Saving a one-legged Pied crow

During a Rufford Foundation's assisted project in rural areas. A group of students who embarked on saving a species questions saved a one-legged Pied crow. The crows nests on two big trees in the school. Over a thousand of them. I got the report of the regular sighting of the one legged pied crow, but got a call on effects of rain storm on it. It couldn't fly and just lie down as it couldn't even perched. Fortunately, the Friends of the nature's club members sighted it and they did not waste time in reaching for their club's facilitator (a teacher) who immediately called me as I was busy doing some field ornithological observations with similar club in another school. I advised the students on what to do even before my arrival. For the two days that it was weak and couldn't fly, it was fed with insects and grains. After two days when it was seen that it ate with agility, a significance of good health and hoped around almost joyously, it was taken outside and held in hand as it flew happily flapping its wings with strength and stability. That one-legged Pied crow was saved from eminent death. Thanks to our  Conservation Initiative and Rufford Foundation.

The Vulture Markets of Namu: Reminiscence of Vulture Disappearance in North-Central Nigeria.

It was with eagerness that I visited Namu in May of 2016. I boarded a car that left Shendam straight to Namu. I went there on their market day as suggested by some of the locals. On entering the market, I asked some few individuals some questions on vultures and I was told that it’s been many years when they saw live vultures. I was directed to where birds’ parts were sold and at a corner close to some butchers I came across dealers dealing in Vulture parts. Seven young men and even a teenager selling Vulture parts and parts of other birds such as the secretary bird, hammer-kops, pea cocks etc. I was so amazed by the sight of the dead Vultures and their parts.

I requested to have a video interview with some of the dealers and three of them couldn’t grant me the permission as they were scared. They seemed to suspected me as some one close to government’s law enforcement agencies. It took some effort of smiles and convincing asurances that I was a researcher working on how traditional medicine practitioners used animals’ parts in medicine, before a young man of about twenty five years of age accepted that I interviewed him on camera. Others later thought that the interview session was to publicise and help to advertise their work hence they agreed and also asked me to interview them.

I was told the different prices of Vulture parts. I saw a complete dead hooded vulture, White-backed Vulture and other parts such as the heads, eyes, legs wings and hearts of different Vultures. I saw different people of different ages and status patronising the Vulture dealers. A complete Vulture had a cost range of one hundred and fifty thousand naira (N150,000) to three hundred thousand naira (N300,000). Vulture heads with its two eyes intact cost fifty to eighty thousand naira depending on the different dealers and bargaining power of the person buying. I witnessed the bargaining and buying of a Vulture head and legs. Some one came and bought just the Vulture feather. Some women were there looking for the vulture eggs which were not found but the dealer promised to bring one for them by next market day but at good price.

My interview with them revealed that most of them were introduced in to the trades in vulture parts by their parents and they were so happy and proud to do it. They depend on the sales to support their families. Many politicians, gamblers and adventurers visited them to purchase vulture parts for traditional medicine that will give them lucks and favour in their pursuits as one of them told me. Most of the dealers believed that vulture eyes can make a person to know what shall happen with him or his business in future. They thought the keen eye sight of vultures can be transferred to human when mixed with some traditional medicine that was why some politicians directly or indirectly contacted them for the parts. They believed that different sicknesses and diseases can be cured also by the the vultures’ organs such as hearts, crop, liver etc.

Most of the vultures were brought from the far Northern Nigerian states such as Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Nasarawa state and Borno. A dealer told me that they can also sell vulture parts gotten from Plateau state to those Northern states. Some of the dealers have connections with other dealers that have links with other dealers in other African countries such as Binin Republic, Niger republic, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali and Chad.

After I left the market I went round different slaughter points and dumping sites in search of life vultures but to no success. I then realised that, it’s easy to find dead Vultures than live vultures in most African communities in general and Nigeria in particular. It’s truly not surprising that vultures seems to have disappeared in many Nigerian communities. Nigeria which used to have six different species of vultures have lost that pride to extinction caused mainly by trades in vulture parts. Today, only Hooded Vulture and White-backed Vulture are seen in their increasingly reducing numbers

The Reminiscence of Vultures and their Disappearance in North - central Nigeria

Back then in the 70s, and early 80s, vultures were a beautiful and rampant sights in abattoirs, and town outskirts. When ever there was a dead animal around, they located it first, leading curious eyes of people, to the exact spot where the dead animal was. Children used to fly their kites and were always happy to look in to the sky and also saw the hovering vultures. There used to be six species of vultures in Nigeria, all in their good numbers. In early 80s and middle 90s, the disappearance of vultures became glaring to curious minds, but to most unsuspecting people, nothing seemed to have happened or nothing changed. Only two species of vulture exists today out of the six species; the white-backed vulture and the hooded vulture (Necrosyretes monachus). Hooded vulture, is one of the old world vultures that still exists as others have gone in to extinction in the country. Not many people have noticed their disappearance. Hooded vulture too, is increasingly declining despite its being uplisted to Critically endangered species by the IUCN in 2015.

When I set out to investigate the cause of their disappearance in North -central Nigeria, I had asked different people different questions about when last they saw a vulture. You will be surprised to know that, some people seemed to have been woken from their slumber of noticing their disappearance. "Hmmm, it's true my son, I don't recall when last I saw a vulture around again, unlike in the 60s and 70s, when they competed with butchers in abattoirs for pieces of meat, or even struggling to pull a part of slaughtered cow away." A man had replied me while touching his grey hair, as if in a struggle to think deep and far. Many people demanded to know why they have disappeared. My survey across all the 17 Local Government Areas of Plateau state (North- Central Nigeria), has answered the questions I raised, and which people continue to ask about why the vultures disappeared.

Continue to follow my blog, as we take a walk in to the mystery of the disappearance of vultures in North-Central Nigeria as I reveal all that I encountered, which also scared me; an experience of serendipity and hindsight which was the story of why vultures in Nigeria are easy to be found dead than alive. The story of the plight of vultures in the hands and plot of people. All these, will be the vivid tales of reality; a sober recollection of encounter and observations, in my months of searching for the threats affecting the vultures in the country.

From Pied Kingfishers to Northern Carmine bee-eaters

I came across this species of bird (Northern Carmine bee-eater) during birding in Bokkos last Saturday. That was the first time of encountering the species in my birding life. Quite a serendipity out there. A Nigerian birds atlassing team also reported coming across the species today in Gombe (Part of North-Eastern Nigeria). They have a unique food finding technique, that took a lot of my time, getting me rapt in observing that behaviour. I was so happy that I found such a beautiful bird species’ colony close to a dam where I have been observing the feeding successes of Pied Kingfisher. They were seen perching on a tree together (12 of them). They were seen scanning around for bees and other eatable insects, and on sighting any, they flew to snap it with their beak. So, their feeding went on, until a passerby went close and they flew to the next branch of tree, ensuring that there was a safety gap between them and the woman looking for firewood. I focused my binocular on them, and I was fortunate to observe one of the birds feedingfeeding the other. More observation revealed that, it was an adult feeding a young one. The younger one perched watching its mother diving in the air, manoeuvring to catch the insect. That was a hunting learning process for the young one. The mother brought the caught prey as the young one opened its beak to receive as its wings softly flap, not in flight but in appreciation (I thought).

Vulture Nightmares

Vultures in Nigeria and many other African countries, are facing serious threats from anthropogenic activities. Dealing in parts of vultures based on traditional beliefs is leading in the cause of the decline in the population of the vultures. My recent research across Plateau state, Nigeria, left me with tears at the outcome of the research and my encounter with vulture traders. I came across markets and dealers who display vulture parts at costly prices. What pains me so much, was a juvenile vulture which was captured last year September in the southern part of the state, by a traditional practitioner. He chained the vulture and tied it’s wings, as he fed it once in a day with pieces of meat. The vulture looked pathetic, dejected and abandoned. That was just an instance out of many such instances of vulture persecution. My survey showed that, some people are still eating the vulture meat openly and secretly. We need to protect the already critically endangered species of scavengers. We need them alive that when they are dead in our society. They can safe us so much money, because of their sanitation roles. We should know that, it is our responsibility all to ensure that, these important species of scavengers do not go to extinction in our generation and even many more generations to come. We wouldn’t have defence against our acts if posterity shall question us in future. Be an ambassador in the protection of vultures.

Extinction Vortex

Extinction Vortex

Bradshaw (2008) defined extinction Vortex, as the term used to describe the process that declining population undergo when mutual reinforcement occurs among biotic and abiotic process that drives population size downward to extinction. In the same manner, Gilpin and Soule’ (1986), saw Extinction Vortex as a class of models through which conservation biologists, geneticists and Ecologists can understand the dynamics of, and categorize extinctions in the context of their causes. This is true as it is noticed that, Extinction vortex, is the kind of extinction initiated by other causes, but random environmental fluctuations take over to cause the final extinction regardless of what causes the population to decline in the first place.

 Example, an extinction vortex was observed in jungle-fowl. The extinction vortex began simply enough with an unusually long dry season. The drought takes its toll on the jungle-fowl population, especially the young. By the time monsoon rains began, the population stands at 45: 20 females, 25 males. At this time, peasants encouraged by a government settlement policy cleared a patch of degraded forest land for subsistence agriculture. With them, the peasants bring livestock including chickens, closely related to jungle-fowl, and dogs. The chickens harbor an avian flu, to which they are immuned, which quickly spreads among the jungle fowl population of the nearby forest fragment. The flu decimates the jungle-fowl; at year end 21 remain: 9 females, 12 males. The presence of dogs increased predation of the jungle-fowl to 66% of the adult population every year so after another year the population stands at just 16: 6 females, 10 males. The population dips to 3, and the single remaining adult female is crushed by a tree limb that falls during a thunderstorm. Neither of her three chicks survive without her protection. The two male birds wander the forest looking for the mate they will never find. After the final male jungle-fowl is eaten by a python, the species is extinct from the forest patch. Hence, the extinction of the jungle-fowl was enhanced and completed by the environmental conditions, and that is how extinction vortex occurs. 

 It is believed that, the present ongoing 6th mass extinction of species of organisms, is a clear extinction vortex in display. Anthropogenic factors usually has greater effect on species. This can trigger in other  genetic problems that can further affect the population of the species. Gilpin and Soulé (1986), also identified four types of Extinction Vortex

R Vortex: which is initiated by a disturbance that facilitates a lowering of population size (N) and a corresponding increase in variability (Var(r)). A prime example of this would be the disruption of sex ratios in a population away from the species optimum

D Vortex: The D vortex is initiated when population size (N) decreases and variability (Var(r)) increases such that the spatial distribution (D) of the population is increased.

F Vortex: This is initiated by a decrease in population size (N) which leads to a decrease in individual heterozygosity and increases the rate of genetic drift, resulting in increased degrees of inbreeding depression and an increase in population genetic load, which over time will result in extinction.

A Vortex: this is a result of an increase in genetic drift and corresponding decrease in genetic variance which leads to a decrease in ‘population adaptation” and eventual extinction. Moreso, Frankel and Michael (1981) reiterated that, extinction is the failure of a population to maintain itself through reproduction.

           REFERENCES

Gilpin ME, Soule ME (1986). Minimum Viable Population: Process of species extinction. In M.E Soule. Conservation biology: The science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer, Sunderland, mass pp. 19-34.

Wikipedia (2016). Extinction vortex. Retrieved from http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/extinction_vortex

Bradshaw C.J.A. (2008). The extinction vortex. Retrieved from https://conservationbytes.com/2008/08/25/the-extinction-vortex/

Rhett B. (2012). The extinction vortex. Retrieved from http://rainforests.mongabay.com/09vortex.htm

Frankel O.H & Michael E. S (1981). Conservation and evolution: Cambridge university press, Cambridge.

The life, Plight and City of a Blue King: Barn Swallow (Hirundu rustica)

Barbara Geiger; an actress who has interest in biodiversity conservation, uses her acting prowess in describing organisms, their life, their plights and the need for their conservation. She used simple and carefully selected words in a poetic display, communicating science in a non-scientific way. She was able to reach numerous people that knew little or nothing about science and yet spurred them in to action toward conserving biodiversity.

In A.P. Leventist Ornithological Research institute, Jos, Plateau state, nigeria where she was a guest presenter, her play was on Barn swallow. The bird whose scientific name she pronounced with passion and emphasis during her play that was supported by power point pictures only, is the most widespread species of swallows in the world.  It morphologically has blue upper parts, a rufous colour around its throat and underparts and a forked tail with curved pointed wings.

Barn swallows historically originated from Africa, but migrated up North to America and other parts of Europe, just as is the case in the evolution of man. They use geo-magnetic field with the help of an inbuilt geo-locators. They have sensors which help in detecting the earth’s magnetic fields, hence they migrate from Africa to America and back to Africa without much location problems.  The birds can hear infra-sound just as they can see ultra-lights that makes their vision more magnificent.Some of the birds during their migration, use land marks like valleys, Rivers etc to trace their routes.

Barn swallows are monogamous throughout their life, but extra pair copulation is not lacked among them. Pairs migrate separately, and wait for each other’s return. Mostly, the males clean old nests, and the female join him in building the nest with clay. They feed the young ones together instinctively.

These birds which migrate from the South to the North, return to the South (Africa) mostly in two directions. Some follow western route and pass through West Africa. they try to avoid moving deeply in to sahara desert. Others, use the Eastern route and move down to South Africa. Some millions of them spread in South Africa, but in West Africa, a place called, ‘’the swallow’s city,’’ was named after them. The city is found in Ebakkan (Boje) in Cross River state of Nigeria. Myriads of them return to Africa and settled in that place. At dusk, they return to the city with tall elephant grasses, shrubs and few trees, and they roost on the grasses. At dawn, they all fly to different directions in search of food.

Barn swallows have ecological problems; they are caught in places like Egypt and some parts of Africa for food. Conservationists like Barbara, were able to convince many people to abandon eating the birds. Wind also can blow them off their coast during migration, and some end up dying in the desert with other  different birds. They are bio-indicators of chemical contamination; they are quick to die when they ingest insects that contain insecticides. Hence, joining hands to conserve the birds, is the best thing people need to do; Hirundu rustica, deserves to live among us or around us.