Week 1 - Vulturine Guineafowl Project

Instead of working on one project the whole time I'm here at Mpala, I am on a scientific "exposure tour", where I will be working with as many different researchers and projects as possible to gain experience in multiple different fields.

For my first week, I've been working on the Vulturine Guineafowl Project. This wildlife ecology project focuses specifically on the behavior, breeding, dispersal, and other ecological characteristics of the vulturine guineafowl (pictured below in Image 1). To gain some background in the basis of the project, I started my week by reading the master's and PhD theses of two scientists that have worked with the vulturine guineafowl at Mpala. One of those authors, Brendah, currently manages the project here, and has been a fantastic resource for me through this first week. 

Through reading both of the theses and learning from the researchers here on the project, I've learned that vulturine gunieafowl are unique in many ways, but some of the highlights are as follows:

• Vulturine guineafowl live in stable groups that interact preferentially with other specific groups
• They are the only known avian species to live in a multilevel/hierarchical society
• While males typically stay in the same group for life, females leave their original group and find another group to join and breed
• They breed during the wet season (I am here during the intermediate season, but even so, there has not been sufficient enough rains in Kenya for nearly 2 years to support breeding). 
• They exhibit cooperative breeding, in which males from the group will help mothers raise their young. The males are usually not father of the young and help the more dominant females more than subordinate ones.
• Cooperative breeding comes with large cost to the caregivers (losing up to 90% of foraging time) 

Image 1: Vulturine guineafowl at the "Airstrip" observation site

My main role on the project this week was getting out in the field and helping collect data in three major categories: movement, food abundance, and survey.

To collect movement data, some of the guineafowl are equipped with GPS "backpacks". These backpacks are solar powered, and charge during the day to keep recording data until the groups roost at night. In each group, about 1 out of every 10 guineafowl has been equipped with a GPS. In order to record the GPS movement data, another researcher (Wismer) and I went out at night from about 9:30 to 11 to download the GPS data from the roosting sites. Before heading out, we attach a large antenna to the back of the car (Image 2) and hook that antenna up to the GPS downloader (Image 3). We then drive by the sites where each group typically roosts, and once the GPS picks up the signal from the tag, we wait for the data to download. If there are any tags that are too far away for the antenna to pick them up from the road, there is a mobile antenna that we take up to "Lookout Rock" and point in every direction to pick up the signals from any remaining tags (Image 4). We can then bring this data back to the lab, upload it into Google Earth, and see a satellite representation of the exact path of each group throughout the day. This data is useful for studying range and dispersal as a response to climate change. As it gets hotter and food sources become increasingly scarce, the team has observed that the guineafowl have to expand their ranges in order to find adequate resources. 

Image 1: Wismer attaching the antenna to the back of the car

Image 4: GPS tool used to download data from each of the tags

Image 5: Picking up signals from Lookout Rock

To collect survey data, I went out with Brendah (the project coordinator) and Charolette (a post-doc working on the project) on multiple occasions to conduct evening surveys. As seen in Image 1, most of the guineafowl have four colored bands wrapped around their legs. Each combination of bands is unique to an individual. The groups of guineafowl are stable (as described above) and their roosting sites/range of movement are well documented. We were able to use this information go to different sites around the property and observe the groups, recording each individual present by the four band positions and colors (Image 6). Each guineafowl has a unique four-digit code associated with the colors banded to its legs. For example, if we observe a bird that has a green band above a yellow band on its right leg, and a red band above a blue band on its left leg, its unique ID would be GYRB. Besides providing helpful census data, this data collection can also help keep track of predation events and events when females move to different groups. If a male is not present in a group, it is likely that a predation event occurred, since males rarely leave their stable groups. If a female has left however, we can look for her in other groups to see if she has moved. 

Image 6: Recording sheet for census data

To collect food abundance data, I went out each morning at 6:30 am with Kenyan scientist, Kennedy, who is doing his master's thesis on the guineafowl. Kennedy had set up "pitfall traps" in different sites across the research center (traps pictured below in Image 7). The guineafowl primarily eat small insects on the ground, so each pitfall is designed for some of the insects present to fall in the traps as they move along the ground. There are pitfall traps at three different sites, with three kinds of habitat represented (grassland, bush, and heavy bush), and five traps at each individual habitat site (I'll do the math for you - that's 45 total traps).  Each morning, we would go out to collect the specimens from the traps and then bring them back to the lab to identify which food sources were available in each kind of habitat, and their abundance (Image 8). Each morning the traps brought about some kind of new surprise, but at the top of the leaderboard was definitely the scorpion that we found on the morning of May 31st (Image 9). Additionally, Kennedy sets out tarps at known roosting sites in order to collect samples of the bird's feces. He takes these samples and analyzes them using DNA metabarcoding to accurately identify what the guineafowl are eating. 

Another part of Kennedy's master's thesis involves guineafowl behavior when foraging, so I also helped him go out into the field and film the guineafowls as they foraged in different habitats, such as open grassland and heavy bush. In the afternoons, Kennedy and I went out and filmed individual guineafowls using the cameras seen in Image 10. After filming about 10 different individuals for one minute each, we would move on to a new habitat/group and do it again. This film is then reviewed, and Kennedy looks for factors such as time spent foraging and time spent in an "alert" position. These behaviors will then eventually be correlated with the food abundance data, linking them through each shared habitat. 

Image 7: Kennedy lifting one of the pitfall traps from the ground

Image 8: Kennedy and I going through the contents of each pitfall trap in the lab

Image 9: A scorpion that we found in one of the pitfall traps
Initial identification: Odunturus dentatus, also known as the "Kenyan deathstalker" - waiting on ID confirmation

Image 10a: Kennedy and I filming vulturine guineafowl behavior at the airstrip

Image 10b: Filming a group of vulturine guineafowl at the airstrip

Overall, I've had an incredible time working with the vulturine guineafowl team. They have all been incredibly welcoming and really helped me integrate seamlessly into the community here at Mpala. From working with them every day in the field and lab, to eating meals and exploring the grounds with them, I feel very lucky to have started my journey as a part of this team (pictured in Image 11). 

Image 11: The Vulturine Guineafowl Project team (plus Pat) at "Eagle's Spot" lookout:
From left to right: Kennedy, Monica, Mina, Tullio, Charlotte, Pat, Me

Tomorrow, I'll start working on the ForestGEO plot at Mpala. I'll provide more details on that project as the week goes on (mixed in with some of my favorite photographs).

About a week into this adventure, I continue to love every minute of it. 

Thank you all for following along! 

- Charlie