Making the Skies Safer for South Africa's Cranes

Описание: https://www.savingcranes.org/from-fie... Join us for our second From the Field webinar with our International Crane Foundation South Africa Programme Manager Tanya Smith!

All three of South Africa’s threatened crane species, namely the Grey Crowned, Blue and Wattled Crane suffered drastic declines over several decades until the late 1990’s. Over the past two decades, we have witnessed increases in core regions in all three species. For example, results of the annual crane aerial survey spanning 25 years in KwaZulu-Natal, shows Grey Crowned and Wattled Cranes are increasing at an average annual rate of 3.5% and 4.8% respectively in the province – a stronghold for both species. In the Western Cape, where more than 50% of the global population of Blue Cranes occur, the Coordinated Avifaunal Road (CAR) counts have shown similar increasing trends.

One of the main threats to cranes are collisions with overhead power lines, with an estimated 12% of the Western Cape Blue Crane population killed annually (Shaw, 2010). The most widely used mitigation measure to reduce collisions is to improve the visibility of power lines by attaching markers to the conductor and earth wire cables. A research study completed by the Eskom/EWT Strategic Partnership showed that markers fitted to transmission lines in the Karoo reduced Blue Crane collisions by 92%, proving a suitable mitigation method for cranes. For the purpose of this presentation, we will highlight the role of power lines in the decline or growth of crane populations in South Africa, as well as looking at the future viability of South Africa’s national bird, the Blue Crane in the face of increasing renewable energy and associated power line infrastructure.