Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres breeding status in southern Africa: monitoring results from 2010–2014

Abstract

Monitoring of eight Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres breeding colonies in South Africa and Botswana took place between 2010 and 2014 using standardised counting methods. Counts of breeding pairs, nestlings and fledglings were used to calculate breeding success and general population trends. While our data suggests multiple colonies are stable or increasing, the extinction of peripheral colonies and contraction of the species’ range is alarming and gives evidence for unsustainable population declines. Monitoring efforts chronicled the extinction of the previously large core colony at Roberts’ Farm, which was abandoned as a breeding site in 2013. Standardised monitoring is urgently needed across the entire species range to better understand current population dynamics.