1 s the northern summer draws to a 1 2 close, millions upon millions of wad- 2 3 A ers prepare to travel south. The Arctic 3 4 summer is short and, although it provides 4 5 pastures of plenty for a brief part of the year, 5 6 for six months or more the same pastures are 6 7 icebound and inhospitable. By migrating to Waa d d e e r r hh o o t t s s p p o o t t s s 7 8 and from this region, birds are able to capital- W 8 9 ize on the brief summer bounty to rear their 9 10 broods and then escape the winter rigours by 10 11 flying south to more benign climes. Different 11 12 birds move different distances south – some 12 13 travel no further than to temperate northern 13 14 coasts while others finish their southward inin Aff r r i i c c a a 14 15 migrations at the very southerly limits of the A 15 16 world’s land masses where the days of the 16 17 southern summer are long and warm. 17 18 Migration is not haphazard – well-defined 18 19 migration routes are followed, three of which 19 20 have Africa as their final destination. Most of 20 21 the waders migrating to Africa come from a 21 22 huge area that stretches from northern Europe 22 23 across to the Taimyr Peninsula of northern 23 24 Siberia. Some travel even further, from close 24 25 The numbers of migrant to the shores of the Bering Straits. Their 25 26 waders entering Africa migration routes, because they are so well 26 27 established, are termed flyways. The East 27 28 each year have been esti- Atlantic flyway follows the coasts of western 28 29 Europe and Africa, with some birds crossing 29 30 mated at between 30 and the western Sahara. The Mediterranean fly- 30 31 way crosses the eastern Mediterranean and 31 32 40 million birds. Phil the Sahara en route to West/Central Africa. 32 33 Hockey visits some of the The East African flyway passes over the 33 34 Middle East and then follows both the East 34 35 ‘hottest’ wader sites on the African coast and the Great Rift Valley, south 35 36 to southern Africa. 36 37 continent The non-breeding ranges of many wader 37 38 species are huge, but large numbers of birds are 38 39 and reviews the wealth of concentrated at specific sites, typically estuar- 39 40 birds they support. ies and inland wetlands. Concentrations of 40 41 birds that can be found in a few square kilome- 41 42 tres of estuarine mudflat during the northern 42 43 winter may occupy tens of thousands of 43 44 square kilometres during the breeding season. 44 45 Because of these large non-breeding concen- 45 46 trations, certain sites become absolutely criti- 46 47 cal for the global conservation of waders. The 47 48 loss of even one important non-breeding site 48 49 could result in the death or displacement of, 49 50 in some cases, literally millions of waders. 50 51 This is no new realization and more than 51 52 20 years ago the Ramsar Convention on 52 53 Wetlands of International Importance set 53 54 about identifying vital wetland sites around 54 55 the world and promoting their conservation 55 56 and wise use. Sites identified by the Convention 56 57 range in size from nearly seven million hect- 57 58 ares (the Okavango Delta of Botswana) down 58 59 to one hectare (Hosnie’s Spring on Christmas 59 60 Island). It is not easy to identify a single crite- 60 61 Right Greenshank rion that makes a wetland of great conserva- 61
62 Nigel J. Dennis tion importance for waders (the Ramsar 62
32 wader hotspots 1 1 2 2 3 Wa d e r h o t s p o t s 3 4 4 5 5 6 in Af r i c a 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 Jan van de kam 27 28 Convention has many such criteria). For the discovery of this major wintering ground, the Above Flamingos and wad- 28 29 sake of simplicity, however, I have assumed that Banc d’Arguin became a designated Ramsar site. ers on Mauritania’s Banc 29 30 sites which regularly support more than 25 000 Moving north-east along the coast to d’Arguin provide bright con- 30 31 waders during the southern summer qualify for Morocco, only one wetland qualifies for inclu- trast to the stark Saharan 31 32 inclusion. It is certain that the suite of sites I sion. This is Merja Zerga, a shallow 2 200-hect- backdrop. 32 33 have identified is not exhaustive – some sites are lagoon. Excluding species that forage in 33 34 that probably qualify for inclusion have never adjacent saltmarshes, this lagoon regularly sup- 34 35 been properly surveyed, and others have not ports 35 000–50 000 migrant waders. In some 35 36 been surveyed at all. It is also tricky to define a years, numbers are even higher than this. In 36 37 ‘site’, and some of those that I have included are January 1964, perhaps as a consequence of 37 38 very large. Generally, I have assumed that a site extreme weather conditions in western Europe 38 39 must stand alone as a geographical entity. For the previous winter, there could have been as Below The Northern 39 40 example, while the Red Sea coast of Sudan and many as 360 000 waders present, including 150 Lapwing reaches the 40 41 Eritrea supports tens of thousands of waders, this 000 Dunlins, 120 000 Bar-tailed Godwits, 50 southern limit of its non- 41 42 area has not been included. 000 Northern Lapwings and 10 000 each of breeding range on the 42 43 Common Ringed, Grey and Eurasian North African coast. 43 44 North Africa 44 45 The major wader site in this region is the Banc 45 46 d’Arguin, a massive area spanning some 150 46 47 kilometres of the Saharan coast of Mauritania 47 48 and incorporating nearly 550 square kilometres 48 49 of tidal flats. The area is huge, but so too are the 49 50 numbers of waders. Estimated totals of migrant 50 51 waders range from 1.9 million to 2.25 million, 51 52 and six species have populations totalling more 52 53 than 50 000 individuals. There may be as many 53 54 as 136 000 Common Ringed Plovers – almost 54 55 half of the total number along the Atlantic coast 55 56 of Africa. The Banc d’Arguin is also home to 56 57 more than half a million Bar-tailed Godwits 57 58 (75 per cent of the Atlantic coast total). Other 58 59 impressive peak numbers include 818 000 59 60 Dunlins, 367 000 Red Knots, 174 000 Curlew 60 61 Sandpipers and 70 000 Common Redshanks. 61 62 Fortunately, in October 1982, not long after the 62 Nigel J. dennis
34 wader hotspots africa – birds & birding 1998 – volume 3, number 5 wader hotspots 35 1 Right Djoudj National Park 1 2 in Senegal, covering 16 000 2 3 hectares, was designated as 3 4 a Ramsar site in July 1977. 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 Tim dodman Jan van de kam 29 29 30 Golden plovers. Further to the east, Tunisia’s in the west to north-eastern Nigeria and Lake Common Redshank (82 500), Bar-tailed Godwit for 6 000 and Common Sandpipers for 4 500. Above The wet rice paddies 30 31 claim to wader fame lies in the eastward-facing Chad in the east. The coastal lowlands of (155 500) and Whimbrel (41 500). Gull-billed West Africa has some of the greatest river sys- of Guinea-Bissau are home 31 32 Gulf of Gabès, where more than 260 000 wad- Senegal include no fewer than three major Terns are also particularly common here, with a tems in Africa and some of these have impres- to many waterbirds other 32 33 ers gather. Almost half of these are Dunlins, wader areas: in the north the Senegal River population of more than 10 000. sively large floodplains. The Niger inundation than waders: here, Western 33 34 but 20 700 Grey Plovers, 30 500 Little Stints Delta and adjacent Djoudj National Park, and in The coastal lowlands of Guinea-Bissau con- zone in Mali attracts some quarter of a million Reef Herons forage along- 34 35 and 13 300 Kentish Plovers help swell the total the south the Saloum Delta. In the past, as tain another important wader habitat – wet rice Ruffs, 55 000 Black-tailed Godwits, 10 000 Little side Grey Herons and a 35 36 past the quarter of a million mark. Within the many as a million Ruffs are estimated to have paddies. More than half of West Africa’s wet rice Stints and 6 000 Black-winged Stilts. Greater Great White Egret. 36 37 Gulf, the key areas are around Kneiss and been present in the Senegal River Delta, although paddies are in Guinea-Bissau, and for some Painted Snipe is common here and this is an 37 38 include some 14 600 hectares of mudflats recent counts typically have been between 40 waders they are a feeding paradise. Seventy-five important passage area for Great Snipe. One of 38 39 which extend for 20 kilometres along the coast 000 and 125 000. It is also important for Pied thousand Red-winged Pratincoles spend the Africa’s unusual resident waders, the Egyptian 39 40 and are up to 12 kilometres wide. Avocets (5 000+) and Black-tailed Godwits northern winter here, along with 120 000 Plover, is also numerous along the perennial 40 41 North-eastern Egypt has two key wader sites, (almost 20 000). There is doubtless much inter- Black-tailed Godwits and 50 000 Wood Sand watercourses. The Hadejia–Nguru wetlands of 41 42 Lake Manzala and El Mahala. The former is the change of birds between the delta and Djoudj – pipers. Raptors also abound in these rich hunt- north-eastern Nigeria are centred on the Hadejia 42 43 largest lake in the Nile Delta, lying to the west of in January 1972 there were estimated to be 500 ing grounds – the number of European Marsh and Jama’are rivers. In the 1950s, the inunda- 43 44 Port Said, and is the most important single 000 Ruffs in Djoudj, this number increasing to Harriers alone can exceed 1 500. tion area of this system was about 3 000 square 44 45 wader site in Egypt, although it barely compares almost one million by the end of February of Not far to the south of Guinea-Bissau is kilometres. Since then, impoundments and an 45 46 to the Banc d’Arguin or the Gulf of Gabès. the same year. In the Saloum Delta to the south, Sierra Leone, and two sites here – the Sierra increasing demand for irrigation water have 46 47 Among its 45 000 waders are important popula- Little Stints make up about 90 per cent of the Leone River and Yawri Bay – qualify for inclu- reduced this area to about 500 square kilome- 47 48 tions of Pied Avocets (9 500) and Kentish Plovers 110 000 waders present. sion as hotspots. The Sierra Leone River is tres. Typically of such West African 48 49 (4 300). These are also among Immediately to the south of Senegal lies physically complex as several subsidiary rivers wetlands, Ruffs dominate the Kittlitz’s Plover 49 50 Chestnut-banded the most important spe- Guinea-Bissau and, although by African stan- join it near the coast. The shore length is wader population, number- 50 51 Plover cies at the hypersaline El dards the country is tiny, its wader populations approximately 110 kilometres and there are ing some 70 000. 51 52 Mahala lagoon (150 almost rival those of the Banc d’Arguin. The about 1 800 hectares of sand- and mudflats. Of To the east of the 52 53 square kilometres), intertidal flats of Guinea-Bissau support almost the 46 000 waders in the system, there are Hadejia– Nguru wet- 53 54 which lies in the one million waders, especially important areas about 8 600 Common Ringed Plovers, 16 600 lands lies Lake Chad. 54 55 north-western cor- being around the Geba and Buba rivers, and the Curlew Sandpipers, 4 000 Common Redshanks This is a poorly known 55 56 ner of the Sinai Archipelagos dos Bijagos – a group of offshore and 4 700 Common Sandpipers. Yawri Bay, wetland, variable in size and 56 57 Peninsula and supports islands. The islands alone support some 700 000 which lies to the south of the Sierra Leone probably in importance to wad- 57 58 about 32 500 waders. waders. Overall, there are important popula- River, has a 60-kilometre shoreline bordered ers. Between 200 000 and one 58 59 tions of Sanderling (10 800), Common Ringed by mangroves and slightly more than 9 000 million Ruffs are estimated to be 59 Nigel J. dennis Nigel J. dennis 60 West Africa Plover (57 000), Kentish Plover (18 500), Grey hectares of tidal flats, mostly muddy. Of the 47 present, and in 1986 there were about 60 61 This region contains half of the top wader sites Plover (57 000), Curlew Sandpiper (250 000), 000 waders present, Common Redshanks 30 000 Black-tailed Godwits at the lake. Not 61 62 in Africa, extending from the Senegalese coast Little Stint (123 000), Red Knot (144 000), account for 14 000, Common Ringed Plovers far to the south of Lake Chad, in northern 62
36 wader hotspots africa – birds & birding 1998 – volume 3, number 5 wader hotspots 37 1 1 2 In eastern DRC, Lake Edward does support annually into Africa. More than 25 years 2 3 large numbers of waders. In early 1974, Leon later, we are able to make a stab at estimating 3 4 Lippens and Henri Wille (Les Oiseaux du Zaïre) these ‘incalculable’ numbers, at least for some 4 5 reported ‘several thousand’ Caspian Plovers species. We can be fairly certain, for example, 5 6 along the lake’s shores, along with ‘thousands’ that several million Ruffs (perhaps 5–10 mil- 6 7 of Little Stints. The same authors report ‘enor- lion) are among the wader visitors to Africa. 7 8 mous concentrations of Wood Sandpipers The European breeding population of 8 9 along the lakes and rivers of eastern Zaïre’ and Common Snipes, many of which migrate to 9 10 a ‘major passage’ of Common Sandpipers at Africa, was estimated in 1997 at 20 million 10 11 Lake Edward in March. birds. The globally threatened Slender-billed 11 12 Curlew is also a migrant into Africa. The 12 13 Southern Africa world population is somewhere between 100 13 14 Southern Africa’s coastal wetlands support some and 400, and any wetland supporting even 14 15 very high densities of waders, but overall num- three of these birds is considered internation- 15 16 bers by African standards are rather small. The ally important under the Ramsar criteria. 16 17 Namibian wetlands of Walvis Bay Lagoon and Even with these population estimates, how- 17 18 Sandwich Harbour are both hotspots. There is a ever, we are still not able to calculate the total 18 19 case for considering these two wetlands as one numbers of migrant waders entering Africa 19 20 because there is undoubtedly substantial inter- annually. At a guess, the figure lies some- 20 21 change of birds between them. Walvis Bay where between 30 and 40 million birds, but it 21 22 Lagoon can support 40 000–45 000 waders in may be at least another 25 years before we 22 23 summer, including about 18 000 Curlew Sand can refine this estimate with any real confi- 23 24 pipers and up to 10 000 Sanderlings and 4 000 dence. The continent is crying out for expedi- 24 25 Ruddy Turnstones. Overall wader numbers at tionary surveys to some of its remote and not 25 26 Sandwich Harbour are comparable, and White- so remote wetlands and coastlines. It is sad to 26 27 fronted Plover numbers here sometimes exceed think that some wetlands might be lost before 27 28 1 500. In global terms, however, the most we ever knew what was there... 28 Jan van de kam 29 important wader population at these two sites is 29 30 Above Bar-tailed Godwits Cameroon, is the Waza–Logone area. This is a 5 000 Spur-winged Plovers, 2 000 Little Ringed that of Chestnut-banded Plover. Numbers of 30 31 gather to roost along large site of more than 8 000 square kilometres Plovers and 1 000 White-tailed Plovers. these plovers peak during winter and, in July List of species mentioned in the text, in the order in which they appear 31 32 that includes the floodplain of the Logone River The East African Rift Valley lakes have only 1996, 9 731 birds were counted. This may be 32 mangrove fringes in the Common Ringed Plover Greater Painted Snipe Rostratula 33 and incorporates both the Waza and Kalamaloué one definite contender for inclusion as a hotspot. more than 70 per cent of the world population. 33 Archipelagos dos Bijagos, Charadrius hiaticula benghalensis 34 national parks. In January 1996, there were Lake Turkana in northern Kenya is a vast water- In South Africa, the only two sites that quali 34 Guinea-Bissau. Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica Great Snipe Gallinago media 35 more than 50 000 waders in the complex, 95 per body, supporting up to 60 000 Little Stints, 8 35 fy as wader hotspots are also close together and Dunlin Calidris alpina Egyptian Plover Pluvianus 36 cent of which were Ruffs. 000 Common Ringed Plovers, 5 000 Marsh waders undoubtedly move between the two. Red Knot C. canutus aegyptius 36 37 The final site identified in West Africa is the Sandpipers and more than 12 000 Black-winged Langebaan Lagoon and the Berg River estuary Curlew Sandpiper C. ferruginea Western Reef Heron Egretta gularis 37 38 Baie de Corisco: this is the most northerly major Stilts. Large numbers of Turkana’s shorebirds are both lie on the west coast north of Cape Town. Common Redshank Tringa totanus Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 38 39 estuary in Gabon. The intertidal mudflats of concentrated around Ferguson’s Gulf in the Wader numbers at Langebaan fluctuate between Northern Lapwing Vanellus Great White Egret Egretta alba 39 40 Corisco extend over more than 4 000 hectares, northern reaches. In the Rift Valley to the north 30 000 and 40 000 birds, while the Berg River vanellus Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago 40 41 and there are also extensive mangrove swamps. of Lake Turkana, Ethiopia’s Lake Abijata is home supports just under 30 000. At both sites Curlew Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola Caspian Plover Charadrius asiaticus 41 42 Little Stints (10 000+) account for about 30 per to more than 75 000 waders. The more com- Sandpipers make up 60 per cent or more of the Eurasian Golden Plover P. apricaria Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus 42 43 cent of the waders at this site. mon species are Little Stint (32 000), Kittlitz’s total numbers. Little Stint Calidris minuta Common Greenshank Tringa 43 44 Plover (11 000), Ruff (7 000), Pied Avocet (7 000) Of the 24 ‘hotspots’, only six (in Mauritania, Kentish Plover Charadrius nebularia 44 45 East Africa and Black-winged Stilt (4 000). Senegal, Namibia and South Africa) are alexandrinus Marsh Sandpiper T. stagnatilis 45 46 Despite its Mecca-like status in the eyes of bird- The Omo Delta of Ethiopia may also support Ramsar-designated sites. Other hotspots in Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta Spur-winged Plover Vanellus 46 47 ers, in terms of major wader sites East more than 25 000 waders, but no counts are Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Ruff Philomachus pugnax spinosus 47 48 Africa does not hold a candle to available to confirm this. Tanzania has no sites Leone, Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa Little Ringed Plover Charadrius 48 49 its western counterpart. The that currently qualify for inclusion, although Ethiopia, Kenya and Gabon do not enjoy this Sanderling Calidris alba dubius 49 50 Sudd area, abutting the White the Rufiji Delta may be in the running. Mafia recognition, despite the fact that any wetland Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus White-tailed Plover Vanellus 50 51 Marsh Sandpiper Nile in southern Sudan, Island, which lies offshore of the Rufiji Delta which supports 20 000 or more waterbirds (all Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon leucurus 51 52 is thought to hold could, however, support as many as 10 000 species, not just waders) qualifies for registra- nilotica Kittlitz’s Plover Charadrius 52 53 somewhere between Crab Plovers. If this estimate is correct, this tion. Of these 13 countries, all except Sierra Red-winged Pratincole Glareola pecuarius 53 54 one and three million wad- one site alone would hold 20 per cent of the Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan and pratincola Crab Plover Dromas ardeola 54 55 ers, but these figures are arrived at world’s Crab Plover population during the non- Ethiopia have ratified the Convention. Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres 55 56 more by estimates than by actual breeding season and would qualify as a site of Between them, the other eight countries have European Marsh Harrier Circus White-fronted Plover Charadrius 56 57 counts. Some of the more impressive international importance on this criterion registered a total of 19 sites with the aeruginosus marginatus 57 58 estimates from the Sudd are 1.5 million alone. Despite its extensive areas of wetland, Convention. Common Sandpiper Tringa Chestnut-banded Plover 58 59 Common Snipes, one million Ruffs, 500 the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, for- In his posthumous (1972) monograph on hypoleucos C. pallidus 59 60 Nigel J. dennis 000 each of Little Stints and Wood Sandpipers, merly Zaïre) also has no known qualifying Palaearctic–African bird migration systems, Black-winged Stilt Himantopus Slender-billed Curlew Numenius 60 61 10 000 each of Caspian Plovers, Jack Snipes, sites, but this may be due more to a lack of Reg Moreau estimated that 5 000 million land himantopus tenuirostris 61 62 Common Greenshanks and Marsh Sandpipers, knowledge than a paucity of birds. birds and ‘incalculable water birds’ migrated 62
38 wader hotspots africa – birds & birding 1998 – volume 3, number 5 wader hotspots 39