HawkTalk Issue 92 Winter 2022

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HAWKTALK WINTER 2022 ISSUE 92

Our Head of Conservation & Research, Dr Campbell Murn, recently returned from three weeks of fieldwork in southern Africa. We caught up with him to find out more about his time in the field, and what it’s like working on the ground across our research projects with Critically Endangered vultures. An interview with Dr Campbell Murn

Let’s jump straight in – can you give us a summary of the fieldwork you’ve just completed in Africa? Firstly, we undertook aerial surveys around Kimberley, which is in the middle of South Africa and where we’ve had long-term involvement with White-backed Vultures. We’ve done two sets of aerial surveys in the same area previously and want to be able to compare the differences in the population to see whether it is going up or down. We worked on our Hooded Vulture project, which is now nearing completion. We also started a project investigating Lappet-faced Vultures and the interactions elephants have with their nest trees. That was a chance to test out some new equipment – a camera on a long, extendable arm. Mostly because I’m tired of climbing trees! Can you give us an example of what this research tells us and how can this help these species? There are two main questions we have about White-backed Vultures. Firstly, ‘Why do they nest in groups?’ Sometimes you only get two or three nests together, sometimes there are huge clusters. Evolutionary adaptions would suggest the vultures ought to spread their nests out as far and wide as possible – they can fly really high, and they’ve got good eyesight. So why nest quite close together in a large group?

Dr Campbell Murn (up a tree)

Secondly, ‘Why do they nest where they do?’ When you look across these nesting areas, like around Kimberly, as far as the eye can see there are pretty much only Camel Thorn trees. Vultures like nesting in these trees, and to our eyes they all look similar, but you may find a cluster of nests in one area, and not in another. So, if the vultures like nesting in these trees so much, why aren’t there nests everywhere? In other words, if we can understand why the birds decide to settle somewhere, we can understand the areas of the landscape that are important to them so we can protect those areas, and we can assess threats in those areas so we can target how to mitigate those threats. Can you describe a typical day out in the field? On an ordinary day, I’ll get up really early. I’ll pick up whoever I’m working with that day, usually game guards, at about 6.30AM. And then off you go! There’s lots of driving and lots of walking. I try to maximise the time by doing road transects (counting sightings of birds of prey) while traveling between sites where we are carrying out research. Afterwards, I’ll come back to where I’m staying, have a coffee and a quick sleep, and then turn on the computer and start downloading what I’ve done for the day. I’ll look at emails if I’ve got a signal, and carry on doing what I do back in the office: analysis, writing up papers, dreaming up new ideas. I’ll do that until quite late and then go to bed. So it’s a long day. What’s your favourite part about fieldwork? I do like being by myself, although I don’t like being away from my family. I enjoy being out in the bush and I like seeing the wildlife. Although, when you’re on foot and walking through the bush the animals usually move on long before you get there – they see or smell you and they’re gone.

Hooded Vulture nest