The status and conservation of birds of prey in the Transvaal. References, appendix

In South Africa, as elsewhere, birds of prey have been identified as a group which is particularly sensitive to the impact of human activities. Evidence of this is the inclusion of 19 species, listed as rare, vulnerable, threatened or endangered, in the South African Red Data Book - Aves (Siegfried et al., 1976); more recently this number has been increased to 26 (Brooke, in press). This number is disproportionately high when compared to the total number of South African breeding bird species: birds of prey make up 16-18% of the threatened birds listed whereas they make up only 8% of the c. 600 South African breeding bird species. One bird of prey, the Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus, which was once reputedly common and widespread in South Africa, is now apparently extinct here as a breeding bird (Liversidge, 1973; Kemp and Kemp, 1977; Mundy, 1978), and another, the Cape Vulture, Gyps coprotheres, is one of the few southern African endemics listed in the International Red Data Book (IUCN 1979/80). The Transvaal, which covers 23% of the land-surface of South Africa, is of particular importance for the conservation of South African bird of prey populations since it is the northernmost Province, the only part of South Africa falling within the tropics, and includes the Kruger National Park (the largest single conservation area in the country). This paper reports on a five-year survey of bird of prey populations in the Transvaal between 1976 and 1981 and evaluates the conservation status of each species. References and Appendix.