Range expansion of the Red-billed Quelea, Quelea quelea, into the Western Cape, South Africa

The red-billed quelea, Quelea quelea, is a serious problem bird of cultivated grain throughout Africa. It has expanded its range in different parts of southern Africa. Recent sightings over the last seven years in the Western Cape indicate that this species is appearing more frequently here. If queleas do become established in the Western Cape as a breeding species, this could have a serious impact on the economy of the wheat farmers

The 230Th/234U dating of impure terrestrial carbonate deposits in Namibia

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History and biology of the reassigned Ruvu Weaver Ploceus holoxanthus

Ploceus holoxanthus was formally described by Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub in 1891, based on specimens collected by Friedrich  Bohndorff, from Mtoni on the Kingani (now Ruvu) River, Tanzania. Reichenow (1904, p 91) and Zedlitz (1916) synonymized this taxon with African Golden Weaver P. subaureus, although Shelley (1905) and Hartert (1907) had recognized it as a new species. Sclater (1930) and other subsequent authors simply considered P. holoxanthus as a synonym of African Golden Weaver, and eventually it was not even listed as a synonym. In recent years, birds resembling P. holoxanthus have been increasingly photographed. Thus, this taxon was included in a recent phylogeny of the Ploceidae, which recognized P. holoxanthus as a valid species. This paper reviews the history of this taxon, lists all specimens, published references and photographs, and measurements. The nest and eggs are described for the first time. Keywords: Ploceus holoxanthus, Ploceus subaureus, Ruvu River, Mtoni, Bagamoyo, Zedlitz, Tanzani

How far and how old: Longevity and displacement records from the South African Bird Ringing Scheme for Ardeidae, Threskiornithidae and Ciconiidae

Background: Understanding the movement and displacement of individuals within avian species is important for conservation. Herons, Storks and Egrets are especially important as they are migratory species and are potential indicator species. It is therefore valuable to set life history baselines to understand survival. Objectives: To establish baseline longevity and displacement values for the avian families Ardeidae, Threskiornithidae and Ciconiidae using the South African Bird Ringing Scheme (SAFRING) data for Africa and to highlight gaps in the SAFRING database for these families. Method: We used data archives of ringed and subsequently reported individuals to determine maximum displacement and longevities from the past seven decades for each species within these three families. Displacement was estimated by the straight-line distance between subsequent records for the same individual. Longevity is the measure of time elapsed in records for the same individual. Results: Displacement and longevity data were available for 17 of the 24 species in the focus families. Individuals of most of the species were ringed as nestlings so displacement records may represent dispersal. Displacement ranged from a maximum of 10 114 km for a White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) to 2.5 km for a Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus). Several species are poorly sampled, resulting in longevity records of just a few days. Despite that, longevity values were 5 years for 16 species, and the highest value was 25.3 years for a White Stork. Conclusion: It was possible to determine longevity values for most of the species within the three families investigated. Based on the displacement profiles for species with sufficient records, there are large differences in movement between species. Certain common species such as Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) have very few ringing records, which indicate a need for further species-specific research as the longevity values are not representative. This could greatly benefit studies aiming to use these species as ecosystem health indicators as well as identify which species are at risk

Nest-building males trade-off material collection costs with territory value

This work was supported by the BBSRC (BB/I019502/1 to SDH and SLM) and Roslin Institute Strategic Grant funding from the BBSRC (SLM).Building a structurally robust nest is crucial for reproductive success in many birds. However, we know little about the criteria birds use to select material or where they go to collect it. Here we observed the material collection of male Cape Weavers (Ploceus capensis). Males typically selected long, strong material to build their nests and each male collected material from different locations. Males that built more nests nested in a different area of the colony and flew further to collect nest material than did males that built fewer nests. As these males that flew further to collect material had longer tails and wings and attracted more females to their territories than did males that flew shorter distances, they may have traded off the travel costs of collecting nest materials with benefits gained from holding a territory in a more 'desirable' part of the colony. Nest construction, then, appears to be a multi-dimensional task whereby birds take into account material's structural properties, material proximity to the nest site and territory quality. Males that do this effectively both attract more mates and provide structurally sound nests for their young.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Asymmetric response of forest and grassy biomes to climate variability across the African Humid Period : influenced by anthropogenic disturbance?

A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between land cover, climate change and disturbance dynamics is needed to inform scenarios of vegetation change on the African continent. Although significant advances have been made, large uncertainties exist in projections of future biodiversity and ecosystem change for the world's largest tropical landmass. To better illustrate the effects of climate–disturbance–ecosystem interactions on continental‐scale vegetation change, we apply a novel statistical multivariate envelope approach to subfossil pollen data and climate model outputs (TraCE‐21ka). We target paleoenvironmental records across continental Africa, from the African Humid Period (AHP: ca 14 700–5500 yr BP) – an interval of spatially and temporally variable hydroclimatic conditions – until recent times, to improve our understanding of overarching vegetation trends and to compare changes between forest and grassy biomes (savanna and grassland). Our results suggest that although climate variability was the dominant driver of change, forest and grassy biomes responded asymmetrically: 1) the climatic envelope of grassy biomes expanded, or persisted in increasingly diverse climatic conditions, during the second half of the AHP whilst that of forest did not; 2) forest retreat occurred much more slowly during the mid to late Holocene compared to the early AHP forest expansion; and 3) as forest and grassy biomes diverged during the second half of the AHP, their ecological relationship (envelope overlap) fundamentally changed. Based on these asymmetries and associated changes in human land use, we propose and discuss three hypotheses about the influence of anthropogenic disturbance on continental‐scale vegetation change

Patterns of primary moult in the Weavers, Ploceidae

Includes bibliographical references.Patterns of renewal of feathers are poorly known in African birds. Moult is energetically costly and is thus an important part of a bird's annual cycle; moult needs to be fitted in with breeding activities, and in some species, migration. Ringers in southern Africa have been submitting primary moult data to SAFRING, the South African Bird Ringing Unit, since 1998, providing a large amount of data that the author has been curating and checking on an on-going basis as Ringing Coordinator. May main interest is in the weaverbirds and I have ringed several thousand Southern Masked Weavers Ploceus velatus and many other species. Les Underhill and Walter Zucchini developed a statistical model to analyse timing and duration of primary moult in a standardized way in 1988. Primary moult was analysed in the southern African weaverbird family using the Underhill-Zucchini method throughout. In some species, this method was applied to individual feathers as well as the whole wing

Short NoteNests of Nelicourvi Weaver Ploceus nelicourvi in central eastern Madagascar

No AbstractOstrich 2008, 79(1): 107–10