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Speaker 1: Two weekend Breakfast Sustainable.

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Speaker 2: Living seventeen minutes before eight o'clerk, Welcome back to a

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Speaker 2: seven to two weekend breakfast with me gorgsum film. Time

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Speaker 2: for us to talk sustainability and a recent study suggests

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Speaker 2: that intensive agricultural landscapes in the Western Cave could be

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Speaker 2: reducing the breeding success of the iconic blue crane. Now,

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Speaker 2: the bluecraine isn't just any bird, it is our national bird,

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Speaker 2: and so there's a bit of concern that the ability

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Speaker 2: of the national bird to breed is being impacted. The

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Speaker 2: study was done by researchers from UCT that's University of

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Speaker 2: Cape Town through their Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology what

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Speaker 2: a delicious word ornithology is, as well as the International

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Speaker 2: Crane Foundation and the Endangered Wildlife Trust and joining us

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Speaker 2: now is the study's lead researcher. There are also a

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Speaker 2: conservation scientists at the International Crane Foundation. Doctor Christy Craig

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Speaker 2: joins us on the line. Dr Craig, a very good

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Speaker 2: morning to you. Welcome to weekend Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, thanks for having me, Thank you for your time.

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Speaker 3: Doctor tell us about the study.

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Speaker 2: What did you set to look at or to try

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Speaker 2: and find through the study.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, this is my PhD study, and the purpose

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Speaker 1: was to look at the viability of Ukraine's in the

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Speaker 1: Western Cape because effectively there are an unnatural population. They

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Speaker 1: didn't occur here when the whole of the Western Cape

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Speaker 1: was stain Worf. They have moved in because of agriculture

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Speaker 1: and they have up until twenty ten done very well

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Speaker 1: in this agricultural landscape. But unfortunately the research showed that

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Speaker 1: over the last fifteen years things aren't looking as good.

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Speaker 1: The population is decline and the breeding success in the

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Speaker 1: Western Cape is lower than it was thirty years ago,

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Speaker 1: and it's lower than in the Korew in the grasslands,

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Speaker 1: which is more of their natural range.

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Speaker 2: Right, And so when you say you say that the crane,

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Speaker 2: the blue crane is certainly where it is now on

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Speaker 2: the Western Cape. It's an unnatural population. Is that also

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Speaker 2: part of why we're seeing this impact on their breeding numbers?

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Speaker 3: Or had they.

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Speaker 2: And you can correct me, this isn't the right word,

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Speaker 2: had they adapted to their habitats in the Western Cape

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Speaker 2: and then something happened after twenty ten.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's what that's a question that we're interested

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Speaker 1: in and its continuing research is what what has changed?

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Speaker 1: Because they obviously did adapt and they did a credibly

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Speaker 1: well and this became sort of the stronghold for blucranes.

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Speaker 1: But something has shifted, either in the agricultural landscape or

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Speaker 1: perhaps into the climate. So we're still trying to pieve

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Speaker 1: a part of exactly what it is that has led

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Speaker 1: to the decline, but certain there are some warning signs

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Speaker 1: that what was a stronghold population no longer is And

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Speaker 1: we're not fini sure.

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Speaker 2: Why speak to us doctor about the findings that indicate

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Speaker 2: that these agricultural areas in the Western Cape have or

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Speaker 2: could have become an ecological trap. What does that mean

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Speaker 2: and how has that impacted potentially the Blue Crain's numbers.

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Speaker 1: An ecological trap is something essentially that it's an ecosystem

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Speaker 1: that animals are drawn to. I like to think of

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Speaker 1: it a bit like humans eating junk food because it

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Speaker 1: tastes good, but it's not good for us. So basically

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Speaker 1: it's the animals coming into an area that is attracted

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Speaker 1: to them that it isn't necessarily good for their survival

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Speaker 1: or their reproduction. So yeah, it's basically an attractive habitat

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Speaker 1: that isn't good for the animal right.

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Speaker 2: And so what is the current I guess status of

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Speaker 2: the blue crain? Is it threatened? Is it endangered? What

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Speaker 2: do we know about the current numbers of the blue crane?

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Speaker 1: And so they are lists as vulnerable on the IUC

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Speaker 1: and Red list, So that's the category between endangered and

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Speaker 1: near threatened, which means they are threatened on ic and

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Speaker 1: Red list.

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Speaker 2: And also speak to us about the numbers of young

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Speaker 2: chicks that are joining the flocks. It sounds as that

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Speaker 2: the study also found that that number isn't quite where

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Speaker 2: it should be.

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Speaker 3: That's also concerning. Yes, So.

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Speaker 1: What we looked at we monitored breeding in a number

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Speaker 1: of ways, so one of which is monitoring the pairs

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Speaker 1: when they're breeding to look at how many checks their fledge.

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Speaker 1: But then during the winter we also go and look

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Speaker 1: at blue crane flocks and look at how many juvene

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Speaker 1: how as they are and that measures concerningly low. We

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Speaker 1: found that about four percent there's about four percent juveniles

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Speaker 1: in the population, and we know that there's survival in

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Speaker 1: terms of that a population they're born the Western Cape,

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Speaker 1: about nine percent of cranes die in a given year,

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Speaker 1: so that means that their mortality rate is lowered and

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Speaker 1: their breeding rate, which is how they're in the population,

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Speaker 1: declines because they're not replacing themselves.

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Speaker 2: Do we have any indication on what could be underpinning

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Speaker 2: or contributing to that check mortality.

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Speaker 1: We do know that there are a couple of things

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Speaker 1: that affect good breeding crane. So there was a master's

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Speaker 1: study by Michelle Bauer who looked at crane nests. I

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Speaker 1: actually don't pull the nest, but their breeding sites. And

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Speaker 1: what she found is that disturbance at the nest led

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Speaker 1: to higher predation and high numbers of eggs sailing. And

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Speaker 1: she also found that higher temperatures led to nest failures.

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Speaker 1: And then when it comes to the chicks, we do

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Speaker 1: know that they get entangled and senses, so they try

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Speaker 1: to walk through fences and get stuck. As well as

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Speaker 1: when they're quite small, if they try to drink out

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Speaker 1: of the water chops, they can fall in and drown. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so there's a couple of couple of things that can

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Speaker 1: impact chicks and the eggs. And I think that they

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Speaker 1: go in an agricultural landscape will be disturbance because there

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Speaker 1: are quite a lot of people on West in Cape

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Speaker 1: farms with a lot of machinery, so I think disturbance

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Speaker 1: is quite an important one of the west in cave.

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Speaker 2: Speak to us finally, doctor about the role that farmers

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Speaker 2: can play potentially in conserving these blue craye numbers.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I think farmers. I think the almost responsibility or

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Speaker 1: ability to turn the trend around for blue cranes is

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Speaker 1: in the farmer's hands. And many farmers already are very

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Speaker 1: protective of their blue cranes and like to have them

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Speaker 1: then do everything that they can to help their survival.

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Speaker 1: So I think one of the things the farmers can

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Speaker 1: do is during the breeding season try and limit disturbance

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Speaker 1: at the nest if need be, make sure to mark

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Speaker 1: the nest so that people know to stare. You can

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Speaker 1: put like a couple of rocks or something. Because they

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Speaker 1: don't pull the nest bag, but just on the ground,

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Speaker 1: it can be difficult to see them. And then if

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Speaker 1: you have a camp, that's possible to leave the gate

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Speaker 1: open so that birds can access water without going through

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Speaker 1: a fence. That can help as well as making water shops.

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Speaker 1: Blue crane's face, so packing some rocks or something in

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Speaker 1: the transfer that the chicks can get out to study fallen,

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Speaker 1: and I think she's generally looking out for blue cranes

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Speaker 1: and if they see something like a power line collision

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Speaker 1: or blue crane state, that could alterus to it so

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Speaker 1: that we can investigate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I must thank you very much for giving us

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Speaker 2: your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: A great pleasure having you on the show.

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Speaker 1: Great, thank you, Thank you so much.

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Speaker 3: That is doctor Christie Craig.

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Speaker 2: She is a conservation scientist at the International Crane Foundation

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Speaker 2: in the Endangered World of Trust. She's also the lead

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Speaker 2: researcher on a recent study looking at the alarming decline

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Speaker 2: of our national bird