Week 1: Attended the South African Wildlife Management
Association Conference (SAWMA). I created my first legit scientific poster that
will be on display at the 2012 Pan-African Ornithological Conference. The take
home message from that meeting for me: very few people are working in my study
area. It is difficult to find
information on this area, but it was interesting to contrast this with how much
research is happening elsewhere in South Africa.
At the end of the conference,
I got to hold both a chick and adult Cape Vulture at VulPro. It was great
training on how to work with the ‘heaviest vulture in southern Africa’.
 |
| Holding a vulture chick at VulPro |
 |
| Very excited about holding an adult vulture! |
 |
| My poster! |
Week 2: Helped place a GPS transmitter on a Cape Vulture from
the Drakensburg Mountains with the African Bird of Prey Sanctuary/KZN Wildlife.
It has now been successfully released. Then with barely any time to breath, it
was down to Mkambati for the last vulture monitoring of 2012. There were lots
of large vulture nestlings! I put my construction skills to work with the hide
for the vulture trap. The hide had to be constructed in the workshop though,
due to a downpour that lasted almost 24 hours. I just kept thinking of the
vultures on the cliffs! And as I would find out the following week, it is
possible for their nests to be washed off the cliffs!
 |
| Field work rocks! |
 |
| Baboon poop in a very odd place... |
 |
| Me at the Superbowl |
Week 3: Vulture monitoring road trip. We joined up with a
group that was monitoring and locating vulture colonies in the Transkei
region. Since the colonies are spread
out and few hotels in the region, it means lots of driving! Most of the good
roads are single lane tarred highways, with lots of 16-wheeler trucks, hence
lots of passing is involved with driving. The bad roads are dirt with gravel
poking out that makes your vehicle bounce up and down!
 |
| Vulture Colony in the Rain |
 |
| Notice all the vulture dots |
Another big hazard is the livestock. They are free to go
where ever with few fences restricting their movement. They always seem to
enjoy munching the grass on the side of the road. Road kill is common on these
roads, and this causes dogs to be attracted to the carcasses (and vultures),
which only make more obstacles to avoid! On this particular day, the caravan leaders
were speeding a long, despite the misty/rainy/foggy weather. On the single lane
tar road, a truck was coming towards us with people behind us and a cow on our
side of the road. We slowed down, but it was still moving too slow. We tapped
its butt and heard a cracking sound. The cow continued to walk off, but we were
so upset! We stopped soon afterwards to find the spotlight of the vehicle dangling
by its wires. Eish!
I can’t believe we hit a cow! This is one of those things
that you joke about, but should never happen!
The good news: the garage was able to fix the car up as good
as new! The bad news: one less carcass for the vultures!
 |
| Yellow-billed Kite |
