Conservation Conversations: Dr Gareth Tate - Martial Eagles of the Karoo

BirdLife South Africa is a firm believer that conservation needs to start with conversation.
On Tuesday, 29 March 2022 at 19:00 (SAST), BirdLife South Africa's weekly webinar series ‘Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa’ hosted Dr Gareth Tate, Birds of Prey Programme Manager at ‪@EWTSouthAfrica‬
Over the last four years, the Birds of Prey Programme at the Endangered Wildlife Trust have been working tirelessly to research and develop an intimate understanding of an extraordinary population of Martial Eagles that breeds and lives on electrical pylons. Strung across the arid Karoo landscapes, the pylons that support power lines provide an artificial structure for Martial Eagles to nest on, facilitating their range expansion into a largely treeless landscape, where these tree-nesters were previously unable to breed in the densities that they occur in today. This finding, which is at odds with the generally held belief that the Martial Eagle is confined increasingly to large, protected areas, has significant implications for our thinking around the conservation management of this Globally Endangered species. Using ground and aerial surveys, we are well into the third full year of investigating this population’s status, threats, breeding performance, and diet by closely monitoring 89 pairs of Martial Eagles. These pairs nest on six major transmission lines that traverse 1,750 km of the Karoo. We have also successfully trapped and satellite-tagged 20 individuals to better understand the species’ movements and threats across the Karoo, a critical step in developing robust conservation interventions and management plans for this population. In my talk I discuss our initial discoveries along with some of the fascinating features of this extraordinary population of eagles and consider what is needed to conserve them.
Join us for another #ConservationConversation.

[@peteratmore3015]

Wow what an amazing study and presentation. Thank you for your hard work!