By Maore Ithula
When droughts and floods kill livestock and wildlife, raptors — birds of prey — are some of the few beneficiaries.
But ornithologists — experts in the science of birds — do not believe the bizarre advantage will translate into increased populations of raptors when the disasters become more inherent with the escalating global warming.
Dr Munir Virani, an associate raptor researcher at the National Museums of Kenya says instead of enhancing the existence of birds of prey, global warming will cause species distribution shift among raptors and other birds.
Consequently many bird species will die of the stress and strain occasioned by change of climate and loss of habitat. "It is going to be difficult for birds as effects of climate change takes their toll," he says.
Warmer and drier
Due to climate change, experts say, eastern Africa will be moister and wetter while the southern part will be warmer and drier.
This, Virani says, will force birds that prefer the drier parts of Kenya to migrate southwards. "But birds have peculiar preferences when it comes to nesting during breeding seasons and others are territorial in nature. Many species will be lost in this distribution shift through failure to secure nesting places or lack of capacity to secure and retain a territory besides other obstacles."
But Virani is not sure whether most of the eight vulture species found in Kenya will last long enough to be vanquished by effects of climate change. This is because five of them are already listed globally as threatened.
He says although loss of habitat contributes to a large portion of extinction of avian species, persecution and poisoning by humans is also an inherent aspect of consistent bird annihilation.Mr Simon Thomsett, a raptor conservator with more than 35 years experience, says unless Kenyans refrain from destroying these places birds, especially raptors, will be a thing of the past in a few decades. Thomsett recently took a road census of raptors which covered a distance of over 27, 000 km through eastern and southern Africa. He found that conservation areas had considerably more raptors than those areas outside. For example areas outside.
The researchers spoke to The Standard when they released a Ruppell’s vulture in Naivasha’s Hell’s Gate National Park following treatment.
