Fitz News in Africa - Birds & Birding: "Three decades of coastal bird research"

PFIAO. 2010. Three decades of coastal bird research. Africa - Birds & Birding 15(3):20.

"Africa has a very long and diverse shoreline, ranging from desert coasts through lush mangrove estuaries and tropical embayments to the rocky shores and temperate salt marshes of the Cape.

"The Fitz had been in existence for some 15 years before coastal birds featured significantly in its research portfolio. Early studies in the 1970s included a detailed examination of the role of shorebirds in energy flows at Langebaan Lagoon, commissioned by the then Department of Planning and the Environment in the light of proposed development in the area. In the late 1970s, and in collaboration with the Western Cape Wader Study Group, the Fitz conducted a series of coastal bird counts, covering almost the entire coastline of Namibia and South Africa. These surveys provided key baseline data against which it has been possible to monitor and evaluate subsequent changes in species’ regional population sizes...." more...