Kenya Bird of Prey Trust

Raptor Report October 2022

“To be doing what you love

and to be given an award for doing that is extraordinary,

very few people get to have that honour”

 

Dear supporters,

 

We are so proud to announce that this is what happened to our co-founder Simon Thomsett who recently received the Partners in Raptors Lifetime Achievement Award! This award, given by the Raptor Research Foundation in partnership with The Peregrine Fund, honours outstanding individuals who have dedicated their lives to raptor research and conservation.

 

And we can’t think of anyone more deserving than Simon!

 

Other news in this newsletter shows both high and lows. While we make slow progress in some areas, most threats to raptors are still not properly addressed. We keep on doing our bit and are grateful for your continuing support.

Partners for Raptors Lifetime Achievement Award

We are thrilled to announce our co-founder Simon Thomsett was awarded the Partners for Raptors Lifetime Achievement Award by the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF). This award “is given in recognition of Simon’s decades of work studying and conserving so many of Africa’s amazing raptors, being a stalwart in inspiring conservation leaders, and sharing with so many people his knowledge and understanding gained over a lifetime in the field and in the air”. The RRF is the world’s largest professional society for raptor researchers and conservationists and being selected for this award is a great honour.

 

Watch Rob Bieregaard, president of the Raptor Research Foundation, present the award at their annual conference:

Join us in celebrating Simon Thomsett's lifelong dedication to conserving birds of prey in Kenya and beyond. To thank him we are raising funds to buy much needed tools and equipment for his raptor clinic. With your generous contribution we hope we’ll be able to buy him a second-hand veterinary x-ray machine (approximately $500) and three X-ray imaging plates (second hand, $600).

 

Donate now and help us buy X-ray equipment
to support Simon's work

Wildlife Toxicology Training Workshop

With casualties being regularly brought in at our centres, it’s no secret that poisoning of raptors happens frequently and on a large scale in Kenya. Although they are rarely the intended target, vultures and other scavenging raptors are hit hard. While many organisations work hard to stop poisoning from happening, it’s also essential to improve the capacity of wildlife authorities to correctly address events when they do happen. After many months of preparations by Darcy Ogada, Simon Thomsett and many others we are pleased to announce that the 5-day Wildlife Toxicology Training Workshop hosted in Kenya early October was a great success.

The workshop aimed to improve the detection and capacity in wildlife toxicology of wildlife authorities to improve law enforcement. The first part focused on training KWS vets to save poisoned birds while the second part of the workshop focused on training seven laboratories to improve testing of poisoned wildlife samples. We also held a stakeholder meeting at KWS Headquarters to address challenges in testing suspected poisoned wildlife samples.

 

The organising and training team included The Peregrine Fund, Smithsonian, Discover JKUAT, Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute, Kenya Wildlife Service, IREC. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, Zoo Wuppertal and last but not least The Kenya Bird of Prey Trust.

Jonathan’s travels

End of September Jonathan Ewaton, technician at Naivasha Raptor Centre, had an exciting but busy schedule. On his first time ever on a plane he flew with a Kori Bustard to the Mara to release her at Enonkishu conservancy and back again the next day with a young White-backed Vulture on his lap.

 

The Kori Bustard was brought in over a year ago with a broken leg, presumably from flying into a fence. Enonkishu conservancy is the perfect release site for her, offering the right habitat and no fences. The release went really well and according to Jonathan she seemed to like her new environs.

The next day Jonathan stopped at Olderkesi to pick up the very young White-backed Vulture that Shiv had found in the parking lot of Crocodile Camp on the first day of his holiday. It has stayed a few weeks at our new temporary holding facility in Olderkesi which has already proved invaluable for vulture rescue. The young vulture has since joined the gang of vultures at Naivasha Raptor Centre where he can learn to stand up to bullies at a carcass and make sure he gets enough to eat. Once we feel sure he can make it on its own, he will be released back into the wild.

WRTI stakeholder meeting

Our monitoring and research efforts are focused to improve our understanding of species’ populations and ecology to directly inform their conservation. We believe effective conservation can only be guided by good science which makes research a crucial pillar of our work. So when we were invited by the Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) to join a stakeholder meeting to deliberate on the Guidelines for the Conduct of Wildlife Research in Kenya we were keen to participate. The meeting, attended by our directors Nick Trent, Shiv Kapila and Simon Thomsett, provided the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and we look forward to a speedy implementation of the new guidelines.

Rescuing poisoned raptors in the Mara

Since its establishment at the end of July, our new temporary holding facility at Olderkesi Conservancy has proven to be invaluable for rescuing raptors in the Mara region. We had just completed the enclosure when a Ruppell’s vulture was brought in after a suspected poisoning. Four weeks later it was joined by a white-backed vulture before both were transferred to Naivasha.

 

Last week furadan reared its ugly head again and a Bateleur and White-backed vulture were brought in. The vulture especially was in critical condition and it’s crucial to have a safe place locally, to hold them and provide initial treatment while we arrange flights to our clinic in Soysambu.

 

The adult Bateleur had been feeding from a poisoned jackal carcass and was found on the ground. After administering first aid Lemein inspected the scene and found the carcass was fully consumed which didn’t bode well. And as we feared, the next day Lemein received a call, this time about a very sick poisoned White-backed vulture. After administering first aid and cleaning out the crop, Lemein examined the vulture and discovered purple colouration on its feet, indicating the poison used to lace the carcass is Furadan.

Rescuing and rehabilitating poisoned raptors takes a lot of determination and hard work. We are extremely grateful to the many volunteers that help us time and again. For this rescue mission we thank Daniel and Catherine Szlapak who delivered both vulture and bateleur safely to Soysambu in their Cherokee. And Patrick for picking the birds up at the airstrip and dropping them off at Simon’s place for further treatment and rehabilitation.

Electrocuted Tawny eagle found during survey

After three Rothschild’s giraffes made headlines after being electrocuted on low lying power lines on Soysambu Conservancy in February 2021, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company was forced into action and heighten the power lines at the site of the electrocution. Unfortunately the electrocution of raptors on these same power lines is far more frequent but pictures of a fried augur buzzard look way less dramatic than a heap of dead giraffe, and don’t cause the same national outcry. So these unsafe power lines keep on killing raptors.

We know electrocution is one of the biggest threats to raptor populations in Kenya, especially perching raptors like Augur Buzzard and Tawny Eagle. But it’s difficult to prove. Unlike giraffe, a dead raptor is easily overlooked and quick to be consumed by scavengers. Moreover, most raptors don’t die instantly but are able to fly away with a blown foot and trauma to the hand on the opposite wing. These injuries may be mistaken for a broken wing by the untrained eye.

 

To investigate the electrocution risk on Soysambu Conservancy, Nature Kenya performed a power line survey, checking the ground for casualties below all the poles. This method is controversial but in this case an electrocuted Tawny Eagle was found during the inspection. Initially it was diagnosed as a broken wing but on inspection Simon immediately noticed one of the feet was cold and there was a wound on the opposite wing indicating without a doubt that it was electrocuted.

 

This eagle is almost certainly the male of the salt pan pair, the only active Tawny Eagle breeding pair left on Soysambu. Because the habitat is ideal for Tawny’s, he will soon be replaced but the question is, will the new male last long enough to successfully fledge a chick, or will he (or she) be the next raptor to be electrocuted? Looking up at the nest, all seems well but with the lethal power lines in the vicinity, it's more likely a sink, drawing them in one after the other. And this will continue until the poles are made safe.

Support our educational ambassadors

The primary aim of our rescue and rehabilitation programme is to release the birds back into the wild. For a number of reasons this is not always possible and these birds find their forever home in our raptor centres in Naivasha and Soysambu where they are well taken care of and help us create awareness on raptor conservation.

 

From $5.00 a month you can support one of our educational ambassadors and help pay for their ongoing care. In return you will receive a personalised adoption certificate and a free ticket to visit.

 

If you want a more exclusive arrangement, you can financially adopt one of our resident raptors. You will receive regular updates on your adopted bird and an invitation to a Meet & Greet. For more information see Adopt a Raptor.

Thank you for your support

 

Thank you for supporting our mission to create awareness on raptor conservation and to protect and restore raptor populations in Kenya.
Together we are making a difference!

www.kenyabirdorpreytrust.org