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Distribution and Ecology of Palearctic Birds of Prey Wintering in West and Central Africa

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Distribution and Ecology of Palearctic Birds of Prey Wintering in West and Central Africa Meyburg, B.-U. & R. D. Chancellor eds. 1989 Raptors in the Modern World WWGBP: Berlin, London & Paris Distribution and Ecology oF Palearctic Birds oF Prey Wintering in West and Central AFrica J.-M. Thiollay ABSTRACT The abundance, seasonal distribution, habitat and ecological requirements oF 21 Falconiforms, migrants from western to far eastern Europe or North-West AFrica and wintering south oF the Sahara, from Mauritania to Gabon and Tchad, are summarised. The inFluence oF drought, over- grazing, deForestation, heavy use oF pesticides and other changes oF their wintering conditions during the last two decades is analysed and compared to their known situation in European breed- ing grounds. The most aFFected species are the two harriers (Montagu's and Pallid) and the two gregarious small falcons (Red-Footed and Lesser Kestrel) which are mostly dependent upon the concentrations oF locust s in the Sahelian savannas. The ecological segregation and lack oF signiFi- cant competition with AFrican resident species are also emphasised. INTRODUCTION Palearctic raptors are well-known on their European breeding grounds. Many studies have attempted to monitor their migration through the Mediterranean area, but their crossing oF the Sahara and distribution on AFro-tropical wintering grounds are still poorly documented. The importance oF adult and immature survival rates outside the breeding season on the dynamic of long-lived species and the decrease oF some migrants, not fully explained by the deterioration of their breeding conditions, strongly emphasise the need to study the distribution, ecology and mortality rates oF these migrants on their wintering grounds and during their migration, at least south oF the Mediterranean. During the last 20 years, most AFrican countries and habitats oF w i n t e r i n g raptors have changed so dramatically (even far more than their European breeding habitats) that we must search in Africa for at least a partial explanation oF t h e i r population fluctuations. U p to now, it is surprising to see how few studies have been published on Palearctic migrants even in the best known areas (East and South AFrica), where so many papers are devoted to Ethiopian species. I give here a summary oF m o s t l y personal data already dispersed through several publications in French (Thiollay, 1973 to 1985) and augmented by occasional observations and unpublished reports in recent years. It is not intended to be a deFinitive statement but a guideline for future researches. 95 STUDY AREA AND METHODS I spent six full years in West Africa (from 1967 to 1973), studying mainly the ecology of s a v a n n a birds of prey and the migrations of African species between the coast and the desert. Then, between 1975 and 1984,1 returned six times to spend a total of 12 months. Most records come from nearly every part of Ivory Coast, Mali, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Niger. Moreover, I have repeatedly censused birds of prey in Senegal, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroun and Chad, as well as to a lesser extent in Mauritania, Liberia, Togo and Gabon. Data obtained during more than ten months of intensive studies in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Uganda and Kenya will be briefly referred to but not included in this analysis. STUDY AREA Most of W e s t Africa lies below 500 m and mountains exceeding 1,000 m are very isolated (mainly in south-western Cameroun and northern Chad). From north to south, the vegetation is progress- ively taller and denser as the mean rainfall increases. This gradient is divided into four latitudinal zones, each one usually sub-divided into a northern and a southern zone (Fig. 1 ). Brief descrip- tions and latitudinal limits apply to Central West Africa. The corresponding zones are narrower and more northern in the western part and reach much lower latitudes in the east. Figure 1. The main vegetation belts of W e s t Africa: 1 = Rain forest; 2 = Southern Guinea; 3 = Northern Guinea; 4 = Sudan; 5 = Southern Sahel; 6 = Northern Sahel; 7 = desert. 1. - The SaheI Zone (500-600 km wide) has a long, severe dry season from October to June. The woody vegetation is dominated by Acacia, Balanites, Ziziphus, Commiphora and, locally, by the large baobab tree (Adansonia) or the Hyphaene palm. Rainfall increases from about 100 mm in the steppes of t h e desert fringe ( 17-21°N) to 600 mm in the southern acacia savannas (14-17°N). Cultivation is restricted to some valleys that can be irrigated. Fires are very rare. 2. - The Sudan Zone (400-600 km wide) has a longer rainy season (May to October) and is natu- rally covered by a dry but rather dense savanna woodland, usually 4-10 mm high ( Cassia, Entada, Anogeissus, Monotes, Burkea, Diospyros, Combretum, Bombax, Tamarindus, Sterculia ...). During the dry season, most trees are leafless and bush fires a r e frequent. The northern 96 area, around 11 - 14°N, receives 650-1,050 mm of r a i n while the southern one ( 9°3 0-11 °N) has a higher rainfall ( 1,000-1,200 mm) and consequently a higher grass cover (up to 90% and 1.5 m of Andropogon, Hyparrhenia, Schizachyrium, Pennisetum...). The human population is much higher than in the Sahel, and sedentary. Large areas are densely cultivated, with only scat- tered large trees (Butyrospermum, Parkia, Adansonia) in the fields or around the villages. 3. - The Guinea Zone is narrower (180-300 Km wide, between 6°30 and 9°30) and wetter (1,150- 1,400 mm of rain) with a shorter dry season of 3-4 months (mainly December to February). The taller and more continuous woodland is dominated by Lophira, Daniella, Isoberlinia etc. in the north and Piliostigma, Cussonia, Crossopteryx, and BorassusPalm in the south. The grass cover (Hyparrhenia, Loudetia, etc.), taller (up to 1.8 m) and denser (100%) than in the Sudan Zone, is nearly completely burnt every year. Numerous evergreen gallery forests line every watercourse. The human population remains rather low in some areas (northern Ivory Coast and Benin), but is now very dense in most others (central Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria), where the natural habitats have nearly disappeared. 4. - The Rain Forest Zone, now much fragmented by cultivation and completely logged outside a few reserves, extends along the coast from Sierra Leone to southern Cameroun and Gabon, except in the Dahomey Gap where the Guinean savanna reaches the coast. It is up to 200-300 Km wide, reaching 8°N and receives from 1,400-1,600 mm of rain in the north to 1,800-2,200 mm in the south in one long and one shorter wet season. 5. - The Inundation Zone of the Niger, in central Mali, extending over nearly 40,000 km2 across the north Sudan and south Sahel zones, is extremely important for wintering raptors. The flood begins in June in the south, reaches Mopti in November and finally N i a m e y in March, leaving rich grasslands and many pools when retreating. The shallow Chad Basin probably plays a similar role with its widely changing water levels, both between seasons and years. METHODS All birds of prey were counted along roads and tracKs, always by two persons driving slowly and often stopping, during the daily period of maximum activity for raptors (07.30-12.00 and 15.00- 17.30) and only in fine, c a l m and clear weather, outside towns and big villages (Thiollay 1978b). A total of over 105,000 Falconiforms have thus been recorded on more than 130,000 Km of r o a d s i d e counts throughout West Africa and in every month. The true proportion of b i r d s detected by such a survey differs widely between one species and another and also between habitat types. However, the results have proved a reliable way to com- pare the abundance of a given species or the composition of a whole population between different seasons. Vegetation structure and relative abundance of grasshoppers were measured along each daily itinerary to correlate habitat suitability and prey density with raptor distribution (see Thiollay 1978b). SPECIES ACCOUNTS These condensed results are drawn from the synthesis of Thiollay (1977b and 128 references therein), then from subsequent unpublished observations and additional publications (Thiollay 1975,1977a, 1978a and b, 1982) as well as the main countries' checKlists: Mauritania (Gee 1984), Gambia (Gore 1981), Mali (Lamarche 1980), Ivory Coast (Thiollay 1985), Togo (CheKe & Walsh 1980), Nigeria (Elgood 1981), Cameroun (Louette 1981), Chad (Salvan 1967-68). Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus fulvus Several records in Mauritania, Lower Senegal valley and Air mountains confirm that some of t h e Spanish birds which cross the Gibraltar straits regularly reach the southern edge of the Sahara. 97 Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus percnopterus A few hundred pairs breed in West Africa, mainly in western and central Mali, as well as northern Niger and Chad. This population is more than tripled from October to March by northern migrants which preferably concentrate in the Inundation Zone and along the Niger valley ( 14° to 17°N). Very few birds stray south of the Sahel. Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus Winters mainly in the southern Sahel (up to 17°30N), extending south with decreasing frequency to northern Guinea savannas. It is increasingly frequent from west (Senegal) to east (Chad) as reflected by the increasing ratio C. macrourus/C. pygargus (0.13 to 0.41 ). Widespread and usually seen in drier and less wooded areas than the Montagu's (dry fields, s h o r t grass savannas, steppes).
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