates (Bonnevie 2010b).
- Full Text:
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Bonnevie, Bo T , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449593 , vital:74832 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/00306525.2012.662918
- Description: Based on ringing data from the Western Cape, Underhill et al.(1995) demonstrated that there was a bimodal distribution of wing-length measurements in the Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor, and they described the timing of wing-moult in this region. Hanmer (1997) reported similar results for Lesser Honeyguides from Mozambique and Malawi. This species remains poorly studied, and we have examined size dimorphism and wing moult for a sample of birds from the Eastern Cape region: 44 museum specimens from the Albany Museum (Grahamstown), East London Museum and the Ditsong Museum (formerly Transvaal Museum, Pretoria), together with ringing data for 94 birds. Wing-length of both museum specimens and ringed birds was measured in the standard manner (maximum chord); weight to the nearest 0.5 g was recorded with a Pesola spring balance. Each bird was checked for wing moult, which was recorded as 0 for an old feather and 5 for a fully grown new feather (de Beer et al. 2001). These moult scores were converted to percentage feather mass grown using a primary feather mass index, Passer9 (Bonnevie 2010a), for analysis using the model of Underhill and Zucchini (1988), as implemented in R (Erni et al. in press), with the data subsampled to prevent non-moulting birds from biasing the estimates (Bonnevie 2010b).
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The status of the southern ground-hornbill in the Grahamstown region, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Hulley, Patrick E, Craig, Adrian J F K
- Authors: Hulley, Patrick E , Craig, Adrian J F K
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447909 , vital:74683 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.78.1.13.57
- Description: The Eastern Cape has been the southernmost limit of distribution for the Southern Ground-Hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri throughout the period for which there are written records (Vernon 1986, Vernon and Herremans 1997). No records are known west of Port Elizabeth and the only ones from this 1 map square (33 S 27 E) date from the nineteenth century. Vernon (1986) noted that nest and roost sites for groundhornbills were in large trees or on cliffs, from which the birds commuted to forage in open country. The forest/thicket and grassland mosaic in the Eastern Cape is apparently ancient (Skead 1987), but the grassland sector has been greatly modified by agriculture and human settlement. Since the assessment of the Southern Ground-Hornbill’s status as ‘vulnerable’in the latest Red Data Book (Barnes 2000), it has been suggested that populations in South Africa have declined to a point where its true status is ‘endangered’but this revision was not accepted by IUCN (AC Kemp, pers. comm.). The recent initiative by the Mabula-based NGO, the Ground-hornbill Research and Conservation Project, to reintroduce birds to the Eastern Cape, prompted us to examine records of sightings in this region. The main focus is the Grahamstown map square 33 S 26 E, in which the release site of the first birds—Shamwari Private Game Reserve—is situated. Our source is the published records in Diaz Diary, the newsletter of the Diaz Cross Bird Club, which has branches in Grahamstown and Kenton-on-Sea, covering the period 1978–2004 inclusive.
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- Authors: Hulley, Patrick E , Craig, Adrian J F K
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447909 , vital:74683 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.78.1.13.57
- Description: The Eastern Cape has been the southernmost limit of distribution for the Southern Ground-Hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri throughout the period for which there are written records (Vernon 1986, Vernon and Herremans 1997). No records are known west of Port Elizabeth and the only ones from this 1 map square (33 S 27 E) date from the nineteenth century. Vernon (1986) noted that nest and roost sites for groundhornbills were in large trees or on cliffs, from which the birds commuted to forage in open country. The forest/thicket and grassland mosaic in the Eastern Cape is apparently ancient (Skead 1987), but the grassland sector has been greatly modified by agriculture and human settlement. Since the assessment of the Southern Ground-Hornbill’s status as ‘vulnerable’in the latest Red Data Book (Barnes 2000), it has been suggested that populations in South Africa have declined to a point where its true status is ‘endangered’but this revision was not accepted by IUCN (AC Kemp, pers. comm.). The recent initiative by the Mabula-based NGO, the Ground-hornbill Research and Conservation Project, to reintroduce birds to the Eastern Cape, prompted us to examine records of sightings in this region. The main focus is the Grahamstown map square 33 S 26 E, in which the release site of the first birds—Shamwari Private Game Reserve—is situated. Our source is the published records in Diaz Diary, the newsletter of the Diaz Cross Bird Club, which has branches in Grahamstown and Kenton-on-Sea, covering the period 1978–2004 inclusive.
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Iris colour in passerine birds: why be bright-eyed?
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6902 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011756
- Description: An initial survey of iris coloration in passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes) showed that a brightly pigmented iris is much more common in southern African and Australian birds than in those from Europe, temperate North America, and Venezuela. However, the only statistical correlation reflected the distribution of particular bird families in these regions. Ten family-level groups considered to represent monophyletic taxa were then selected for a more detailed analysis, comparing iris coloration with distribution, status, taxonomy, plumage patterns, and some biological and behavioural characters for 1143 species. No pattern associating iris colour with particular traits was common to all families, but within families there were statistically significant associations with both plumage and biology. Our expectation that social behaviour would be an important predictor of iris colour was not supported, but critical information is still lacking for many species. Future studies of avian behavioural ecology should examine critically the role of iris coloration in individual species. , Rhodes Centenary issue
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- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6902 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011756
- Description: An initial survey of iris coloration in passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes) showed that a brightly pigmented iris is much more common in southern African and Australian birds than in those from Europe, temperate North America, and Venezuela. However, the only statistical correlation reflected the distribution of particular bird families in these regions. Ten family-level groups considered to represent monophyletic taxa were then selected for a more detailed analysis, comparing iris coloration with distribution, status, taxonomy, plumage patterns, and some biological and behavioural characters for 1143 species. No pattern associating iris colour with particular traits was common to all families, but within families there were statistically significant associations with both plumage and biology. Our expectation that social behaviour would be an important predictor of iris colour was not supported, but critical information is still lacking for many species. Future studies of avian behavioural ecology should examine critically the role of iris coloration in individual species. , Rhodes Centenary issue
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Iris colour in passerine birds: why be bright-eyed?
- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449872 , vital:74860 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC96183
- Description: An initial survey of iris coloration in passerine birds (Aves : Passeriformes) showed that a brightly pigmented iris is much more common in southern African and Australian birds than in those from Europe, temperate North America, and Venezuela. However, the only statistical correlation reflected the distribution of particular bird families in these regions. Ten family-level groups considered to represent monophyletic taxa were then selected for a more detailed analysis, comparing iris coloration with distribution, status, taxonomy, plumage patterns, and some biological and behavioural characters for 1143 species. No pattern associating iris colour with particular traits was common to all families, but within families there were statistically significant associations with both plumage and biology. Our expectation that social behaviour would be an important predictor of iris colour was not supported, but critical information is still lacking for many species. Future studies of avian behavioural ecology should examine critically the role of iris coloration in individual species.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449872 , vital:74860 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC96183
- Description: An initial survey of iris coloration in passerine birds (Aves : Passeriformes) showed that a brightly pigmented iris is much more common in southern African and Australian birds than in those from Europe, temperate North America, and Venezuela. However, the only statistical correlation reflected the distribution of particular bird families in these regions. Ten family-level groups considered to represent monophyletic taxa were then selected for a more detailed analysis, comparing iris coloration with distribution, status, taxonomy, plumage patterns, and some biological and behavioural characters for 1143 species. No pattern associating iris colour with particular traits was common to all families, but within families there were statistically significant associations with both plumage and biology. Our expectation that social behaviour would be an important predictor of iris colour was not supported, but critical information is still lacking for many species. Future studies of avian behavioural ecology should examine critically the role of iris coloration in individual species.
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