World Heritage status for South Sudan parks will be a boon for the birds

Boma and Badingilo national parks in South Sudan, managed with African Parks alongside the government, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in July, recognizing a savanna and wetland system roughly the size of North Korea that hosts millions of migrating antelope and clouds of storks so dense conservation staff compare them to swarms of flies.

Researchers say the seasonal arrival of African openbills and Abdim's storks tracks the rains and the insects and mollusks they bring, but nobody has pinned down exactly where these birds originate or migrate from year to year. Tracking work on woodland kingfishers has shown individual birds making repeat 4,000-kilometer round trips between South Africa and the region, and shoebills, a vulnerable species, appear to be thriving in nearby swamps in numbers researchers call healthy.

Scientists interviewed hope the heritage listing raises the landscape's profile enough to attract conservation investment, though the story notes this is still mostly an aspiration resting on birdwatching and hope rather than funded protection plans.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.