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Wader Hotspots in Africa Wader Hotspots in Africa

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Wader Hotspots in Africa Wader Hotspots in Africa 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 WADERADER HOTSPOTSHOTSPOTS 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 FRICAFRICA 14 A 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 WADER HOTSPOTS 3 4 4 5 5 6 IN AFRICA 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 kilo metres 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.
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