Kyle Walker

BSc (Hons) (UCT)

Kyle’s love for birds developed at an early age, drifting among reeds with a couple of enthusiastic, nature-loving parents. After matriculating, he took up an apprenticeship as a falconer, which ultimately cemented his love for raptors. He then completed a Diploma followed by a B-Tech in Nature Conservation while based in the Low-veld. A passion for surveying raptors developed and a keen interested in White-backed Vultures lead to a study on the influence of bush encroachment on foraging vultures.

Kyle’s path into ornithology was greatly assisted by Dr Andrew Jenkins and after moving to the Cape, Kyle took up a position with AVISENSE Consulting as an avian field technician, monitoring birds on proposed renewable energy developments. During this time, he joined the BirdLife South Africa Taita Falcon Survey Team, for the annual surveys in the Blyde River Canyon. Kyle then took up a field technician role on the Black Sparrowhawk Project where he monitored the nesting population across the Cape Peninsula. Following this, he completed a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences at UCT, with a focus on assessing the diet of Peregrine Falcons and the influence of urbanisation on prey species composition on the Cape Peninsula.

Kyle’s MSc project, supervised by A/Prof. Arjun Amar and Dr Meg Murgatroyd, will focus on assessing the diet of Martial Eagles in the Kruger National Park by using prey remains, camera trap images, web-sourced images and by collecting fresh kill samples located with the aid of GPS satellite tracked Eagles. Furthermore, by rigorously monitoring the population of Martial Eagles south of Shingwedzi, we hope to refine the current productivity estimates in the park, which previous estimates revealed were unsustainably low.

Publications:

Walker, K. 2014. Fire damage to an African White-backed Vulture nest tree. Vulture News, 67(2), pp.48-52. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/vulnew/article/view/125637/115175