It’s South Africa’s national bird and its long feathers are worn by Zulu kings as a sign of royalty. Now the striking blue crane, which numbers about 25 000, has another threat adding to its decline from habitat loss, poisoning and powerline collisions: climate change.
“Blue cranes are very dependent on agriculture in the Western Cape, so if climate change leads to major changes to the agricultural system, this could have knock-on effects on cranes,” says Christie Craig, a crane conservationist at the Endangered Wildlife Trust.
This may mean less habitat for cranes in the winter, when they rely heavily on pasture lands, and also fewer water troughs for the birds.
The distinctive Cape rockjumper, which is endemic to mountain fynbos, is the first local species to gain a threatened conservation status — near threatened according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List — because of the direct and indirect effects of climate change.
BirdLife South Africa chose this species as its bird of the year because it serves as an ambassador for other animal species that are similarly restricted to where they occur because of the “climate envelope” — species that occur in a specific climate niche.
“While some birds can ‘track’ climate change by moving to where temperature suits them better, this cannot be done for species restricted to the highest altitudes as they can’t move further up,” it says.
Fynbos is protected in CapeNature reserves but there are major concerns about the spread of alien tree species and increased fire frequencies driven by climate change.
“They have a physiology that relies on water-loss to keep cool, an odd strategy given the bird lives in a region that experiences dry summers,” BirdLife South Africa said. Juveniles and chicks seem particularly vulnerable to heat stress, while adults simply stop foraging when it gets too warm. The species, too, is restricted to cooler regions of the fynbos, at higher altitude.
In a surprising twist, there is evidence that their nests, made on the ground, are becoming vulnerable to predators such as boomslang.
