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Waterbird Counts at Sabaki River Mouth and Mida Creek

Dataset homepage

Citation

Nussbaumer R, Lennox K, Baya A, Gijsbertsen J, Kinzer A, Jackson C (2024). Waterbird Counts at Sabaki River Mouth and Mida Creek. Version 1.3. A Rocha Kenya. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/9hs9vv accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-06-20.

Description

Since 2000, A Rocha Kenya (www.arocha.or.ke) has been monitoring waterbirds at two key sites on the Coast of Kenya: Sabaki River Mouth (3°10’03.4”S 40°08’41.7”E) and Mida Creek (3°20’07.2”S 39°58’26.4”E).

The total dataset includes: 257 surveys (Mida Creek:121 ; Sabaki:136), 118 taxons recorded (MC:82 ; S:109), 7'644 sightings (MC:5'110 ; S:2'534) and 9.83666^{5} individuals (MC:3.636'960 ; S:619'970).

The metadata and data are generated with an Rmarkdown file (https://a-rocha-kenya.github.io/Waterbird-counts-Sabaki-Mida/scripts/generate_gbif_files.html) based on the spreadsheet used to enter data. This script produces two table files: events.csv(data/events.csv) records information related to the overall surveys and occurences.csv(data/occurences.csv) which contains information about individual counts.

The metadata can be visualized on the dedicated Github page (https://a-rocha-kenya.github.io/Waterbird-counts-Sabaki-Mida/). The data can be visualized on a R shiny app (https://rafnuss.shinyapps.io/water_bird_count/) and downloaded directly on the Gitub repository (https://github.com/A-Rocha-Kenya/Waterbird-counts-Sabaki-Mida/).

This dataset is published as a Darwin Core Archive (https://dwc.tdwg.org/) using a sampling event dataset (https://www.gbif.org/sampling-event-data).

Events (surveys) table headers: |type |language |license |rightsHolder |ownerInstitutionCode |eventID |samplingProtocol |sampleSizeValue |sampleSizeUnit |samplingEffort |eventDate |eventTime |locationID |continent |country |countryCode |county |locality | decimalLatitude| decimalLongitude|dynamicProperties| Occurences (counts) table headers:|basisOfRecord |eventID |occurrenceID | individualCount|taxonID |scientificName |kingdom |phylum |class |takonRank |scientificNameAuthorship |vernacularName |occurrenceRemarks |

The (incomplete) list of participants includes: Alasdair Lindop, Albert Baya, Alex Kinzer, Alex Mwalimu, Améline Nussbaumer, Amina Simba, Andrew Kinzer, Andrew McNaughton, Andy Plumptre, Annali Bamber-Jones, Apolloh James, Benjamin Suluby, Benjamin Cowburn, Benji Van Baelenberghe, Beth House, Chege Kariuki, Chris Halliwell, Colin Jackson, Daniel Kazungu, Dave Bruinsma, Dave Guenther, David Ngala, Dena Elijah, Dixon, Dónall Cross, Edwin, Eric Thuranira, Erick Karisa Menza, Fleur Ng'weno, Francis Kazungu, Frank Willems, Freshly Tsofa, Gabe LePage, George Darrah, Harry Mjambili, Hassan Matembe, Hassan Mdogo, Hilary Mwachia, Israel Lemako, Jan Van Beck, Jeff Davis, Jem Harris, Job Aben, John Gitiri, Jonathan Furaha, Joseph Ojuja, Judith Adhiambo, Judith Feldhaus, Juma Badi, Karel De La Cruz Victoria, Kate England, Katie Eshelman, Kibwana Ali, Kirao Lennox, Kirao Mwari, Kristel van Haute-Howes, Laura Sleeman, Lydia Kayaa, Lynton Baird, Marissa, Martilda Munga, Melisa, Michael Kadenge, Monicah Njambi, Mtawali, Mustafa Adamjee, Nancy Cross, Patrick Kaingu, Pauline Kazungu, Peter Musembi, Peter Ndurya, Raphaël Nussbaumer, Rehema, Robin Harris, Roni Jackson, Saddam Kailo, Salim Abdallah, Sam Oldland, Sammy Kenga, Samuel Mweni, Sarah Walker, Simon Valle, Stanley Baya, Tansy Bliss, Ted Nanninga, Timothy Mweri, Willy Kombe.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

Sabaki River Mouth (IBA: http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/6409). Sabaki River Mouth is where the Athi-Galana-Sabaki river system flows into the Indian Ocean some 5 km north of Malindi. Due to the combined action of ocean currents and freshwater flow from the highlands bringing high levels of silt, a diverse array of habitats have been formed. These include open an sandy beach, sandbanks, mudflats, salt marshes, vegetated and bare sand dunes, seasonal and permanent fresh water pools, mangroves, grassland and coastal scrub. Since the mid-1970s a high level of silt deposition has taken place that has extended the river mouth into the ocean and created the wide, open mud and sand flats which are the key attraction for large numbers of waders. Until c. 2000, there was only some degraded patches of mangrove forest slightly upstream. With the siltation, however, conditions have become ideal for mangroves, and an area of over 12 ha of mangrove forest has grown on the northern banks of the river mouth. Seasonal wetlands form during seasons of good rain on the extension of low sand dunes between the beach and the old, high sand dunes and provide breeding habitat for some birds such as Black-winged Stilts. The sandflats and beach are regularly used as a roost for large numbers of gulls and terns which forage out at sea and come to the relative safety of the river mouth to rest. A series of high (up to c. 25 m) wind-blown sand dunes extend about 5 km north and 3 km south of the river. These dunes form an important aquifer and as a result among the dunes are pools and wells of fresh water filtered by the sand and separate from the ocean. "Sabaki" is the name of the final few kilometres of the river that starts in the Ngong Hills west of Nairobi as the Athi River and is known as the Galana River through Ukambani and Tsavo East National Park. Mida Creek (IBA: http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/6406). Mida creek is a biologically important and complex tidal marine multi-habitat ecosystem supporting the adjacent local communities by providing foods, building materials and tourism revenues (Weru et al., 2000). The total intertidal area of this marine inlet is approximately 580 ha.: there is minimal freshwater inflow. The majority of the Creek is fringed with a diverse assemblage of mangrove species including Ceriops tagal, Rhizophora rnucronata, Bruguiera gyrnnorrhiza, Avicennia marina, Sonneratia alba and Xylocarpus benadirensis. The site is disturbed by artisanal fishermen, both for fishing and bait-collecting, and by groups of tourists brought into the creek by boat. Disturbance levels are not, however, high enough to have a major detectable influence on the foraging behaviour of waders (Hockey et al. 1996). The major problems in the creek will be the negative knock-on effects within the ecosystem of over-fishing and exploitation of the marine environment and mangrove forests. Mangrove roots are frequently cut and mud dug up in order to reach fishing bait which clearly destabilises the mangroves and threatens their survival (Jackson, The Birds of Mida Creek). Mida Creek is an important passage and non-breeding area for Palaearctic migrant waders, with counts of over 8,000 waders. The populations of Greater and Lesser Sand plover and Crab-plovers here are internationally important. The creek is a significant feeding area for Dimorphic Egrets, Lesser Crested and a resident though non-breeding population of Greater Flamingo. Other common migrant shorebirds here include Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Terek Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Grey Plover, and Greenshank (Jackson, The Birds of Mida Creek).

Sampling

Counts are carried out every month on a date and time with ideal tides (low tide at Sabaki and a neap high of 2.3 - 2.5m at Mida Creek). The team is composed of a staff member from A Rocha Kenya Science Department, a scribe and usually several volunteers. At Sabaki, the same route is follow on foot along the river bank to the river mouth while in Mida, the counts are performed from a stationary point. Binoculars, telescopes and tally counters are used. The scribe writes in a notebook, listing the species with all the counts announced during the survey and, at the end, he/she tallies the counts and write down metadata (start/end times, area covered, effect of weather on the count, disturbance of bird observed). A copy of the instructions(https://a-rocha-kenya.github.io/Waterbird-counts-Sabaki-Mida/data/Notebook_Instruction.pdf) is available. After the count, the staff member enters the count data in an excel spreadsheet, checking the count totals and assigning a count precision.

Quality Control

A rapid quality control has been carried on this dataset but errors are likely to still be present in the dataset. Contact us in case of doubt.

Method steps

  1. The conversion to the GBIF standard is performed with a Rmarkdown script (https://a-rocha-kenya.github.io/Waterbird-counts-Sabaki-Mida/scripts/generate_gbif_files).

Taxonomic Coverages

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands defines waterbirds as any "species of bird that are ecologically dependent on wetlands". This term is further refined in the second edition of Waterfowl Population Estimates (Rose & Scott, 1997), as being all species of the families Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Pelecanidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Ardeidae, Balaenicipitidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anhimidae, Anatidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Aramidae, Rallidae, Heliornithidae, Eurypygidae, Jacanidae, Rostratulidae, Dromadidae, Haematopodidae, Ibidorhynchidae, Recurvirostridae, Burhinidae, Glareolidae, Charadriidae, Scolopacidae, Thinocoridae, Laridae, Sternidae and Rynchopidae. Taxa are recorded at the species level with the exception of the Heuglin's Gull (Larus fuscus heuglini) and Baltic Gull (Larus fuscus fuscus). Whenever a bird could not be safely identified at the specie level, the identification was done as slash (e.g. Lesser/Greater Sand Plover), genus, family, order or even as Aves sp.. The dataset includes 110 unique species and 6 other taxons (subspecies, family, slash etc.) belonging to 22 families. The taxonID used is the species code from the eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019 (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/).
  1. Scolopacidae
    common name: Sandpipers and Allies rank: family
  2. Laridae
    common name: Gulls, Terns and Skimmers rank: family
  3. Charadriidae
    common name: Plovers and Lapwings rank: family
  4. Phoenicopteridae
    common name: Flamingos rank: family
  5. Dromadidae
    common name: Crab-plover rank: family
  6. Anatidae
    common name: Ducks and Geese rank: family
  7. Glareolidae
    common name: Coursers and Pratincoles rank: family
  8. Accipitridae
    common name: Hawks, Vultures, Buzzards, Eagles and Allies rank: family
  9. Threskiornithidae
    common name: Ibises and Spoonbills rank: family
  10. Ardeidae
    common name: Herons, Egrets and Bitterns rank: family
  11. Ciconiidae
    common name: Storks rank: family
  12. Pelecanidae
    common name: Pelicans rank: family
  13. Recurvirostridae
    common name: Stilts and Avocets rank: family
  14. Haematopodidae
    common name: Oystercatchers rank: family
  15. Alcedinidae
    common name: Kingfishers rank: family
  16. Burhinidae
    common name: Thick-knees rank: family
  17. Phalacrocoracidae
    common name: Cormorants rank: family
  18. Pandionidae
    common name: Ospreys rank: family
  19. Rostratulidae
    common name: Painted-snipes rank: family
  20. Balaenicipitidae
    common name: Shoebill rank: family
  21. Jacanidae
    common name: Jacanas rank: family
  22. Rallidae
    common name: Rails, Crakes and Gallinules rank: family

Geographic Coverages

Located on the coast of Kenya, Sabaki River Mouth and Mida Creek represent key hotspots for waterbirds, especially for wintering and migrating waders. See Sampling Methods for more information.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. England, K. J. H., Jackson, C., & Hockey, P. A. R. (2015). A novel methodology for the rapid assessment of waterbird vulnerability to disturbance. Ostrich, 86(1–2), 75–85. - https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2015.1030793
  2. Otieno, N. E., Oyieke, H., Ogoma, M., & Kochey, J. (2011). Bird assemblage patterns in relation to anthropogenic habitat modification around an East African estuary. Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science, 10(2), 191-200–200. - https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2012.680262
  3. Seys, J., Moragwa, G., Boera, P., & Ngoa, M. (1995). Distribution and abundance of birds in tidal creeks and estuaries of the Kenyan coast between the Sabaki River and Gazi Bay. Scopus: Journal of East African Ornithology, 19, 47–60. - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312224313_Distribution_and_abundance_of_birds_in_tidal_creeks_and_estuaries_of_the_Kenyan_coast_between_the_Sabaki_River_and_Gazi_Bay
  4. Valle, S., Boitani, L., & Maclean, I. M. D. (2012). Seasonal changes in abundances of waterbirds at Sabaki River Mouth (Malindi, Kenya), a key stopover site on the West Asian-East African Flyway. Ostrich, 83(1), 19–26. - https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2012.680262
  5. Nasirwa, O., Oyugi, J., Jackson, C., Lens, L., Bennun, L., & Seys, J. (1995). Surveys of waterbirds in Kenya, 1995: Lake Victoria wetlands, south Kenya coast and Tana River dams. Centre for Biodiversity Research Reports: Ornithology. - https://doi.org/10.14284/175
  6. Houte-howes, K. S. S. Van. (2005). Macroinvertebrate communities in intertidal mudflats at the Sabaki River Estuary, Kenya: An important habitat for resident and migratory shore birds . Watamu. -
  7. Jackson, C. (2010). The Birds of Mida Creek, Kenya. Watamu. - 10.13140/RG.2.2.23157.81126
  8. Moragwa, G., Fondo, E., & Okondo, J. (1996). Birds of Mida Creek (Vol. 26). -
  9. Pearson, D. J., & Serra, L. (2002). Biometrics, moult and migration of Grey Plovers Pluvialis squatarola, at Mida Creek, Kenya. Ostrich, 73(3–4), 143–146. - https://doi.org/10.1080/00306525.2002.11446744
  10. Harebottle, D. M., Jackson, C. H. W., & Oschadleus, H. D. (2005). Wader ringing in coastal Kenya – results and overview from the first AFRING waterbird ringing course. Wader Study Group Bulletin, 106(April), 55-57. -
  11. Hockey, P. A. R., Plagényi, É. E., Turpie, J. K., & Phillips, T. E. (1996). Foraging behaviour of Crab Plover Dromas Ardeola at Mida Creek, Kenya. Ostrich, 67(1), 33–44. - https://doi.org/10.1080/00306525.1996.9633778
  12. Rose, P.M.; Scott, D.A. Waterfowl population estimates. Publication 44. Wetl. Int. Wageningen, Netherlands 1997. -

Contacts

Raphaël Nussbaumer
originator
position: Research Associate
A Rocha Kenya
email: raphael.nussbaumer@arocha.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8185-1020
Kirao Lennox
originator
position: Research Scientist
A Rocha Kenya
email: lennox.kirao@arocha.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3548-5787
Albert Baya
originator
position: Research Technician
email: albert_baya@yahoo.com
Jaap Gijsbertsen
originator
A Rocha Kenya
email: jaap.gijsbertsen@arocha.org
userId: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=jaapg
Andrew Kinzer
originator
position: Research Programs Coordinator
A Rocha Kenya
email: andrew.kinzer@gmail.com
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9521-5175
Colin Jackson
originator
position: Director
A Rocha Kenya
email: colin.jackson@arocha.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2280-1397
Raphaël Nussbaumer
metadata author
position: Research Associate
A Rocha Kenya
email: raphael.nussbaumer@arocha.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8185-1020
Colin Jackson
metadata author
position: Director
A Rocha Kenya
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2280-1397
Raphaël Nussbaumer
administrative point of contact
position: Research Associate
A Rocha Kenya
email: raphael.nussbaumer@arocha.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8185-1020
Colin Jackson
administrative point of contact
position: Director
A Rocha Kenya
email: colin.jackson@arocha.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2280-1397
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