Falcons depart as winter arrives

IF DEPARTURE dates by migratory species can provide evidence of global warming, then global warming is a reality.

Vryheid has a colony of Amur Falcons (once called the Eastern Redfoot Kestrel) which have been migrating to Vryheid from eastern Asia for longer than anyone in Vryheid can remember.

Thousands of these little raptors arrive here late November / early December, spend summer here hunting goggas in the fields and vleis around Vryheid, and then fly back to their breeding grounds in Asia, departing end of March / beginning of April.

This year they departed later than ever, on April 20/21.

Last year they left on April 14/15.

In the year 2000, 16 years ago, they left on March 20/21, a whole month earlier than this year.

The late departure date may, of course, have something to do with the long summer that the area has experienced. High daytime temperatures with very mild nights were a feature right up to last week, when suddenly, the first real autumn cold front arrived.

The birds would also stay if there was still plenty of food for them in the surrounding countryside. An entomologist would be able to tell us if the extended summer meant more insects.

To get to their breeding grounds in Siberia, Mongolia and northern China, it is thought that the birds fly up the length of Africa, across the Middle East, and then west of the Himalayas.

In mid-October, they’ll begin their flight back again, their southerly route taking them over the Himalayas to Nagaland in north-eastern India, across India, and then they have a huge 3,000km non-stop leg over the Indian Ocean to East Africa. And they each weigh just 100-180 grams!

Last year they arrived back in Vryheid on December 11/12, and we can expect them back here at around that time this year.

Then, you’ll be able to see them each evening as they gather to silently soar in the sky over Vryheid, before roosting in the plane trees that stand in the municipal swimming bath grounds in High Street.