Counting Wattled, Blue and Grey Crowned Cranes in South Africa

The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT) South African Crane Working Group (SACWG) will be hosting their annual Agricol National Crane Count on July 28 and 29, 2006.

Farmers and landowners who wish to take part in the crane count are asked to count the number of wattled, blue or grey crowned cranes on their land between 06h00 on the Friday and 18h00 on the Saturday. This project has been ongoing on since 1998. The count does not give the SACWG the total number of the three crane species, but rather it provides the localities of cranes. This also indicates where landowners have problems with crop damage and cranes colliding with power lines.

Habitat destruction has had the most impact on cranes over the years. Blue crane populations have decreased in the grasslands and increased in the Overberg and Swartland areas in the Cape.

Wattled crane populations have declined throughout South Africa.

The Agricol National Crane Count takes place at the same time as the Avian Demography Unit of the University of Cape Town’s Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcount (CAR). The CAR counts are conducted on the last Saturday of July and January by volunteers along set routes.

The main objective of CAR is to monitor populations of large terrestrial birds in a wide variety of agricultural habitats and determine trends in their population numbers. Count forms have been posted to previous participants and are also available on the EWT website for those who wish to take part for the first time.

For more information contact Leon-Jacques Theron on 082 459 8070.