Taita falcons hunt small, fast insect-eating birds such as flycatchers, swifts and bee-eaters. Hunting from Niassa\u2019s inselbergs that rise above surrounding woodlands appears to give the raptors an edge over larger peregrine (Falco peregrinus) and lanner falcons (Falco biarmicus), which occupy this same territory in smaller numbers but must fly further in search of grain-eating prey like francolins, guineafowls and doves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe habitat that they have in Niassa is obviously very well suited to Taita falcons,\u201d says Anthony van Zyl, a coauthor of the new study. \u201cThey catch [sight of] birds commuting across woodland canopy and then they dive off these cliffs, and that\u2019s how they actually catch their food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Zyl was part of a team that visited Niassa in 2021 and conducted a weeklong survey of potential breeding sites within a 75-kilometer radius of Niassa\u2019s administrative camp. Funded by the Peregrine Fund and supported by BirdLife South Africa, the scientists either trekked on foot or used a helicopter to reach the 35 sites and confirm falcon presence.<\/p>\n
They found 14 breeding pairs and used that figure, combined with remote-sensing data, to model potential nesting habitat across the reserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinding Niassa as a [Taita] stronghold still, where hopefully there\u2019s still good genetic diversity, is quite encouraging,\u201d says Hanneline Smit-Robinson, head of conservation at BirdLife South Africa and the study\u2019s corresponding author.<\/p>\n But the Taita falcons appear to need woodland to remain intact in order to maintain their edge. Once woodland clearing starts the advantage flips to lanners and peregrines, by easing their ability to see and hunt doves, their main prey, in more open habitat.<\/p>\n Niassa reserve is comparatively sparsely populated by people; around 60,000 live in a few dozen villages. But the researchers noted visible impacts.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s quite a lot of burning of the woodland for charcoal, but also to open up the woodland for actual crop cultivation,\u201d says Van Zyl.<\/p>\n Natasha Ribeiro, a professor of restoration ecology at Eduardo Mondlane University with two decades of research experience in Niassa, says human pressures do, however, remain small relative to the reserve\u2019s vast size. She notes that charcoal burning is concentrated in a few areas in the east, while mining is confined to the west.<\/p>\n \u201cAgriculture is conducted along specific corridors of human settlements, to avoid conflict with wildlife and the fact the soils are in general poor, so [farmers] tend to stay close to water courses,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Ribeiro, who wasn\u2019t part of the falcon study, adds that the reserve\u2019s community development department is working with locals to improve farming practices and curb uncontrolled fires.<\/p>\n She also points out that Niassa\u2019s deciduous woodlands, or miombo, are naturally resilient.<\/p>\n \u201cDegraded areas left behind as people move to other places recover quite quickly \u2014 in about 5 years \u2014 if no other disturbances occur,\u201d she says. This may be positive news for the Taitas, but other factors associated with people can help the larger falcons gain an advantage over their diminutive cousins.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere suddenly there\u2019s community activity, there\u2019s game fowl, there\u2019s chickens available as a food source, there\u2019s more doves because of the [artificial] water sources and suddenly, especially for [the] lanner falcon, it becomes much easier [to outcompete the Taita],\u201d says Smit-Robinson.<\/p>\n Habitat disturbance and the proliferation of domesticated fowl may explain sharp declines in the Taita falcons\u2019 two other main regional breeding sites: the Batoka Gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and South Africa\u2019s Blyde River Canyon, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been seeing here in South Africa in the Blyde River canyon is a [Taita falcon] population that\u2019s just dwindling towards extinction,\u201d says Smit-Robinson.<\/p>\n The Batoka Gorge, located below Victoria Falls, has been surveyed continuously since the 1950s: the last reliable report of an active nesting site is from 2006 on the Zimbabwean side of the gorge.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, that Taita falcon population at Batoka gorge has gone extinct,\u201d says Van Zyl.<\/p>\n While few regular surveys have been done of potential sites further north than Batoka, or in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda, Smit-Robinson and Van Zyl say the birds likely persist only in tiny isolated pockets. Protecting Niassa\u2019s intact woodland is therefore critical to the survival of the species.<\/p>\n The concerns over habitat loss raised in the study are important, says David Lloyd-Jones, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Cape Town who has spent eight years studying honey hunting with honeyguide birds (Indicator indicator) by members of Niassa\u2019s Yao community. But he notes that pressures from shifting agriculture remain less extensive inside Niassa than outside it.<\/p>\n \u201cFortunately, large tracts of intact [Niassa] woodland, close to many identified and predicted Taita falcon breeding sites, remain relatively distant from human settlements,\u201d says Lloyd-Jones, who wasn\u2019t part of the study.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now,\u201d he says, \u201c[Niassa Special Reserve] experiences far less anthropogenic pressure, with less population growth, than many surrounding areas in northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania.\u201d<\/p>\n Brink, C. W., Van Zyl, A. J., Allan, D. G., Deacon, N. R., Walker, K. S., Colyn, R. B., \u2026 Jenkins, A. R. (2025). Taita falcon stronghold discovered: Population estimates based on a survey of Niassa special reserve in northern Mozambique. Journal of Raptor Research, 59(3). doi:10.3356\/jrr2477<\/p>\nCitation:<\/h2>\n