Whitewinged Flufftail
Sarothrura ayresi

Whitewinged Flufftail Note the highly characteristic seven, white, inner primaries.

"Apparently restricted to a few high-altitude marshes, with a small population and highly specific habitat requirements. This poorly known species has a highly fragmented distribution and is severely threatened by continued habitat destruction, especially from commercial afforestation, damming, draining and overgrazing, qualifying it as critically Endangered.” The Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, 2000.

This species is an endemic resident to Africa and is only known to occur in high altitude wetlands of South Africa and Ethiopia. (there are isolated records from Zambia and Zimbabwe.) It is speculated that the bird migrates between these two countries, arriving at suitable habitat within South Africa in summer. However, this has not been proved.

We are aware that the WWF has very specific habitat requirements regarding altitude, grass type, water level and temperature but these have not yet been fully established. It is still not even known yet whether WWFs breed in South Africa.

	White-winged Flufftail chick found at Weserbi, by Dr Barry Taylor (near Addis Ababa) in 1996.
	White-winged Flufftail in flight
	Local assistant from Ethiopian Wildlife Natural History Society in typical WWF habitat at Berga
	SUCCESS!! The first nest recorded by science.
	Three WWF eggs - part of a clutch of 6 at a nest in the Berga marsh.