BirdLife Community

An Endangered Grauer’s Swamp Warbler Bradypterus graueri – so far found in the restricted range of swamps of Burundi, Rwanda and eastern part of DRC – was recently mistnetted at one of valley swamps of Kibira National Park called Mwokora.

The bird was caught during a field work as part of the BirdLife International/MacArthur Foundation project on ‘Implementing and monitoring an Adaptive Management Framework for Climate change in the Albertine Rift’’ implemented in Burundi by ABO (BirdLife Partner in Burundi). The field work took place from 24-30 January 2011 and the bird was caught (and safely released) in the net on 25^th after we set the nets for approximately 4 hours form 6am.

ABO staff estimated the local population to be 30 singing individuals. The previous Burundi population was estimated as ten pairs in 1984.

Global range map for Grauer's Swamp Warbler.

The bird currently faces many environmental threats as its habitat is under high pressure by the surrounding community looking mainly for raw materials for making mats or for thatching.

At other valley swamps of the park, agriculture is growing and seriously jeopardising the suitable habitat for the species. Urgent conservation measures - targeting the valley swamps – are needed.

See the BirdLife species factsheet.

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