23 February 2009
Issue # 4

Dear hadeda enthusiasts,

Happy new year to all of you. We hope you had a relaxing holiday and have recharged for the year ahead.

For the hadeda project, the new year has started very well. Greg Duckworth has started his MSc on the project. He has taken over the data base and will soon start analysing. He is also keen to get as many resightings of ringed hadedas as possible, and any information on nests. His email is: Duckworth@sanbi.org and phone: 021 799 8861. Doug and Res are not yielding that easily, though, and you will continue to see them around!

Since the last newsletter, we have ringed some more nestlings and the total is now at 143. Ringing is a bit slow at the moment, because we are out of the breeding season. It should start to pick up during May, though, and so in the meantime we’re concentrating on resightings.

Photo: Jessie Blackshaw

Hadeda 'FJ' foraging on cricket fields in Constantia. Note the two letter colour ring on his left leg. Resightings are an important part of the project, and so if you do see any ringed hadedas please check the ring combination and report it to us! We appreciate every resighting.

We have had lots of resightings of ringed hadedas recently; Jessie Blackshaw keeps the lead for having the most resightings – 20 individuals! She has reported 165 resightings in total, and the bird she most frequently sees is ‘JC’ – She has reported it 30 times! She has found a spot in Constantia where she regularly sees 6-7 ringed hadedas. And they are not always the same individuals. Most recently, a bird ringed in Somerset West last November was among them. This has led to the questions: how far do hadedas move on a daily basis? Do they commute between their favourite sites? How long do they frequent the same fields at the time? And how far from their roosting site do they travel? Jessie and Greg are currently running an ambitious resighting program concentrated around Constantia. Hopefully we will soon have some answers to these questions.

Jessie also kept a very close watch on a pair of hadedas and their three youngsters that we ringed at the Doordrift greenbelt. She saw them feeding the young more than two months after fledging.

Photo: Res Altwegg

Nestlings 'BT', 'BU' and 'BV' ringed in Meadowridge. Hadedas appear to be very caring and proficient parents, extensively looking after their young up to, and even after fledging.

In the last newsletter we mentioned that the hadeda project has now gone national. Colleen Downs (Professor at the University of KwaZulu Natal) and Craig Symes (lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand) and their teams have started ringing hadedas in Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg, respectively. We have news that Craig has been especially successful and already ringed 28 individuals. He is using yellow rings with black letters. This is a great start to the national project, and hopefully soon we’ll be able to compare survival and movements within the different populations.

Colleen Downs who is planning to ring hadedas in Pietermaritzburg. Unfortunately she's been too busy to ring any as of yet, but plans to get started soon.
Photo: Craig Symes	Hadeda 'FT' ringed by Craig Symes in Pretoria. Note the yellow and black coloured ring as apposed to the red and white coloured ring we use in Cape Town.

So that's what's been happening recently with the hadeda project. Thank you all for your help and interest, and we kindly ask you to please keep an eye out for ringed hadedas during this non-breeding season. As it nears May we also ask you to please alert us of hadedas constructing nests, as we'd like to know of as many nests as possible before the busy breeding season. Additionally, please keep reporting active hadeda nests, or if you make any other interesting observations on hadedas.

Regards

Greg Duckworth (Tel. 021 799 8861)) Res Altwegg (Tel. 021 799 8809) and Doug Harebottle (Tel. 021 650 2330)

Project Coordinators