This slideshare shows progress with the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project from the beginning of 2014 until 7 May.

1. SABAP2 – Progress in
2014 to Voting Day,
7 May
Les Underhill & Michael Brooks

2. SABAP2 is a partnership
between the Animal
Demography Unit at the
University of Cape Town, the
South African National
Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)
and BirdLife South Africa

3. Data volumes are up on last year
• We are 127 days into 2014
• We have maintained an
average of 51.4 checklists
per day so far this year
(last year we averaged
47.4)
• SABAP2014 has 438
observers (370 this time
last year for SABAP2013)
• 2608 pentads visited so
far this year (2327 last
year)
Antony Paton: BirdPix 7798

4. Province/
country
Coverage
7 May 2014
Pentads
visited
Pentads to
visit
Coverage end
of 2013
Gauteng 100% 270 270 100%
KwaZulu-
Natal
99.1% 1283 1294 99.1%
Mapumalanga 98.1% 996 1015 97.8%
Free State 89.3% 1661 1861 88.6%
Western Cape 85.9% 1243 1578 85.4%
Limpopo 83.4% 1348 1616 77.0%
North West 76.3% 1131 1482 76.2%
Swaziland 72.2% 148 205 72.2%
Eastern Cape 62.4% 1408 2256 60.4%
Northern
Cape
35.6% 1812 5087 34.5%
Lesotho 26.0% 108 416 24.0%
Total 66.8% 11408 17080 66.0%
Overall coverage in the original SABAP2 region

5. Coverage in original SABAP2 region
• True coverage in the South Africa, Lesotho
and Swaziland is 66.8%, a shade over two-
thirds
• Magnificent progress in Limpopo from 77.0%
to 83.4%; well done especially to BirdLife
Polokwane
• Seven of the 11 regions are over 75%
coverage
• Northern Cape (35.6% coverage, 3275
pentads to be visited) is top priority
• Eastern Cape (62.4% coverage, 848 pentads
remain) is next priority
• Lesotho (26.0%, 308 pentads remain) needs a
champion
• 11 pentads remain in KwaZulu-Natal and 19
in Mpumalanga – these are tough challengesDavid Kennedy BirdPix 7785

6. Priorities for
2014, as set
at start of
the year
Gaps 1, 2 and 3,
and the southern
part of Gap 12
have largely been
filled

7. R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
Green
O2
O3
O1
Revised
priorities for
2014, set one-
third of the way
through the year

8. R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
Green
O2
O3
O1
Seven RED priorities: R1 Western end of North West; R2 Askham
to Union’s End; R3 is the N14 axis from about Kuruman to the
coast; R4 southern part of the Northern Cape, R5 Greater Prieska
district; R6 is the interior of the Eastern Cape, including the
former Transkei; R7 Lesotho
Robert Tibbit-Eggleton BirdPix 7753

9. Three ORANGE priorities – with “mopping up operations” needed:
northern Limpopo, central Free State and western Swaziland.
And one big GREEN priority. Please aim to deepen coverage across
the northern provinces. Let us GREEN the coverage map! Please
aim for a minimum of four checklists per pentad!
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
Green
O2
O3
O1
David Kennedy BirdPix 7739

10. The importance of SABAP2
• Without up-to-date distribution
maps, and a knowledge of how
distributions are changing,
conservation is hit-and-miss
• SABAP2 (together with
SABAP1) is making the critical
difference for setting the
priorities for bird conservation
in the second decade of the
21st century
• SABAP2 is therefore the most
important bird conservation
activity on the go in the region
• Every birder can help to make a
difference
Johan Heyns BirdPix 7610

11. Everyone needs to contribute
their piece of data to the big
jigsaw puzzle of biodiversity
we are building together. If
you don’t contribute your piece,
the picture remains incomplete.
Please become a citizen
scientist, and do your bit

12. In a nutshell, the diagram shows how the
Animal Demography Unit works. The vast
amounts of "Data" that our citizen
scientists collect has little "Influence"
unless it is used. If data simply sits in a
database, it is essentially worthless. The
ADU sees its task as pushing the data up
the hill of influence. This is pushing
against gravity; it is hard work. First of
all, we to turn the massive volumes of
"Data" into "Information," in other words
maps and tables and other summaries.
And then the "Information" needs to explained as "Narrative." By this we mean especially
books, papers, brochures, presentations at conferences, articles in the media, talks on
radio, and a lot of other activities. And we have real "Influence" when the "Narrative" gets
included in "Policy." The four published atlases, for birds, frogs, butterflies and now
reptiles, have been excellent examples of this. The recommendations that have flowed out
of these products have influenced government policy and changed conservation
management. We are working hard at having "Influence" in the realm of "Education."
So, when you are invited to contribute your data into a database, you need to ask the
questions: "What happens to the data? Does it just sit in an ever growing database? Do
these people have the skills and technology to push your data up the hill of influence?" The
ADU has been doing this for more than two decades, and has a proven track record.