The first blog of this series of three covered progress with BirdPix in the three “Cape” provinces: Western, Eastern and Northern. The second covered BirdPix progress in the five northern provinces: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and Free State. This third blog deals with BirdPix in KwaZulu-Natal.
KwaZulu-Natal
Species richness in coastal KwaZulu-Natal, and through the Midlands to the foothills of the Drakensberg, is generally impressive. Five grid cells have more than 200 species. These set the standard that we should be aiming at! Another 28 grid cells have between 100 and 200 species. In the northeast, quarter degree grid cell 2729DD Newcastle, with 143 species stands head and shoulders above its neighbours. This was the initiative of citizen scientist Dave Rimmer while he was based there.
Five grid cells have received records for 100 or more species in the past year, and there are another 17 with 50 to 99. This is great because it helps keep the database up-to-date. In the northwest, only two grid cells have received records in the past 12 months.
The dominant colour on this map is blue. There is lots of dark blue. These quarter degree grid cells have all had 2020 records, in January, February or March! All the light blue grid cells have records from last year, 2019. There is a patch dominated by the shades of green in the northwest, where the last records date from 2018 and earlier years. This should be a focus of attention!
