South Africa's Blue Crane (our national bird) population is plummeting

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks with Christie Craig, a conservation scientist with the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

Listen below:

The current estimated Blue Crane population in South Africa sits between 34,000 and 68,000, representing a drop in numbers since 2010 of between 27% and 49%. 

The national bird’s conservation status has been changed from 'threatened' to 'vulnerable' by the regional Red Data Book of Birds.

Some experts think climate change could be linked to the population decline.

The Overberg region in the Western Cape, in particular, has seen its Blue Crane population fall by 44% in the past 15 years.

"There are so many different factors that could be affecting this population. The one red flag we are noticing in my research is that the breeding success is quite a bit lower... In the Overberg, we're seeing a breeding success of about half of what it was 30 years ago. It's not just one thing, but that does seem to be the main red flag... and then you'll have things like power line collisions and fence entanglements and all the mortalities that add to the equation."

- Christie Craig, conservation scientist - Endangered Wildlife Trust

Craig explains that the conservation efforts of Blue Cranes in the Western Cape will be scaled up.

"There's a big benefit in having a sustained conversation presence. In the Drakensberg, we've had a sustained conservation presence for several decades... having people in the landscape regularly talking to farmers that are keeping an eye out is very powerful... It's something we've scaled back on in the Western Cape because the population was doing so well... we need to now scale up again."

- Christie Craig, conservation scientist - Endangered Wildlife Trust

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.