Fitz News in Africa - Birds & Birding: "Safe in the swamps?"

PFIAO. 2011. Safe in the swamps? Africa - Birds & Birding16(2):22.

The Shoebill Balaeniceps rex, listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, has no close relatives and is confined to large, well-vegetated wetlands in tropical Africa. Zambia’s 600 000-hectare Bangweulu Swamps are home to approximately 1 300 Shoebills, one of the largest populations of this species in the world.

Although the birds are highly prized by tourists, the swamps are under mounting pressure from the local community, and fishing, disturbance, persecution and fire are likely to cause increasing problems for their avian inhabitants. In view of the importance of both the species and its wetland home, Shoebill conservation has moved onto the Fitztitute’s agenda in 2011. The last time a Fitztitute researcher studied the species was in the mid-1970s, and that was in the swamps of southern Sudan. More...

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