BLACK HARRIER
RESEARCH
Tracking Black Harriers
Following their journeys to better protect them
Black Harriers travel across vast landscapes in search of food and suitable habitat. By tracking birds, conservationists are learning more about how these threatened raptors move across southern Africa.
These individuals each tell a story – from breeding grounds to feeding areas and seasonal movements. The Overberg Renosterveld Trust and Birds & Bats Limited in collaboration with the Dutch Montagu’s Harrier Foundation have fitted GPS tags to 40 birds (30 adults and 10 juveniles) to date. Dr Megan Murgatroyd of Hawkwatch International has fitted satellite/GPS trackers on 21 adults.
These journeys have shown us that:
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Harriers forage on average 10-16 km from their nests on a daily basis. One male breeding in the Eastern Karoo mountains foraged over 30 km from his nest and boasted a home range larger than the average Martial Eagle at 530 km2.
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Harriers on migration move much further (up to 1 200 km from their nests) and faster (~250 km to 500 km per day) than previously known.
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Occasionally, Black Harriers make a-typical forays into arid (Kalahari) areas to breed: These sites are hundreds of kilometres outside their typical range, and data suggest that these breeding events may only happen every 20 years, following exceptional rainfall which lead to booms in mouse populations. Each bird’s remarkable journey helps build a clearer picture of the nomadic nature of their life and where conservation efforts are needed most.
Want to learn more about Black Harrier research?
OUR TAGGED Black Harriers:
Follow their flight
You can track the flights of some of our tagged adult birds as they journey through the country. Select a bird from the drop-down menu, and the period over which to see their movements. You can also select the backdrop to their movements (satellite, street or terrain view), and the speed of the movements. Then simply press play. To watch the next bird, click on reset.
Monitoring and research
Monitoring Black Harriers doesn’t only involve placing trackers on individuals. Research on the Black Harrier now spans 26 years and we now know a great deal (more) about its migration, life history, breeding ecology, population viability, habitat use, genetics, mortality factors, health and conservation needs. That shouldn’t make us complacent, however, as the bird is still declining at a rapid rate. Our task now is to bring these findings together to map and implement changes to secure a future for this species.
Through the Black Harrier Task Force, these analyses are shared, creating important insight into population trends, breeding success and movement patterns.