In South Africa the species is regarded as one of the country’s rarest breeding birds and is listed as Critically Endangered.
In an effort to extend our knowledge of this species in southern Africa, BirdLife South Africa has registered the South African Taita Falcon Survey Team as the Species Guardian for the Taita Falcon, under the BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme.
The Taita Falcon is a small and highly specialised, bird-hunting raptor, which is sparsely and patchily distributed down the eastern side of sub-Saharan Africa. Named after the Taita Hills in Kenya, from where it was first described, the Taita Falcon is a rare and poorly known species, with an estimated global population of <500 pairs. In South Africa the species is regarded as one of the country’s rarest breeding birds and is listed as Critically Endangered.
The Taita Falcon is a small, thickset falcon capable of powerful flight. It has dark upper parts, a whitish throat and cheeks, black moustachial stripes and rufous patches on its nape. They are usually found singly or in pairs, perching unobtrusively on cliff ledges or in small trees growing on the cliff face. It feeds almost exclusively on small birds, with all prey taken in flight. Its nest is a simple scrape on a sheltered ledge on a cliff face, often overlooking a river valley or woodland. Breeding success is generally poor, with estimates of its age of first breeding, length of incubation and capacity to re-lay after clutch failure suggesting that the reproductive potential of the species is quite low.
The Taita Falcon is considered uncommon to rare throughout its known global range in eastern and southern Africa. Records are patchy as their natural habitat can be difficult to access on a regular basis. Its small size and unobtrusive behaviour also means that it is frequently overlooked by observers, resulting in a poor understanding of its range, distribution and population.
It has been recorded from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana, with a small number of birds occurring on the Drakensberg escarpment in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces in South Africa. Fewer than 50 nest sites are actually known. Even in previously recognised areas of concentration, the species seems to occur irregularly, with territories prone to sudden abandonment.
Taita Falcons are largely restricted to well-wooded habitats, as well as mountains and incised river valleys where high, sheer rock faces are available as nesting and foraging sites. As such it is especially associated with gorges and escarpments, particularly while breeding.
Although the Taita Falcon’s rarity is thought to mainly be a consequence of its specialised habits, it could also be threatened by habitat loss through the clearing of woodland or the impoundment of major river systems, and poisoning by pesticides, perhaps especially where chemicals are sprayed to control numbers of queleas, one of the falcon’s major sources of food.
BirdLife South Africa provides logistical to the Taita Falcon Species Gaurdians, The South African Taita Falcon Survey Team, who were tasked with extending our knowledge of this species, as well as its range and population in southern Africa, the South African Taita Falcon Survey Team has been conducting regular surveys of the Mpumalanga/Limpopo escarpment since 2006, and of the Batoka Gorge system downstream of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, since 2013. The core members of the team are Dr Andrew Jenkins and Anthony van Zyl.
Annual surveys of the Mpumalanga/Limpopo escarpment continue with plans to extend surveys into the Niassa region of Mozambique.
Tasked with extending our knowledge of this species, as well as its range and population in southern Africa, the South African Taita Falcon Survey Team has been conducting regular surveys of the Mpumalanga/Limpopo escarpment since 2006, and of the Batoka Gorge system downstream of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, since 2013. The Team is headed up by Dr Andrew Jenkins and Anthony van Zyl.
The team benefitted over the past years from the expertise of raptor biologists and experts, including:
Current volunteers to the project include:
BirdLife South Africa project support
The surveys are made possible through the generous support of Beth Hackland, Josh Crickmay, Niall Perrins (Bustards Birding Tours) and other individual donors .
