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Waterbird and Site Monitoring Along the Atlantic Coast of Africa Strategy

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Waterbird and Site Monitoring Along the Atlantic Coast of Africa Strategy Waterbird and site monitoring along the Atlantic coast of Africa Strategy and manual Waterbird and site monitoring along the Atlantic coast of Africa: © BirdLife International, Wetlands International & Common Wadden Sea Secretariat Any part of this publication may be copied, used or adapted for training or awareness-raising purposes, providing the sources are referenced and relevant authors / photographers are acknowledged. strategy and manual Compilation: Marc van Roomen1,2, Simon Delany3, Tim Dodman1, Lincoln Fishpool4, Szabolcs Nagy5, Ademola Ajagbe4, Geoffroy Citegetse4 & Abdoulaye Ndiaye6 in cooperation with the participants of the CMB/WSFI workshop in Dakar June 2012. 1 Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative 2 Sovon, Dutch Centre for field ornithology 3 Delany Environmental 4 BirdLife International 5 Wetlands International 6 AEWA African Initiative, Technical Support Unit This publication should be cited as: van Roomen M., Delany S., Dodman T., Fishpool L., Nagy S., Ajagbe A., Citegetse G. & Ndiaye A. 2014. Waterbird and site monitoring along the Atlantic coast of Africa: strategy and manual. BirdLife International, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, and Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Lay-out: Blue Robin dtp / Arnold Meijer Photographs: Dave Montreuil, Bernd de Bruijn, Barend van Gemerden, Peter de Boer & Arnold Meijer Production: Doorwerk / Nadja Jansma Printing: GrafiServices Photographs cover: front: Bar-tailed Godwit, Greater Flamingo (Arnold Meijer), Royal Tern (Dave Montreuil) back: Great White Pelican (Dave Montreuil) This publication is also available in French and Portuguese Developed by the Conservation of Migratory Birds (CMB) project as supported by MAVA Foundation and Vogel- bescherming Nederland and the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative (WSFI) as supported by the governments of The Netherlands (Ministry of Economic Affairs through the Programme Rich Wadden Sea) and Germany (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety). These projects are carried out under the coordination of BirdLife International, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and Wetlands International. BirdLife International Common Wadden Sea Secretariat Wetlands International Wellbrook Court, Virchowstrasse 1 PO Box 471 Girton Road D-26382, Wilhelmshaven 6700 AL Wageningen Cambridge, CB3 0NA Germany The Netherland United Kingdom www.waddensea-secretariat.org www.wetlands.org www.birdlife.org Waterbird and site monitoring along the Atlantic coast of Africa: strategy and manual 4 5 Contents Forword 4.2.2 Mobilizing and maintaining resources 25 Summary 4.2.3 The site inventory 26 4.2.4 The observer network 29 Acknowledgements 4.2.5 Planning and organizing fieldwork 30 1. Introduction 12 4.2.6 Compiling and checking the data 31 1.1 Background and aims of this 4.2.7 National reporting 32 document 12 4.2.8 Submitting the data for 1.2 How to use this document 13 international use 32 1.3 Definitions used in this document 13 4.3 Site coordinator and field worker 32 4.3.1 Rewards of being site 2. State of monitoring in coordinator and field worker 32 the region 15 4.3.2 Skills and tasks 33 2.1 Why monitoring 15 4.4 Non-breeding waterbird counting 33 2.1.1 National policies and 4.4.1 Geographic boundaries of international obligations 15 the site and counting units 33 2.1.2 Site level conservation and 4.4.2 When to count 33 management 16 4.4.3 Which species 33 2.2 Current state of monitoring in 4.4.4 Equipment 33 the region 17 4.4.5 Which methods 34 2.3 Current state of capacity in 4.4.6 Submitting the data 37 the region 18 4.5 Breeding waterbird counting 37 2.4 Conclusions and 4.6 Assessment of environmental recommendations 19 conditions 38 4.6.1 Introduction 38 3. The monitoring strategy 20 4.6.2 Which Sites 38 3.1 Cooperation between existing 4.6.3 Timing of visits 38 programmes 20 4.6.4 Which threats to record 38 3.2 Non-breeding waterbirds 21 4.6.5 How to record threats 39 3.3 Breeding waterbirds 22 4.6.6 How to record habitat 40 3.4 Environmental conditions 22 4.6.7 How to record conservation 3.5 Capacity development 22 actions 41 3.6 Implementation of this strategy 23 4.6.8 Scoring threats, habitat and conservation actions 42 4. Monitoring manual 24 4.6.9 Submitting the data 42 4.1 The team 24 4.2 National coordination 24 5. References and further 4.2.1 Rewards and tasks of being reading 43 PHOTO national coordinator 24 Arnold Meijer / Blue Robin Eurasian Oystercatcher, specialist forager on shellfish. Waterbird and site monitoring along the Atlantic coast of Africa: strategy and manual 6 7 Foreword My first waterbird counts were in the Tagus estuary, Portugal in 1977. We were 6 or 7 enthusiastic young lads led by an English ornithologist. I was 18 years old and like the rest of us I didn’t believe counting flocks of waders was possible! In those times the annual winter bird counts were organ- ised by the International Waterfowl Research Bureau (IWRB). Few of the members of this pre-historic counting team followed an ornithological career but they’re all fond of birds and they all plead for the cause of conservation. Bird counts were a key factor to reset modern ornithology in Portugal. Tony Prater came back the year after to carry on counts and train a local team of youngsters in wader counting and research. Setting up a national ringing scheme just followed under the auspices of the Ministry of the Environment, and the first breeding bird atlas was published in 1989. A few years later a private society for the conservation of birds emerged and became the national representative of Birdlife International in Portugal (SPEA - Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves). The organisation of bird counts will improve public awareness and care for birds and biodiversity in general. However, knowing bird numbers is also important to evaluate population trends and improve knowledge on the phenology of bird migration. Waterbird censuses are valuable to iden- tify key stop-over sites during migration and wintering hot spots. The number of birds visiting a wetland is a good indicator to assert its ecological importance, and International classification criteria are often based on that measure. Without having detailed information on bird numbers at a site it will never be eligible for the Ramsar convention for instance. Nevertheless, the usefulness and consistency of the results obtained doing bird census depends on the level of expertise of the observers and the respect of methodologies well established inter- nationally. We are dealing with estimates but the accuracy of the counts is important to support reliable decision making, concerning bird populations and site management at local and global levels all along the flyways. We all agree that, without good basic training, material and perseverance, bird monitoring will be less effective. Marathon runners cannot win without training regularly and good training shoes. Likewise training, telescopes, binoculars and bird-guides are needed to keep counters in shape. Last weekend I was on the beach observing migrant spoonbills heading north along the shore line close to Nouakchott, Mauritania and when I saw the groups coming my first instinct was to count them! I’m no longer a bird counter like I used to be but I keep binoculars at close range to keep in shape and to be sure not to induce in error the ones trusting my counts. The present manual is especially dedicated to bird count coordinators and field ornithologists operating along the western seaboard of Africa. It provides useful and comprehensive informa- tion, sensible enough to ease the establishment of monitoring strategies and bird count networks. It will help newcomers understanding what waterbird counts are all about, and why they are important. Its scope goes far beyond a simple bird count manual and I am sure it will represent an PHOTO important contribution to further establish effective waterbird monitoring in the region. Enjoy it and keep counting! Arnold Meijer / Blue Robin Antonio Araujo Manager, West Africa Programme, MAVA Foundation Member of the advisory board of the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative Flock of Dunlin and Red Knot moving to a high-tide roost. Waterbird and site monitoring along the Atlantic coast of Africa: strategy and manual 8 9 Summary The wetlands of the Atlantic coast of Western Africa are of utmost importance for waterbird popula- tions, other biodiversity and people alike. For proper policy and management of these resources monitoring is an important tool. It helps in providing an early warning of negative developments and provides evaluation of taken measurements. Countries in the region require monitoring data as the basis of site management decisions, national conservation strategies and international obligations. This document provides both a strategy on the collection of monitoring data, concentrating on num- bers of waterbirds and the environmental conditions of their sites, and provides a practical manual showing how to carry out this monitoring, both for coordinators and fieldworkers. Waterbirds are relatively easy to quantify and they are sensitive to the quality of their environment. This makes them important indicators of the ecological quality of the sites they use. This document is developed in the framework of the Conservation of Migratory Birds project and the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative. A cooperation between BirdLife International, Wetlands Interna- tional, several organizations involved in the monitoring
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