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BirdLife International reports that one of the world’s rarest birds, the critically endangered White-winged Flufftail Sarothrura ayresi, has been confirmed to be breeding in South Africa – not only Ethiopia as previously thought – thanks to recent footage captured by BirdLife South Africa’s camera trap technology.

This critical finding sheds new light on the bird’s conservation.

Discovery of Flufftail Breeding Site

At Middelpunt Wetland in South Africa, a site previously thought to cater only to non-breeding visiting Flufftails, strange photos were recorded.

Images depicted intriguing wing-flapping behavior, with both males and females displaying their white wing feathers.

Observers questioned if something more than feeding was going on because it seemed almost too good to be true.

But later, the ultimate proof appeared – the unmistakable image of a rotund, speckled juvenile scuttling through the undergrowth. This new knowledge changes everything.

Scientists need all the knowledge they can get if they want to stop the White-winged Flufftail from becoming the first recorded extinction of a mainland African bird.

A White-winged Flufftail in Ethiopia thought to be its only breeding site, until now © Sergey Dereliev

Flufftail Bird on the Brink

With recent estimates numbering fewer than 250 mature individuals, this beautiful but elusive species is declining fast.

Its high-altitude wetland habitats are being degraded by human activity: over-grazing by cattle, burning, conversion for agriculture and the build-up of pollution.

That’s why BirdLife South Africa, the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (BirdLife in Ethiopia), and initiatives both local and worldwide have joined forces to create a Species Action Plan that protects this bird on the brink.

What Scientists Thought They Knew

Scientists thought the White-winged Flufftail is only regularly found in Ethiopia and South Africa.

Recent DNA samples taken from feathers collected in both countries have shown them to be genetically similar, implying they are the same population and migrate 4,000 km between the two countries.

First, they breed at the Berga Wetland in Ethiopia during July and August, then travel to the high-altitude wetlands in the eastern reaches of South Africa from November to March.

But it’s hard to gather any information at all about this secretive species.

Recording the Flufftail

One of the main problems is that it’s not clear what its call sounds like. The species has to be seen to be recorded.

And so, over the past two years, BirdLife South Africa’s Robin Colyn and ecologist Alastair Campbell developed an innovative camera trap system to survey the cryptic Flufftail, dubbed the BirdLife South Africa Rallid Survey Method.

Cameras were set up at Middelpunt Wetland near Belfast, South Africa, and after sifting through about 400,000 photographs triggered by shrews and other small mammals, the team was flabbergasted.

First, they captured the never-before-seen wing-flapping behavior. Then, encouraged, Colyn and Campbell refined their technique and upped the number of cameras to 20.

And that’s when they found solid proof of breeding.

Robin Colyn and Alastair Campbell installed pioneering camera trap technology to record the Flufftail © Carina Coetzer

Proof of Flufftail Breeding

The White-winged Flufftail is precocial, meaning chicks leave the nest and start wandering around soon after hatching.

Thanks to this independent behavior, cameras caught chicks ranging from only a couple of days old to juvenile birds which were about four weeks old.

In fact, 125,000 images show at least three clutches, and at least two mating attempts.

Juvenile Flufftails start to forage independently at a very young age © BirdLife South Africa

Rewriting the Bird Books

“The bird books will need to be re-written!” enthused Mark Anderson, CEO of BirdLife South Africa. “We now have 100% confirmation that the White-winged Flufftail breeds at Middelpunt wetland.”

“This confirms that the White-winged Flufftail is not a ‘non-breeding visitor’ to South Africa,” says Robin Colyn, BirdLife South Africa.

But a new breeding site doesn’t necessarily mean greater numbers.

“We are still unsure what our findings mean for White-winged Flufftail conservation,” says Dr. Hanneline Smit-Robinson, BirdLife South Africa’s Terrestrial Bird Conservation Programme Manager.

“Our survey method did, however, confirm a low abundance, therefore until further knowledge, our assumption holds that this species is extremely rare and it remains on the brink of extinction.”

Knowledge is power in the race to keep this species alive in the wild.

Dr. Smit-Robinson adds, “BirdLife South Africa would like to expand its use of the newly developed Rallid Survey Method to at least another three wetlands in South Africa to confirm the presence of, and hopefully breeding by, White-winged Flufftails at these sites.”

An adult female was caught on camera displaying her white wing feathers © BirdLife South Africa

‘Flufftail’ is a charming name for a bird – and makes sense when you see its stumpy tail spread out into a beautifully scalloped fan shape. But there’s nothing fluffy about its future.

Middelpunt Wetland is a Protected Environment run by a private landowner in collaboration with BirdLife South Africa, but the Flufftail may also be breeding in more dangerous areas that we don’t yet know about.

Now that we’ve worked out the method to discover more about this bird, we need to make sure we use it to its full advantage.

“At last, we’re a step closer to solving the mystery of the ‘migration’ of one of the world’s rarest birds,” says Andy Symes, BirdLife International Red List Team.

“But there is still a great deal to learn, and we encourage people to support BirdLife South Africa to enable them to collect more data to ensure that this highly threatened species can get the protection it so desperately needs.”

Click here to donate now to help BirdLife South Africa reach their target of buying another 60 camera traps for use in the 2018/19 breeding seasons.