Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. This site holds a large proportion of the global population of Spizocorys fringillaris. The grassland areas also hold Neotis denhami, Eupodotis senegalensis, Saxicola bifasciata, Monticola explorator and Geronticus calvus. Falco naumanni, Glareola nordmanni and (less frequently) Circus macrourus can be seen quartering the grasslands. Occasionally, all of South Africa’s crane species can be found in the grasslands or cropfields within the site.

Site description This area is bounded by the main roads between the following towns: Ermelo, Amersfoort, Bethal, Hendrina and Carolina. It consists mostly of flat to undulating farmland between 1,650 and 1,832 m. In a landscape dominated by maize, several remnant patches of moist clay highveld grassland are scattered throughout the district, growing on black vertic clays. The grasslands hold several streams and pans, as well as the Willem-Brummer Dam near Ermelo. Rocky slopes, gullies and ravines favour the development of thicket, dominated by Leucosidea, Buddleja and Rhamnus. In the deeper, fire-protected gullies, secondary forest occasionally develops, with trees of Euclea, Diospyros, Myrsine and Rhus.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Season	Period	Population estimate	Quality of estimate	IBA Criteria	IUCN Category
Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus	resident	1998	20 breeding pairs	unknown	A1, A3	Vulnerable
Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus	winter	-	50-300 individuals	-	A4i	Vulnerable
Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni	winter	-	1,000-2,000 individuals	-	A1, A4ii	Least Concern
Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus	winter	-	present [units unknown]	-	A1	Vulnerable
Black-winged Pratincole Glareola nordmanni	winter	-	100-1,000 individuals	-	A1, A4i	Near Threatened
Botha's Lark Spizocorys fringillaris	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A3	Endangered
Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyanus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Buff-streaked Chat Oenanthe bifasciata	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A1, A3	Least Concern
Swee Waxbill Estrilda melanotis	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Forest Canary Serinus scotops	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A2, A3	Least Concern

Habitats

IUCN habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Grassland	Grassland - highveld	-
Wetlands (inland)	Rivers & streams	-

Land use

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
agriculture	-
water management	20%
nature conservation and research	100%
other	-
tourism/recreation	-
water management	10%

Other biodiversity Two highly localized and threatened forbs, Gladiolus robertsoniae and Nerine gracilis, are found in the remaining grassland patches within this site.

Management considerations Globally, Spizocorys fringillaris has lost c.79% of its favoured grassland habitat to agriculture, primarily maize-fields. Establishing state-owned nature reserves would not necessarily enhance the conservation status of Spizocorys fringillaris, which tends to favour closely cropped grassland. Today such habitat is found on sheep farms where grazing is intense. Spizocorys fringillaris may be better off on sheep farms than in inappropriately managed protected areas. The details of this species’s ecological requirements are poorly known; determining the exact type of habitat and veld management it requires for breeding and foraging are high-priority research questions. For Spizocorys fringillaris, effective conservation is not necessarily about establishing reserves, but about ensuring that deleterious land-use practices are minimized or prevented in areas where they occur.

Much of South Africa’s remaining natural grassland is farmland used for stock production. Private land-owners should be encouraged to embrace the ‘conservancy concept’, and farming practices should be directed at maintaining habitat for all species and habitats that require conservation. Continued habitat destruction through agriculture is a major cause for concern. Other threats include mining, certain fire regimes and grazing practices. Fortunately, no afforestation is permitted in the Vaal catchment, owing to the water requirements of Gauteng. Provided that this status quo remains, massive scope exists for conservation alongside agriculture in this district. Urgent research is needed concerning the landscape-level impacts of grassland fragmentation and the consequent disruption of ecosystem-level processes.

References Allan et al. (1983, 1997), de Wet (1991), Hockey et al. (1988), Tarboton (1997a,b,c).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Amersfoort - Bethal - Carolina District. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013

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