Leslie Gordon Underhill

The White Stork Ciconia ciconia is one of possibly 11 long-distance migrants from the Palearctic and Nearctic regions which have bred since 1800 in the southern hemisphere, at or near the southern limit of their migrations. The White Stork has been recorded as initiating breeding in four localities in the Western Cape, South Africa, over a period of half a century. It is likely that 400 fledglings were produced. The largest number of nests in a single year was most likely to have been seven in 2002. In 2025, one pair was confirmed breeding. Of the 11 species that have probably bred in the southern hemisphere, four had established breeding populations in 2026. Recommendations are made for research in the event of a new discovery of a northern hemisphere species breeding in the southern hemisphere.

Sabine's Gull Xema sabini was first recorded off South Africa in 1957. The numbers of this species migrating to the southern Benguela Upwelling System subsequently increased steadily so that, by the 1980s, flocks numbering in the thousands were observed regularly in Table Bay, South Africa. This population has since declined, however, to the extent that the species was observed only singly or in small flocks in the early 2020s.

The Spotted Flycatcher is a long-distance migrant insectivore, breeding in western Eurasia and migrating to Africa south of the Sahara. This paper focuses on the annual variation of its southward post-breeding migration. It uses two monitoring datasets: bird ringing data of on passage through Bukowo-Kopań (Baltic Sea coast, N Poland), (14 August–1 November in 1967–2025); and bird atlas data from the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project (2007–2025) between 24°–26°S and 27°–29°E, on the south of the species’ non-breeding range. For each dataset, we computed the annual anomaly as the area between the multi-year average cumulative curve and the annual curve of migration. The number of birds ringed per 50 mistnets was an index of migrants’ abundance each year. For the atlas data, we calculated an index of peak abundance at the end of arrivals. These four measures of migration were response variables, and indices of climate in Europe and Africa were explanatory variables in multiple regression models. The best models showed that the East-Atlantic/Western Russia oscillation in May–July was related to Spotted Flycatchers’ migration at Bukowo–Kopań and South Africa. May–September temperatures around the Baltic contributed to explaining interannual variation in passage at Bukowo-Kopań. October–November temperatures south of Sahel largely explained variation in arrivals in South Africa; these results are less robust due to 18 years available. We showed that climate at the breeding grounds and on route have combined carry-over effects on migrants, manifested similarly at distant locations along flyways.

The Nuwejaars River and its associated wetlands lie in the Heuningnes Catchment, situated within the Overberg region in the province of the Western Cape, South Africa. Large areas of invasive alien vegetation have been cleared from the floodplain of the river. Over the period 2018 to 2024, 452 records of 25 species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) were made in the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area. Although the results are not confirmed by quantitative data, it is clear that the abundance of odonatids has increased since the removal of the infestations of alien invasive vegetation from the floodplain. The most unexpected species was Spesbona Spesbona angusta.

Pied crows Corvus albus are widespread in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. The species has undergone a range expansion and an increase in abundance into the shrubland, known as the Karoo, in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Most range expansions are caused by changes in food availability; this one has mostly been caused by the provision of nests sites: telephone poles and wind pumps. Therefore, these crows are an additional stress on an ecosystem working at carrying capacity. Culling is not recommended because there is a population of floaters that will occupy territories that become vacant. Fortunately, most of the poles and windpumps are no longer in use, having been replaced by cell phones and solar pumps, respectively. It is recommended that telephone poles be cut down and windpumps removed.

As South Africa’s contribution to the Eighth International White Stork Census in 2024, we reported that two pairs of White Storks had constructed nests. For one pair, a well-built nest was usurped by Egyptian Geese. The other pair almost certainly laid eggs, but the outcome of the breeding attempt is not known.

The primary idea behind the concept of a floater is the occurrence of non-territorial individuals which move over large areas, waiting for an opportunity to join the breeding population. A hooligan is defined here as a floater which behaves aggressively, even engaging in fighting to disrupt breeding pairs in order to gain a territory.

For three regions of South Africa (Greater Gauteng, Greater Cape Town and Greater Durban) with the greatest coverage by bird atlas (SABAP2) fieldwork, we related arrival timing and abundance in each region of a long-distance migrant bird, the Barn Swallow, from July 2007 to March 2024. Using monotonic regression, from the atlas data we derived (1) the “annual anomaly of arrivals” from the average multi-year pattern; (2) the “average maximum” reporting rate at the completion of arrivals, in each region. We related these measures of the Barn Swallow timing and abundance in each of the 17 seasons of arrivals (July–January) in each of three region, with the large-scale climate indices, and temperature and precipitation in the Iberian+Apennine Peninsulas, for the Balkan Peninsula, and for the Sahel, averaged for the months when Barn Swallow visits areas between where these climate indices operate, at their breeding grounds in Eurasia, and along four southwards migration routes to South Africa. We used multiple regression modes with no more than two climate indices at a time, out of 84 explanatory variables, allowed by 17 data points (seasons) for each region. Our exploratory analysis indicated that the timing and abundance of Barn Swallow arrivals were related to a selection of these climate indices. The related climate indices varied between three regions in a pattern corresponding with the proportions of Barn Swallows arriving there from different breeding areas along different flyways, derived from an earlier study based on ringing recoveries. The paper shows the potential of the SABAP2 database as an annual monitoring approach, primarily due to the strong fieldwork protocol. We recommend that the project be continued indefinitely.