National Quail Symposium Proceedings Volume 6 Article 2 2009 Management of Southern African Gamebirds: Opportunities and Threats Tim Crowe University of Cape Town Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/nqsp Recommended Citation Crowe, Tim (2009) "Management of Southern African Gamebirds: Opportunities and Threats," National Quail Symposium Proceedings: Vol. 6 , Article 2. Available at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/nqsp/vol6/iss1/2 This Invited Manuscript is brought to you for free and open access by Volunteer, Open Access, Library Journals (VOL Journals), published in partnership with The University of Tennessee (UT) University Libraries. This article has been accepted for inclusion in National Quail Symposium Proceedings by an authorized editor. For more information, please visit https://trace.tennessee.edu/nqsp. Crowe: Management of Southern African Gamebirds: Opportunities and Threa Management of Southern African Gamebirds Management of Southern African Gamebirds: Opportunities and Threats Tim Crowe1 Gamebird Research Programme, Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701 South Africa Three evolutionarily quite distinct groups of galliforms contribute to a healthy wingshooting industry in south- ern Africa: guineafowl (Numida spp.), francolins (Scleroptila spp.) and spurfowls (Pternistis spp.). Some species, such as the helmeted guineafowl (N. meleagris), Swainson’s spurfowl (P. swainsonii) and greywing francolin (S. africanus), thrive in moderate to heavily disturbed landscapes, mainly agriculture. In fact, hel- meted guineafowl and Swainson’s spurfowl increased both in abundance and range during the 20th century. Others, such as the redwing (S. levaillantii) and Orange River francolins (S. levaillantoides) are very sensitive to certain types of land use. These strikingly different responses to land use require equally diverse strategies in order to develop truly sustainable management strategies and policies. These are discussed in detail for each of these five species of gamebirds. Citation: Crowe T. 2009. Management of southern african gamebirds: opportunities and threats. Pages 11 - 15 in Cederbaum SB, Faircloth BC, Terhune TM, Thompson JJ, Carroll JP, eds. Gamebird 2006: Quail VI and Perdix XII. 31 May - 4 June 2006. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Athens, GA, USA. Key words: management, southern African gamebirds, threat, utilization Introduction cape spurfowl), Ray Jansen (redwing francolin and Three phylogenetically distinct groups of galli- Swainson’s spurfowl), and Lionel Pero, Luthando forms contribute to a healthy shooting industry in Maphasa, Gerard Malan, Charles Ratcliffe, Helen southern Africa: guineafowl (Numididae), francol- Prinsloo and Ian little (helmeted guineafowl). Much ins (Scleroptila spp.) and spurfowls (Pternistis spp.). of what I write below is summarized in Little and Some species, e.g. greywing francolin (S. africanus), Crowe (2000) and discussed in detail in the papers helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris), Swainson’s listed in the bibliography. and cape spurfowl (P. swainsonii and capensis) thrive Helmeted Guineafowl in moderately to heavily human-modified land- The helmeted guineafowl may use the frequency scapes. Helmeted guineafowl and Swainson’s spur- of heavy rainfall as a cue to initiate breeding, given fowl actually increased both in numbers and range that year-to-year variation in their populations (and during the first two thirds of the 20th century. Oth- bags) are positively correlated with monthly fre- ers, e.g. redwing (S. levaillantii) and Orange River quency of rainfall (Crowe and Siegfried 1978). The francolins (S. levaillantoides), are very sensitive to availability of arthropod food (critical for success- certain types of land use. These strikingly differ- ful breeding) is also strongly correlated with rainfall. ent responses to land use require the application of However, population increases were lower follow- equally diverse management strategies to maintain ing successive years with high rainfall, perhaps sug- populations for hunting. These are discussed in brief gesting that the population is limited in a density- for each of these five gamebirds. dependent manner (Crowe 1978). Here I summarize key points emanating from Starting in the mid-1980s there were reports of the results of more than 50 person-years of re- wide-scale collapses of guineafowl populations out- search on southern African gamebirds by myself and side of protected areas. I originally attributed these my students: Rob Little (greywing francolin and 1Correspondence: [email protected] Gamebird 2006 j Athens, GA j USA 11 May 31 - June 4, 2006 1 National Quail Symposium Proceedings, Vol. 6 [2009], Art. 2 Management of Southern African Gamebirds to several successive years with lower than normal Redwing Francolin rainfall (Crowe and Siegfried 1978), but I was wrong. A habitat gradient analysis showed that the Subsequent research showed that the number abundance of the redwing francolin and other grass- of pesticides used, individual pesticide toxicity lev- land birds in highland wet grasslands is negatively els and percentage of land under cultivation are correlated with both grazing pressure and the fre- negatively correlated with guineafowl populations. quency of burning (Jansen et al. 1999, 2000, 2001a,b). However, Swainson’s spurfowl populations are pos- Once again, as with Orange River francolin, it is itively correlated with these same factors (Pero and absolutely essential to minimize the negative ef- Crowe 1996). The fundamental cause of guineafowl fects of grazing and burning (i.e., removal of cover population declines and collapses in agricultural and damage to leguminous food plants) on redwing landscapes was population fragmentation leading to habitat if a shootable surplus is to be provided. the undermining of meta-population structure (Rat- cliffe and Crowe 2001a). In other words, when local Greywing Francolin fragmented subpopulations came under threat (for Unlike the previous two francolins, the greywing whatever reason) they could not be resuscitated by francolin thrives under moderate sheep grazing (Lit- immigration from adjacent subpopulations. tle and Crowe 2000) and can even withstand as Guineafowl in human-transformed landscapes much as a 50% annual shooting offtake (Little and do not have a home range as traditionally under- Crowe 1993a,b,c). For this reason, this francolin is stood. Their daily and seasonal movements are de- considered as one of southern Africa’s champagne termined by the dispersion of habitat focal points: gamebirds, earning shoot operators as much as five roosts, drinking water, and habitat for feeding, dust- times the fees paid for other local gamebirds. ing, and cover (Prinsloo 2003). Indeed, at a re- Cape Spurfowl vegetated coal mine where all focal habitat com- Like the helmeted guineafowl, the cape spurfowl ponents were closely clustered, guineafowl flocks thrives in golf courses with large amounts of edge hardly moved during the day (Little et al. 2005). In habitat and the rough dominated by alien trees and agricultural areas they also prefer a mosaic of habi- brush (Little and Crowe 1994). This spurfowl cer- tats especially with large amounts of edge in propor- tainly benefits from habitat transformation by hu- tion to area (Ratcliffe and Crowe 2001a,b,c). So, the mans through its ability to colonize alien vegetation critical management strategy for the management of and suburban parklands. However in agricultural guineafowl as a game quarry species is to cluster land it requires patches of fragmented, but closely habitat focal points and thus maintain multiple lo- situated, natural (mainly Mediterranean) vegetation cal subpopulations in restricted areas. for successful roosting and nesting. For these rea- Orange River Francolin sons, I believe it is currently underexploited as a Unlike that of helmeted guineafowl, the Or- gamebird. ange River francolin population in an arid grassland Swainson’s Spurfowl within a protected area collapsed to virtually nil af- Unlike all other gamebirds discussed above, this ter a five-year bout of overgrazing during the 1930s species has, in most instances, benefited enormously (Berry and Crowe 1985). This still very poorly stud- from agriculture; primarily due to the increased ied francolin is one of the most sensitive birds to food availability found in growing crops, especially the grazing and burning of its habitat. Only pris- maize (Jansen and Crowe 2002). However, Swain- tine (rarely burned and ungrazed) arid grasslands son’s spurfowl populations have shown declines if can support shootable populations and then at very its preferred breeding habitat (islands of brush and low levels (Berry and Crowe 1985). May 31 - June 4, 2006 12 Gamebird 2006 j Athens, GA j USA 2 Crowe: Management of Southern African Gamebirds: Opportunities and Threa Management of Southern African Gamebirds trees) is eliminated (Jansen and Crowe 2002). Be- Crowe, T. M., and S. B. Elbin. 1987. Social behaviour cause of its general prevailence, Swainson’s spur- of helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris). South African Journal of Wildlife Research Supplement fowl is often the focus of what are locally known 1:55–57. as community shoots. Some of these community shoots involve 100 or more hunters and may ul- Crowe, T. M., and R. M. Little. 2004. Francolins, par- tridges and spurfowls: What’s in a name? Ostrich timately threaten local populations because of the 75:199–203.