Bird Monitoring
Birds can act as indicators to changes in the environment and other potential threats to biodiversity and communities, and in 2006, WCS completed ten years of waterbird counts in Lac Télé Community Reserve.
Throughout this period we have found important numbers of African Darter Anhinga rufa and Purple Heron Ardea purpurea breeding in the reserve. In total an average of over 5,000 waterbirds have been counted here in recent years, including the return of Pink-backed Pelican Pelecanus rufescens to the reserve, large numbers of Long-tailed Cormorant Phalacrocorax africanus and Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides. We also made the first observations of Black Heron Egretta ardesiaca in Congo.
Waterbirds are also numerous in Conkouati-Douli National Park and it is likely that the rare Hartlaub's Duck Pteronetta hartlaubi is found in important numbers there. Forest birds are abundant at all sites and in Conkouati-Douli, Lac Télé and Batéké Plateau savanna species are also an important part of the bird community.
Conkouati-Douli and Nouabale-Ndoki (including PROGEPP) are already recognised as Important Bird Areas (see BirdLife International), and Lac Télé also is now known to meet the criteria for this status. It is probable that both the Odzala-Tridom landscape and Batéké Plateau will also meet these criteria. These criteria are based on number of representative forest birds, waterbird counts and threatened species.
WCS-Congo will collate available information to ensure that our understanding of the birds of the sites we manage is improved, and that we can provide information for assessment of each site as an Important Bird Area.