News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights

Loro Parque Grey Parrot. F o l l o w i n g Fundación scientist much prepara- Finds Collapse of the tion prior to the start of fieldwork, Grey Parrot surveys for Grey Population in Ghana Parrots and other fruit-eating birds Stuart J. Marsden, Nigel J. Collar and Dr. David R. Waugh were conducted by Nat between April Nathaniel Annorbah, a PhD student 2012 and March studying at Manchester Metropolitan 2013. The gen- University with funding from Loro Parque eral study area, which is about Fundación, has been searching for Grey The search for the Grey Parrots continue in Ghana. 60,000 square kilo- Parrots (Psittacus Erithacus) across his Photo by Shane Hancock native country of Ghana for more than one metres, comprises a roosts, however, depends largely on infor- year. What Nat has found is very disturb- mosaic of inhabited, mation provided by trappers or local knowl- ing indeed. cultivated and forested areas in south-west- edge in general. Therefore, whenever Nat The Grey Parrot is distributed from ern Ghana. This area falls primarily within visited a cell, he always held conversations the western edge of Kenya, through south- two major ecological zones in Ghana, with local people in an effort to gain knowl- ern Uganda and the Congo forests to namely evergreen forest and moist semi- edge about the occurrence of any extant or Cameroon, and through the moist low- deciduous forest. The south-western part of former roosts. If local people did not know land forests of West Africa to the south- Ghana was chosen for the study because it about any existing roosts, surveys contin- east of the Ivory Coast, as well as on the held previously known populations of Grey ued with special focus on potentially suit- islands of Principe (Sao Tomé and Principe) Parrots and remains the area in the coun- able habitats. and Bioko (Equatorial Guinea); the form try with the most suitable habitats for the Interviews were conducted in all the timneh from Guinea to western Ivory species. study cells surveyed to obtain informa- Coast is now treated as a separate The study area was partitioned into tion about local people’s knowledge of the species, ‘Timneh Parrot’ (BirdLife a grid of 10 x 10 square kilometre cells. A Grey Parrot and to record any data on the International 2013). Despite its large random sample of 31 cells was surveyed socio-economics of the trade in the spe- geographical distribution, the popula- for the presence or absence of parrots. Sur- cies. At each village in a study cell the tion of the Grey Parrot is suspected to be veys were conducted between April 2012 chief or village leader and his or her elders suffering a rapid decline because of the and March 2013. In each cell, surveys were were informed about the project and the extent of the annual harvest for interna- conducted along a variety of pre-existent need to locate any roosts or gather any tional trade, and the high rate of ongoing routes by walking along hunter or farmer information about the presence of habitat loss. The IUCN Red List category footpaths and also along drivable pathways parrots and other relevant species in the of the species has recently been raised to connecting villages and towns. area. Nat’s assistant subsequently walked Vulnerable (BirdLife International 2013). Survey routes traversed a variety of habitats in and around the village and interviewed The aim of Nat’s research is to use including small-scale agro-farmland, any residents willing to respond to a set of novel study methods to assess the historic large-scale oil-palm plantations, forest questions from a prepared question- and current distribution, abundance and reserves and settlements. Survey routes were naire. On some occasions his assistant ecology of Ghanaian populations of the walked in the company of a local guide, accompanied him on field surveys and Grey Parrot in order to make informed and all individual birds of the target species interviewed people encountered along sur- predictions about the sustainability of heard or seen along the route, perched or in vey routes. trade and land-use changes. In the course flight, were recorded together with distance A total of only 101 parrots were of his fieldwork, he has also been collecting from the observer, direction of flight, and encountered during the year-long surveys. relevant data on other forest-dwelling GPS coordinates at the point of detection. Parrots were recorded in just nine of the frugivores, in part to serve as a comparison A major part of fieldwork was to locate 31 surveyed grid squares. Over half the and contrast with those he gathers on the roosts of Grey Parrots and count birds to estimate roost population sizes. Location of parrots were located in a single square.

AFA Watchbird 57 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights

This result demonstrates that Grey Parrots not suggest the occurrence of any unde- Parrots attracted good prices. Ghana’s share are now extremely rare in Ghana and very tected parrot populations. Other interview- of the trade was nearly 20% of the total difficult to find in areas hitherto known ees are also of the view that habitat loss and until an export ban was put in place in 1986 to be parrot population strongholds. degradation through commercial pending population assessments. These The biggest single flock found in Nat’s logging, as well as the clearance from farms figures represent only legal trade, but fieldwork consisted of just 12 birds (especially cocoa farms) of old mature shade the illegal trade is completely shrouded hovering over and occasionally perching trees, is a major factor in the massive parrot in secrecy and seems to have continued, on Senna siamea trees in a village about population declines that we now know have adding to the depletion of Grey Parrot 20km south of Tarkwa, one of Ghana’s occurred in the last two decades. populations. Subsequently, the trade took major mining communities. In a 1992 Even without complete certainty a nose dive in the late 1990s (in the 1994- study researchers managed to visit 24 of 60 about the exact cause of the massive pop- 2003 period CITES records show only 382 sites where Grey Parrots could be found at ulation declines in Grey Parrot popula- Grey Parrots exported from Ghana), owing the time, and actually counted birds at 19 tions in Ghana, the over-exploitation for simply to the scarcity of Grey Parrots for sites: three of those 19 sites harboured 800- trade should be emphasised. On the other capture. A few former trappers intimated 1,200 Grey Parrots each (Dändliker 1992). hand, the so called ‘salvage felling’ of large, to Nat that they had to shift the focus of In the current study Grey Parrots were sometimes hollowed ‘over-mature’ trees their operations to other West African present in only three of 12 sites selected by the Forestry Commission of Ghana countries in order to earn a living. Some from the 24 previously known sites may have removed much suitable nesting have since returned home to practise sub- mentioned in the 1992 study. The habitat for Grey Parrots and other sistence farming, but will not hesitate to Red-fronted Parrot (Poicephalus gulielmi) hole-nesters. This practice also appears extract the fledglings of any nesting parrots was more abundant and widespread, as 380 to have affected the structural integrity they happen to find. birds were counted in 20 out of 31 sites sur- of Ghana’s forests, since it was followed Nat is currently conducting prelimi- veyed. Other rare species encountered were about a decade later in the early 1980s by nary analyses of data collected in the first the Great Blue Turaco (Corythaeola cris- unprecedented levels of forest fires, thus field season, and goes again to the field for a tata), Black Dwarf Hornbill (Tockus hart- wreaking further damage. Meanwhile, second shorter field season from Novem- laubi), Brown-cheeked Hornbill (Bycan- commercial logging in forest reserves ber 2013 to April 2014. This will include istes cylindricus), Yellow-casqued Hornbill continues to impact Grey Parrots, as further data collection on (1) 30 previously (Ceratogymna elata) and Black-casqued commercial tree species tend to be the same known Grey Parrot roost sites, (2) extra Hornbill (C. atrata). The African Green ones used by parrots for nesting. This is survey squares in southwest Ghana, and (3) Pigeon (Treron calvus) and African Pied evidenced by the presence of nails, used interviews with as many people as possible Hornbill (Tockus fasciatus) were however, by trappers for climbing trees, in many involved in the parrot trade in both past and very common. logs during processing. It is also possible present times. Generally, there are varied opinions that the Grey Parrot faces competition for At the end of his research, Nat about the plight of the Grey Parrot in nest sites from other species, especially in expects to determine more precisely the Ghana. Some respondents interviewed relation to the very high abundance of Afri- associations between Grey Parrots (and indicate that Ghana’s Grey Parrot can Pied Hornbills. This possibility is worth other fruit-eating birds) and their habitats, populations have been extirpated due to investigating even though there are this being fundamental information for over-capture for the previously vibrant currently no field data to suggest a problem answering questions about population size parrot trade, which peaked some 25-30 in Ghana. and distribution. Accordingly, he hopes years ago. Others maintained that the once- Some 50,000 Grey Parrots were exported to predict current and past distribution of common Grey Parrot, which was frequently from the range states between 1983 and the Grey Parrot in Ghana and what may be encountered in towns and villages and on 1989, exploding to 358,040 (including causing any range contractions over time. farms, has now moved deep into the for- re-exports) between 1994 and 2003 (CITES Last but not least, he plans to document est, or even to the “other end” of it. The 2006). The trade became popular in Ghana the population collapse of the Grey Par- irony here is that residents of the “other amongst pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia rot and what may have caused its demise. end” of the forest also believe that Grey during the 1970's when there were virtually The future is very bleak for the Grey Parrots have moved to the opposite end of no trade controls. This was a good source Parrot in Ghana. However, the situation the same block of forest! Nat’s surveys in the of much-needed foreign exchange for the of the Grey Parrot in other West Afri- interior of these forest blocks, however, do pilgrims on arrival at Mecca where Grey can countries does not seem to be very

58 Volume XL • Number 4 • 2013 News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights • News Highlights different from that of Ghana and needs CITES. 2006. Psittacus erithacus AC22 Addresses of authors Doc. 10.2 Annex 1. http://www.cites.org/eng/ further studies. Nat’s work will, we hope, S. J. Marsden, Department of Environmen- com/ac/22/E22-10-2-A1.pdf form the foundation for research that will tal and Geographical Sciences, Applied Ecology ultimately be used to reverse the decline Dändliker, G. 1992.The Grey Parrot in Group, Manchester Metropolitan University, of the species throughout its West Afri- Ghana: a population survey, a contribution to Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK the biology of the species, a study of its commer- N. J. Collar, BirdLife International, Girton can range; but realistically it may be many cial exploitation and management recommen- Road, Cambridge CB3 0NA, UK decades before the populations are back to dations. A report on CITES Project S-30. Un- even their 1992 levels. published report to CITES. D. R. Waugh, Loro Parque Fundación, To help promote regional cooperation Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Spain for the conservation and management of the African Grey and Timneh Parrots, Nat contributed to a recent workshop: ‘Strengthening Capacity for Monitoring and Regulation of International Trade in African Grey Parrot’. In Monrovia, Liberia, participants representing the governments and BirdLife Partners and collaborating organizations of Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone met to discuss how to safeguard the future of these species. One of the main obsta- cles to a sustainable trade is the lack of a scientific basis on which to make management decisions, including the setting of export quotas. This workshop made an important step in addressing this need, by bringing these countries together to agree on how to monitor their parrot populations, and initiating the process of developing national management plans. A new framework of standardized meth- ods for rapidly assessing wild African Grey Parrot populations was presented and tested in the workshop, with discussions on the application of the methods in each of the countries. Immediately following the workshop, Nat joined a team of research- ers from among the participants to lead a four-day training exercise in Gola Forest, Liberia, training 15 rangers in parrot moni- toring methods. The response was very pos- itive and bodes well for the improved con- servation of these species. References BirdLife International. 2013. Species fact- sheet: Psittacus erithacus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14/09/2013.

AFA Watchbird 59