Birds of prey in South Africa are in trouble—a study analyzes data from 16 years of road counts‎

Birds of prey and vultures (raptors) play a vital role in ecosystems, both as top predators and key scavengers. However, compared to many other bird species, raptor populations are declining faster. This is because they need large areas to live in, have low population densities, and reproduce slowly. For these reasons, they are vulnerable to human impacts like farming with pesticides, electrocution, collision with wind turbines, or poaching.