by Mark Brown
For the next 5 years, the Nature’s Valley Trust, in collaboration with SANPARKs, will be doing fynbos research in and around the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park and Nature’s Valley. The fynbos research project will examine the intricate pollination systems in the fynbos, and how these may change over time. We launched the project this morning with a bird ringing session. We were joined by SANPARKs staff along with members from ORCA, BirdLife Plettenberg Bay, WWISA, Nature’s Valley Open Spaces Committee and a crew from Net News, who filmed the event for a forthcoming program. Helping Dr Mark Brown run the ringing station today were MSc students Minke Witteveen and Shane McPherson, who made sure the birds got top priority.
Today was the culmination of months of planning and communication with SANPARKs, and we are proud to partner with them in this exciting new fynbos research project. Jessica Hayes, the regional ecologist for SANPARKs, was on hand to see the project launch.
For many onlookers, today was their first experience of bird ringing.
We netted and ringed 66 birds this morning, including a whopping 39 Southern Double-collared Sunbirds, 14 Cape Sugarbirds, and 2 Orange-breasted Sunbirds. The Sugarbirds and some of the Sunbirds were fitted with numbered colour rings, enabling us to identify individual birds in the field to track movements throughout the fynbos research project.
Over the next few weeks, we will be starting some flower surveys, insect surveys, and bird ringing, small mammal trapping, and will be continuing with the bird ringing in the area. If you are in the area, watch out for our fynbos research team in action!
