A study of moult-site fidelity in Egyptian geese, Alopochen Aegyptiaca, in South Africa

Ndlovu, Mduduzi, Cumming, Graeme S., Hockey, Philip A.R., Nkosi, Mbongeni D., and Mutumi, Gregory L. (2013) A study of moult-site fidelity in Egyptian geese, Alopochen Aegyptiaca, in South Africa. African Zoology, 48 (2). pp. 240-249.

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Abstract

Little is known about moult and moult-site fidelity of African waterfowl. Satellite telemetry and uniquely engraved colour-rings were used to study moult-site fidelity of Egyptian geese marked at two sites in South Africa - Barberspan in the summer-rainfall region and Strandfontein in the winter-rainfall region. Twelve Egyptian geese were tagged with satellite GPS PTT transmitters while moulting at Barberspan and Strandfontein during 2008 and 2009, and a further 527 were colour-ringed between June 2007 and March 2009. Bi-monthly point counts of Egyptian geese and scans for colour-ringed birds were made at each study site from July 2007 until June 2010, resulting in 139 individually colour-ringed geese being re-sighted during the study period. We explored Egyptian geese dispersal distances away from the study sites and modelled moult-site fidelity from colour-ring return rates corrected for survivorship, sampling period efficiency and colour-ring detectability estimates. There were 12% and 29.7% colour-ring return rates for geese ringed at Barberspan and Strandfontein, respectively. Four of five moulting birds tagged at Barberspan with satellite transmitters returned to Barberspan to moult the following year. Two of these same birds moulted at Barberspan in the third year while the other two moulted elsewhere. One out of seven Egyptian geese satellitetagged at Strandfontein returned to the same site to moult the following year. One bird moulted at a nearby pan (5 km away), two moulted at estuaries less than 30 km from Strandfontein and one bird moulted at a farm dam 56 km away. Two birds satellite-tagged at Strandfontein did not moult the following year and returned to moult at Strandfontein in the third year. The moult-site fidelity model suggested that a minimum of 16% of Barberspan birds and 51% of Strandfontein birds returned to the same wetland to moult the following year. The apparent low moult-site fidelity at Barberspan suggested by colour-ring resightings may reflect the small number of birds colour-ringed at the site.

Item ID: 40949
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2224-073X
Keywords: colour-ring, Egyptian goose, southern Africa, telemetry, waterfowl
Funders: USAID, Wildlife Conservation Society, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute
Projects and Grants: USAID GAINS Program
Date Deposited: 30 Nov 2015 01:41
FoR Codes: 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050104 Landscape Ecology @ 33%
05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity @ 34%
05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050199 Ecological Applications not elsewhere classified @ 33%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960501 Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales @ 50%
97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 50%
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