Dr Stuart Sharp reports back from an expedition to the Congo searching for an elusive African bird, about which almost nothing is known.
Every now and then, a career in ecology presents an opportunity to experience something truly special. I have been fortunate enough to travel all over the world and study all kinds of amazing wildlife, but when I was recently given the chance to explore a rarely visited part of Africa and observe one of the continent’s most poorly known birds, I could hardly believe my luck.
A young boy’s dream
Flicking through Turner and Rose’s book ‘Swallows and Martins’ as a young boy, I was captivated by two species on the very first page: the river martins. One, the white-eyed river martin, had only ever been seen a handful of times and not since 1980; the other, the African river martin, was another enigmatic bird about which almost nothing was known despite sightings being recorded regularly in central Africa. These were birds I didn’t believe I would ever see, let alone get to study.
Today, the African river martin is still a mystery. It is classified as ‘Data Deficient’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This means that there is insufficient information about the species to assess its conservation status. With funding from The Birdfair/RSPB Research Fund for Endangered Birds, I have recently started a program of research to fill this gap.
On the trail of the African river martin
Until recently, only a very small number of colonies had ever been found, mostly at inaccessible sites along the Congo River. However, in 2013, my colleague Malcolm Wilson discovered a colony in a forest clearing while conducting bird surveys at the Jane Goodall Institute’s Tchimpounga Nature Reserve in the Republic of Congo. In November last year, I joined Malcolm on a return visit to the Reserve, in the hope of finding out more about these mysterious birds.
We first went back to the site of Malcolm’s sighting, but drew a blank. Our disappointment turned to pure joy when, after a long trek through another part of the Reserve’s forest-savanna mosaic, we located a breeding colony of over 100 pairs. They were busy catching insects high above the canopy to feed to their chicks in their underground nesting burrows.
Collecting information
Over the next two weeks, we were able to catch a sample of these birds to ring them and take measurements. We videoed their behaviour and used an endoscope to inspect nests, enabling us to collect basic but potentially crucial information about their breeding ecology and diet.
As is so often the case with research, our short study generated more questions than answers. However, it provided a platform on which we can now build future research plans to study this species in more depth. It also left me with incredible memories of a wildlife encounter that few other people have ever experienced.
Find out more about Stuart’s research, and about studying Ecology or Biology at Lancaster Environment Centre.
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