A Landmark Discovery at Palm Lakes Family Estate
Article written by Richard & Candice McKibbin of The Lionheart Experience (shortened)
For years, The LionHeart Experience, along with the environmental team, has been actively studying and protecting the biodiversity of Palm Lakes Family Estate. This special area continues to yield incredible discoveries and to support species of conservation concern. Over the weekend, we experienced one of our most significant finds yet: the endangered Spotted Ground Thrush (Geokichla guttata ), a bird we’ve been searching for in the forests of the estate for the past four years.
We always believed it could be here, and on Sunday, during our winter bird ringing event, we finally confirmed its presence. The Spotted Ground Thrush is currently listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and by BirdLife South Africa. Estimates suggest that only 600 to 1,500 individuals remain in South Africa—a sobering figure that makes this discovery all the more important.
We have just launched a formal research study on the Spotted Ground Thrush in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)—the first of its kind. This groundbreaking project aims to generate new data on the species’ population status and distribution. With the recent discovery at Palm Lakes, the estate will now be officially included as a monitoring site within the study. The individual caught during our ringing event was fitted with a unique colour ring combination (‘green on pink’) to aid in future identification. We hope to monitor its movements and, ideally, confirm the presence of additional individuals within the estate.
