Co-ordinated waterbird counts: the Kenyan experience

In Kenya annual waterbird counts have been carried out consistently since 1 991. The counts are a collaborative effort between the National Museums of Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenya Wetlands Working Group. Their a im has been to train and equip Kenyan volunteers to monitor the ecological status of wetlands. At the same time, data on waterbird numbers are collect ed in a standard way. Focal wetland sites are the major Rift Valley lakes. Increased volunteer response and experience in counting led to the expansio n of the monitoring from an initial eight sites to 26 sites in 1996. Over 5 00 volunteers have so far been involved and around 100 have regularly taken part. Many counters who cannot participate regularly in the main counts re main in touch and provide information on waterbird numbers in other wetland sites. The high turn-over of volunteers has created difficulties but has a lso generated greater awareness of the counts and the importance of wetland s. One result is increased competition for the opportunity to take part in the training. Enough counters are now trained to expand the coverage of sit es further, but this is constrained by limited resources (including equipme nt, transport and time), difficult logistics and the organisation burden. E nsuring sustained, long-term funding for the counts also remains a problem. Experiences arising from the organisation and co-ordination of the counts over the past six years are reviewed and a future strategy is presented.