Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2

Congratulations on all the milestones achieved! April and May have been productive months. Thank you for your dedication to atlassing and we look forward to more milestones soon 👏👏👏

Congratulations on your recent milestones! Thank you for atlassing and all your valuable records. We appreciate you 👏👏👏

The year by numbers 2025
Can you believe that over 500 milestones were achieved by atlassers in 2025?! Take a look at the other wonderful achievements in the infographic 👏👏

👏👏 The year by numbers 2025 👏👏
Here's how all your atlassing efforts in 2025 increased the number of records and atlassing in certain countries of the Southern African subregion. Well done, everyone!

👏👏👏 2025 👏👏👏
Thanks to your dedication and atlassing efforts, 2025 was a productive year for SABAP2. Here's the first of a series of summaries of the project's achievements and products based on the SABAP2 data.

Join Dave Ehlers Smith and the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority on an atlas bash in Lesotho targeting no- to low-coverage pentads! A 4x4 with high clearance is essential. A lot of the regions are very remote and mountainous, and often without cell signal, so participants must be self-sufficient and comfortable surveying in wilderness conditions. Please contact Dave Ehlers Smith at [email protected] for more info or to confirm your attendance.

👀 Digging deeper into the stats for 2025 (on 12/01/2026) 👀

The graphic below illustrates the percentage increases and decreases for the SABAP2 region countries between 2025 and 2024. Mozambique had the largest percentage increase in the number of cards and pentads covered, followed by Lesotho and then Botswana.
Additionally, the graphic clearly shows that it's essential to increase the number of local and visiting observers in six countries within the SABAP2 region, and that we need to continue developing the positive trend in observers in South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho.
Equally important, a great number of Adhoc Protocol cards were submitted. Some of these records are significant, especially when it comes to Threatened species and tracking species' range expansions or movements in the face of climate change.
A big thank you to all our atlassers for your immense efforts! 🙌

🙏 An expression of gratitude to all our atlassers 🙏
Thanks to you the number of Full Protocol cards and records submitted in 2025 has surpassed that of 2024 by 753 cards and 23 946 records! The submissions have increased even further since 2024 records topped those of 2023! Here are the stats for the SABAP2 region 👏👏🔥

A wonderful, sobering book. Do get a copy, learn about these species, observe them and send in your records!

Alan Lee: 'Its been a huge honor and privilege to work with so many conservationists and conservation organisations as part of the Red Listing project, culminating in the Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa Lesotho and Eswatini online. Part of that was to tell the fate of our threatened birds in an accessible format, through the experiences of the huge breadth of people that make conservation happen. For me, in a world where nature is taking hits from so many sides, all of you doing something pulled me through some dark times - Thank You. We provided some words and photos, and the amazing publishing team produced the beautiful book that is Birds on the Brink - such a team effort. All proceeds go to supporting conservation work at BirdLife South Africa, so if you don't have a copy yet, what you waiting for: https://www.birdlife.org.za/botb/'