Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box for key species. The Chrissie Pans support very large numbers (from a southern African perspective) of flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber and P. minor). The system is probably also an important refuge for the small floating population of Grus carunculatus remaining in Mpumalanga. Other species present in large numbers include Balearica regulorum, Charadrius pallidus and Circus ranivorus. When inundated, these wetlands also support large numbers of waterbirds, with total numbers regularly exceeding 20,000 individuals. In addition to the aquatic birds, several dryland species use the extensive Phragmites beds in the reedpans for roosting, including Falco amurensis and Hirundo rustica, which roost at the pans in flocks numbering thousands. The surrounding grassland-maize matrix occasionally supports Geronticus calvus, Falco naumanni, Grus paradisea, Neotis denhami, Eupodotis senegalensis, Tyto capensis, Glareola nordmanni and Circus maurus.

Site description This site comprises a system of over 320 pans on private land c.30 km east of Breyten. The primary area of pans runs from Tevrede se Pan (26°13’S 30°11’E) in the north to Burgerspan (26°28’S 30°10’E) in the south, and from Goedeverwachtingpan (26°16’S 30°07’E) in the west to Lake Banagher (26°21’S 30°23’E) in the east. The Chrissie system comprises a remarkable variety of pans. Reed pans are mostly permanent, usually retaining water throughout the year. They have a diverse flora, characterized by Phragmites, which forms a dense extensive reedbed covering most of the pan basin. Sedge pans are semi-permanent, usually drying up during the winter and/or dry spells, when they are almost devoid of vegetation. Saline pans are characterized by their glaring white basins when dry and have extremely saline substrata and water. The basins of these pans usually lack vegetation.

There is considerable overlap in the common plants between the three pan-types. The pans, and their functioning, remain intact, despite existing in a matrix that consists almost exclusively of maize (80%), interspersed with small fragmented patches of natural grassland (20%).

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Season	Period	Population estimate	Quality of estimate	IBA Criteria	IUCN Category
Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus	winter	-	1,991-3,522 individuals	-	A4i	Least Concern
Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor	winter	-	common [units unknown]	-	A1	Near Threatened
Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus	winter	-	80-100 individuals	-	A1, A4i	Vulnerable
Southern Bald Ibis Geronticus calvus	resident	1998	-	-		Vulnerable
Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni	winter	-	1,000-5,000 individuals	-	A1, A4ii	Least Concern
Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus	winter	-	present [units unknown]	-	A1	Vulnerable
Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunculatus	winter	-	present [units unknown]	-	A1	Vulnerable
Black-winged Pratincole Glareola nordmanni	winter	-	5,000 individuals	-	A1, A4i	Near Threatened
Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyanus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Buff-streaked Chat Oenanthe bifasciata	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
A4iii Species group - waterbirds	winter	-	20,000 individuals	unknown	A4iii

Habitats

IUCN habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Grassland	Grassland - edaphic, wet	-
Wetlands (inland)	Saltpans	-

Land use

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
agriculture	80%
forestry	-
nature conservation and research	1%
nature conservation and research	100%

Other biodiversity The plant Odontelytrum abyssinicum is a highly localized and threatened pan specialist.

Management considerations A major threat to the pans comes from agricultural development. Many pans in crop farming regions are subject to contamination by pesticides and nutrient pollution by fertilizers. The closed-basin nature of pans exacerbates this problem, with toxic substances, including poisons that pose a threat to wildlife, concentrating in their basins. Ploughing, overgrazing and excessive trampling by livestock further damage shoreline vegetation, increase wind erosion, and lead to the siltation of pan basins. Opencast mines can totally destroy pans. Coal mines and associated power stations produce acid rain (less than pH 3), which dramatically affects the alkaline pans, reducing pH, interfering with pan functioning and modifying the vegetation and fauna inhabiting these systems. Power lines and telephone lines running close to pans are a major cause of mortality to waterbirds that occasionally fly into these structures.

Commercial afforestation around pans is a growing threat. Plantations cause increased levels of evapotranspiration, and decreased amounts of water draining into the pans, ultimately lowering the water-table. The effect of afforestation would be to reduce run-off from an effective 700 mm per year to 400 mm. Land acquisition to conserve this area is somewhat impractical, as the pan system is widely dispersed throughout agriculturally productive land. Similarly, few of the pans are ever flooded and functional at any one time, making acquisition of a portion of the system as a reserve inadequate.Appropriate management strategies, aimed at managing land under private ownership, are as important as land acquisition for formal nature reserves. Awareness programmes for land-owners and other interested and affected parties who affect these systems is urgently required. Legislation and its effective enforcement should be considered, so as to halt wanton environmental degradation of pans.

References Allan (1985, 1987), Allan and Brown (1991), Allan et al. (1995), Breen et al. (1993), Sharp and Allan (1985), Tarboton (1997a,b,c), Wellington (1943).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Chrissie Pans. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 20/05/2013

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