2 July 2025, Johannesburg — In a rare conservation success story, the White-winged Flufftail, one of Africa’s most elusive and threatened birds, has been downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered in South Africa, thanks to over a decade of innovative research and fieldwork led by BirdLife South Africa with support from the Middelpunt Wetland Trust. Feature image of a White-winged...
Blouberg Nature Reserve, Limpopo – July 2025 An education initiative led by vulture conservation organisation Vulpro is showing promising signs of success in curbing the illegal killing of vultures for traditional medicine practices around Blouberg Nature Reserve in Limpopo. The reserve hosts South Africa’s largest breeding colony of Cape Vultures, a species under severe threat....
Window collisions and cats kill more birds than wind farms do, but ornithologists say turbine impacts must be taken seriously. Scientists are testing a range of technologies to reduce bird strikes — from painting stripes to using artificial intelligence — to keep birds safe.By Adam Welz This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360. Wind energy is...
A group of innovative young Rwandan naturalists—led by 19-year-old tourism graduate Joseph Desiré Dufitumukiza—has harnessed a free mobile app to record bird sounds and monitor species across the country. Since launching the Rugezi Ornithology Center in 2022, Dufitumukiza and his student volunteers have gathered over 120,000 bird-call recordings, which are stored at the University of...
Over three years, more than 137 ornithologists, conservationists, and citizen scientists compiled 193 detailed assessments to quantify extinction risk for the region’s birds. The new online Red Data Book (RDB-online) now includes an additional 70 endemic and near-endemic species still considered at lower risk, such as the Cape Sugarbird and Orange-breasted Sunbird. The findings are...
A ground-breaking Community-led conservation project in Senegal is empowering local people to protect vital habitats for migratory birds. Along the East Atlantic Flyway—a key migratory route for millions of birds from Europe to southern Africa—local communities in Senegal are stepping up to protect some of the region’s most important bird habitats. And in doing so,...
How “Digital Trophies” Are Aiding Bird Conservation In the heart of the Eastern Mediterranean flyway, Lebanon should be a sanctuary for millions of migratory birds traveling between Europe and Africa. Instead, a sobering study reveals that this small nation has become a deadly trap—where social media has turned into a dark window into widespread illegal...
Court orders Sol Plaatje Municipality to fix sewerage crisis Kimberley, 11 April 2025 — A High Court ruling has offered long-overdue hope for the waterbirds of Kamfers Dam, once home to South Africa’s only breeding colony of Lesser Flamingos. Judge Stanton, delivering judgment in the Northern Cape Division of the High Court, ordered Sol Plaatje Municipality...
BirdLife South Africa has sounded the alarm over the growing threat wind energy infrastructure poses to birdlife, calling for urgent measures to reduce the impact on vulnerable species. A new report, based on bird monitoring at 33 wind farms across three provinces from 2015 to 2024, reveals that 202 bird species have been recorded as...
