Weaver news

Africa's feather locust is both an adder and a mulitplier

2011-06-24 (119)


Africa's feathered locust is the Red-billed Quelea. Compared with SABAP1, it is adding range, and it is apparently multiplying in numbers.

All the BLUE quarter degree grid cells represent places where it was not recorded in SABAP1, but has been recorded in SABAP2. The range expansion westwards, especially into the winter-rainfall region of the Western Cape is striking. The overall impression of the map is GREEN, indicating that reporting rates for the Red-billed Quelea are higher in SABAP2 than they were in SABAP1 (and in many grid cells throughout the range the reporting rates are substantially higher now).

The closest quelea breeding colony to Cape Town was found near Worcester in April 2009 - see here. Recent records in the winter rainfall area can be found here.