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An enchantment with birds

Posted on April 14, 2023
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Birds are unique in that they have a mastery of flight. Shiv Kapila, the Director of the Naivasha Raptor Center, which is part of The Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, says his excitement with birds is that fundamentally, they can fly. “I find that incredibly exciting, not enough is made about the fact that birds can fly” says Shiv.

Birds also make songs. How can we live in a world where there is no dawn chorus? The dawn chorus occurs when birds sing at the start of a new day. “If we wake up one day and find that all the birds are gone, how would that world be?” Asks Dr. Peter Njoroge, the head of the Ornithology Section at the National Museums of Kenya.

The eggs of various birds they are preserved by the museum of artifacts

Passion

Dr. Njoroge’s passion started early while growing up in Nakuru where he would often come across abandoned little birds. He tried raising them mostly ending in failure because he didn’t know their diet. Birds always fall out of their nests and he would bring them back home and try feeding them ugali (a Kenyan delicacy made from maize flour). He had that curiosity to help them and that’s where his fascination with birds came from. His passion grew to the point that he got admitted to university to study wildlife management.

Birds are featured in many African folklore. “I don’t think there is a tribe in Kenya that doesn’t have a folklore about birds. Our ancestors were fascinated about how birds came about and during our research we found out that the folklore is somehow true” says Dr. Njoroge. “They knew these things, how they did, we don’t know”. He continues.

Dr. Peter Njoroge, Head of Ornithology Section at the National Museums of Kenya

Mary Kimani, the Chairperson of the Lake Naivasha Biodiversity Youth Group is another bird enthusiast. She joined the Kenya Wildlife Services Training Institute where she learnt tour guiding and majored in bird identification. “Birds live within trees and thus conserving the environment and planting trees gives them a home” She says.

IUCN Red List

In Africa, we’re number two (2) in terms of the richness of bird species after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Kenya has over 1,100 species of birds. Globally, we’re number thirteen (13) in terms of bird species richness. Despite this, Kenya has 46 bird species listed as globally threatened in the IUCN Red List. The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.

To be listed in the Red List is basically a sign that the species is headed towards extinction if measures are not put in place to reverse that trajectory.  “However, in the IUCN Red List, it is very hard to downgrade a species” says Dr. Njoroge”. But there was a time he went to Seychelles and there were only 80 birds of the Seychelles Magpie-Robin in the entire world.  He worked on feeding and breeding them and together with other stakeholders, grew the population in 2007 to over 300 birds and the bird was downgraded from “critically endangered” to “endangered”.

The osctrich eggs

Love

For the people that love biodiversity, it is hard to believe that as a human race, we are looking on as the sixth mass extinction of species is happening. “I love nature, I’ve always loved nature. Nature has given us everything, from the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, the water that we drink, the life that we live, everything is nature and right now it’s really suffering”. Says Sumaiya Harunany, Founder of Blue Earth Organization in Mombasa. She is involved in the preservation of mangroves along the coast where we have marine birds.

Taxidermy, the art of preserving living things practiced at the National Museums of Kenya

Threats

There are many threats that birds face and it is our collective responsibility to preserve biodiversity in general. Mary has noticed habitat loss and human activities affecting birds around the lake. “Some of the birds would go extinct in Kenya thereby losing the country tourists who are ornithology enthusiasts” she continues. Some of the birds that she is fond of are the Grey-crested Helmetshrike, the Grey crowned cranes and the Southern Ground Hornbill.

“To mitigate threats, we can create awareness among the young generation” Says Jane Gathoni, a research assistant at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) in Gazi, Diani, Kwale County. “When I grow older, I want to be an ambassador for conservation, telling people not to cut trees or litter because of the effects” she continues.

Bird conservationists feeding a rescued bird at a sanctuary

Finally

Conserving biodiversity is a task that we must all engage in to preserve the planet as a habitable globe.  “We work so hard here, and it’s a small part of the world we work on because of limited resources.” Says Sumaiya. “The journey and our tasks are not easy and have a lot of challenges especially facing the leaders because they focus more on profits and greed.” Concludes Sumaiya.

This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.

XXX END XXX

About the writers

Bernard Muhia is a journalist who has been certified on “Climate Adaptation in Africa” from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is an Internews’ Earth Journalism Network Grantee 2022. He is also a 10 Billion Strong Green Leaders Fellow 2022-23. He is a human and environmental rights defender.

Njoroge Waiganjo is a Projects Assistant Officer under Climate Change and Energy at Green Africa Foundation. He is, under the United Nations Institute on Economic Development and Planning, a Certified Young African Climate Change Negotiator.

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Start the journey of planting and growing trees equivalent to your age as you take decisive steps to replenish different key areas of your life. Launched by the UNESCO world water ambassador, late former president of Kenya H.E. Mwai Kibaki, it is a global call to Climate Action for Individuals and Corporate Organizations to plant and grow trees equivalent to their age.

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#Thanks to Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a great partnership with Green Africa
Foundation. We managed to plant2,000 trees in Limuru Uplands..#trees #plantyourage

When trees are planted, they are in essence ‘born’ and must be nurtured to full maturity.
#Thanks to Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a great partnership with Green Africa
Foundation. We managed to plant2,000 trees in Limuru Uplands..#trees #plantyourage
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We were honoured to receive the @diar_awards overall award for Organisations promoting environmental conservation. #plantyourageonyourbirthday #thinkgreenactgreen

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Recently we planted 30 trees to commemorate Anita Nkirote’s Birthday in Gitombani Village, Tharaka Nithi County. 

A thousand members of Gitombani Agribusiness Association and their families have firmly committed to #PlantYourAge. Out of this single Awareness, Education and Sensitization event at least 35,000 will be planted in one small yet most powerful village of Gitombani in Tharaka Nithi county within the current rain season. 

Hundreds of Millions of trees have since been planted and are growing under this self driven initiative. 

I suggest that we all join in and personalize tree growing #PlantYourAge for common good.  @TreesAfrica Plant Your Age Initiative Green Africa Foundation @isaackalua GTAP

Recently we planted 30 trees to commemorate Anita Nkirote’s Birthday in Gitombani Village, Tharaka Nithi County.

A thousand members of Gitombani Agribusiness Association and their families have firmly committed to #PlantYourAge. Out of this single Awareness, Education and Sensitization event at least 35,000 will be planted in one small yet most powerful village of Gitombani in Tharaka Nithi county within the current rain season.

Hundreds of Millions of trees have since been planted and are growing under this self driven initiative.

I suggest that we all join in and personalize tree growing #PlantYourAge for common good. @TreesAfrica Plant Your Age Initiative Green Africa Foundation @isaackalua GTAP
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― Prof Wangari Maathai
We must reject the talks of greening our country that happens in five star hotels and air conditioned office and move to the do part of it.#thinkgreenactgreen🌱💚🌎

"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking."

― Prof Wangari Maathai
We must reject the talks of greening our country that happens in five star hotels and air conditioned office and move to the do part of it.#thinkgreenactgreen🌱💚🌎
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The Plant Your Age campaign seeks to enhance and unify tree growing across Kenya, Africa and globally. There are numerous tree planting campaigns championed by different players and entities, but they are often time-bound and splintered, which makes it hard to track progress, survival and flourish of planted trees. Plant Your Age doesn’t seek to replace or outshine any of these tree planting ventures. Rather, it seeks to enhance and unify tree growing at individual, corporate and national levels. #savetheplanet

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#plantyourage2022
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#plantyourage2022

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Tomorrow in homabay plant your age initiative will be planting 1881 trees in honour of the just elected leaders in the 2022 Election in the Republic of Kenya in all elective positions Country wide.
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Plant Your Age” is a global call to action for human beings to plant trees equivalent to their respective ages and ensure the specific trees grow to maturity. It is a personalized commitment to conserve our environment to ensure that wanton deforestation doesn’t result in increasing loss of the most important commodity – WATER! This is critical because an abundance of trees is the primary prerequisite for water abundance and WATER IS LIFE!

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