SAVING ENDANGERED BIRDS

Dedicated women are working hard to save birds and their habitats, which are crucial for maintaining the health of the planet and ensuring sustainability. The Wild Bird Trust and women scientists of the Cape Parrot Project are persevering in the disciplines of science, wildlife and conservation to raise awareness of saving South Africa’s birds. Through research and restoration initiatives, the Wild Bird Trust is striving to save the endangered Cape Parrot, of which there are fewer than 2000 in the wild.

Since 2014, Dr Kirsten Wimberger has served as project director for the Cape Parrott Project and as a trustee for the Wild Bird Trust. She leads a team that conducts research and conservation action in Hogsback, and hopes to see a significant rise in the Cape Parrott population through the restoration and protection of their forest habitat.

Dr Jessica Leaver serves as the project’s landscape conservation manager and while working on her PhD, she invented a technique for evaluating how forest bird communities change in response to habitat deterioration. Her research on the effects of formal logging on the Cape Parrot nest sites led to improved government forest management procedures.

Dr Francis Brooke is the project’s research manager in Hogsback, where her area of expertise is the ecology of endangered bird species. She oversees field research that focuses on the Cape Parrot’s breeding behaviours, movement patterns and food availability. The ultimate goal, she says, is for the species to reach a stable conservation status so that the population can thrive without human intervention.

www.wildbirdtrust.com