Fewer raptors soar in Africa’s skies

The continent’s population of birds of prey has declined alarmingly – even in protected areas

From the charismatic secretary bird with its long legs and eyelashes and crest of feathers, to the bateleur with its colourful “lipstick”, Africa’s birds of prey are fast vanishing from the continent.

A new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution has warned that Africa’s raptors are experiencing population collapse and are facing an extinction crisis.

The international team of researchers behind the study found that 88% of 42 of Africa’s raptor species they examined have declined over a 20-year to 40-year period. The authors determined that 69% exceeded the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s criteria classifying species at risk of extinction.

“Many of Africa’s raptors are at considerable risk from habitat conversion, prey-base depletion and persecution, driven principally by human population expansion,” read the study. “Large raptors had experienced significantly steeper declines than smaller species, and this disparity was more pronounced on unprotected land.”

Declines were greater in West Africa than elsewhere, and more than twice as severe outside protected areas than within. “Worryingly, species suffering the steepest declines had become significantly more dependent on protected areas, demonstrating the importance of expanding conservation areas to cover 30% of land by 2030 — a key target agreed at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP15.”

Double jeopardy

The study was co-led by Phil Shaw of the University of St Andrews and Darcy Ogada of The Peregrine Fund. It combines counts from road surveys in four African regions, yielding unprecedented insights into rates of change in the abundance of the continent’s savanna raptors.

Many species experiencing the steepest declines had suffered a “double jeopardy”, having also become much more dependent on protected areas over the course of the study.

“We did the research because we have watched raptors disappear over the past decades to the point where some of our formerly common species are now rare, for example augur buzzards, long-crested eagle and vultures,” said Ogada, a lead author of the study.

The researchers were stunned by the scale of the losses across species and regions. “The scale of raptor declines from inside our protected areas was probably the most shocking finding given that these areas should be safe spaces for wildlife,” she said.

Africa is at a crossroads in terms of saving its birds of prey. “In many areas we have watched these species nearly disappear. One of Africa’s most iconic raptors, the secretary bird, is on the brink of extinction. There’s no single threat imperilling these birds; it’s a combination of many human-caused ones. In other words we are seeing deaths from a thousand cuts.”

People expansion

Africa is exceptionally important for global raptor conservation, supporting high numbers of threatened species. “Over the past 60 years, however, the continent’s human population has expanded rapidly, driving widespread land conversion and habitat degradation, and creating areas where cumulative human impacts on threatened raptors are especially acute,” the study said.

With its human population projected to double by 2058, demands for grazing, arable land and energy are expected to rise substantially.

“These trends will amplify existing pressures on Africa’s protected areas, which currently account for just 14% of its land and inland waters. Although many protected areas are considered to be failing or deteriorating, well-managed sites form a critical refuge for the continent’s declining raptor populations.”

The researchers found that raptors of all sizes are leading an “increasingly perilous existence” in Africa’s unprotected areas, where suitable habitat, food supplies and breeding sites have been drastically reduced, and persecution from pastoralists, ivory poachers and farmers is now widespread. Other significant threats include unintentional poisoning, electrocution on power poles, collision with power lines and wind turbines, as well as killing for food and belief-based uses.

‘Wake-up call’

Unless many of the threats facing African raptors are addressed effectively, large eagle and vulture species are unlikely to persist over much of the continent’s unprotected land by the latter half of this century, the authors said.

The study also highlights steep declines among raptors that are classified as being of “least concern” in the global Red List of Threatened Species. They include African endemics such as Wahlberg’s eagle, the African hawk eagle, long-crested eagle, African harrier hawk, brown snake eagle and the dark chanting goshawk.

All of these species have declined at rates suggesting that they may now be globally threatened. Several other familiar, widespread raptor species are now scarce or absent from unprotected land. They include one of Africa’s most powerful raptors — the martial eagle — as well as the highly distinctive bateleur.

Ogada said the team’s research is important because it examined a large group of top predators and scavengers that have declined across their ranges.

“It should absolutely be seen as a wake-up call for Africa to prioritise safeguarding its biodiversity because the consequences of the current state of unchecked development in biodiversity hotspots and other sensitive areas is unsustainable not just for flora and fauna, but for people and the environment.”

André Botha, the vultures for Africa manager at the Endangered Wildlife Trust and an author of the study, said the “overall picture really is worrying”.

He has worked in the field on raptors for about 30 years but now encounters fewer birds of prey. “Talking to people that work in the Lowveld where I live now, where I spent a lot of my time around 30 years ago, you would go out driving in a place like the Kruger at any given time, and you’d look up and there would be some raptor or more than one in the air.

“You can now drive for long periods without seeing raptors flying. So the declines have happened throughout and even in protected areas, as the paper states, and which are really critical for the survival and conservation of the remaining raptor populations in Africa.”

Knock-on effects

Ogada pointed to studies of wolf populations in the United States’ Yellowstone National Park that have shown in detail the consequences for other species when top predators are lost. “There will be cascading effects for many other species with likely implications for humans as well, particularly when species like vultures are lost because they feed on carcasses and they likely limit the spread of disease at carcasses.”

Bird tourism is a niche market in Africa, she said. “The declining state of many of Africa’s protected areas is likely already having a large impact on tourism. Which tourist wants to pay top dollar to enter our parks only to see cows and people?”

Ogada said many raptor species are “barely existing” outside of Africa’s protected areas. “Without increasing the management of protected areas across the continent we can expect even more localised extinctions of raptors.”

She said the most urgent action that needs to be taken is restoring and safeguarding Africa’s protected areas “so that they can function as refuges, without threats, for all species [including plants]”.

The study’s findings highlight the importance of strengthening the protection of Africa’s natural habitats, and align with the COP15 goal of expanding conservation areas to cover 30% of land by 2030.

They also demonstrate the need to restore natural habitats in unprotected areas, reduce the effect of energy infrastructure, improve legislation for species protection, and establish long-term monitoring and evaluation of the conservation status of African raptors.

There is also a pressing need to increase public involvement in raptor conservation efforts. The authors have developed the African Raptor Leadership Grant to address the immediate need for more research and conservation programmes. It supports educational and mentoring opportunities for emerging African scientists, boosting local conservation initiatives and knowledge of raptors across the continent.

This initiative, launched last year, awarded its first grant to Joan Banda, a raptor research student at AP Leventis Ornithological Research Institute in Nigeria, who will study threats to African owls.

Botha added that there is a short supply of expertise and skilled raptor biologists and conservationists in Africa.

“We are looking at identifying African candidates and providing support and developing them into the raptor biologists and conservationists of the future because that’s key,” he said.