Benfontein Pan (28492449) | |
|---|---|
Free State | |
| CWAC status | REGISTERED-COUNTED REGULARLY |
| Authority | Northern Cape Department of Tourism, Environment and Conservation |
| Management status | PRIVATE LAND |
| Conservation status | PARTLY PROTECTED |
| IBA information | SA033 - BENFONTEIN GAME FARM |
| Ramsar information | |
| Heritage information | 108 - BENFONTEIN |
| View Cards | No |
Information |
|---|
| Date_registered |
| 1996-01-22 |
| Brief_description |
| An open, ephemeral pan, with little vegetation. Counts indicate that it sometimes has much foraging habitat for shorebirds; when inundated it is capable of supporting a large bird population. Four counts are available, from summer 1996 to winter 1997. After summer 1996 the counts produced almost no birds and conditions were obviously very dry. The summer 1996 count produced good numbers of Palearctic waders such as Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint, and smaller numbers of other shorebirds; the commonest waterbirds were Egyptian Goose and Redknobbed Coot. A possible mild threat is a dam wall built through the centre of the pan, possibly to allow water to accumulate in a smaller area; its effect on the pan's ecology is unknown. |
| Spp | Common name | Taxonomic name | Min | Avg | Max | IBA | Subregional IBA | RAMSAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 256 | Calidris pugnax | 12 | 33.50 | 55 | ||||
| 269 | Avocet, Pied | Recurvirostra avosetta | 2 | 17.33 | 44 | |||
| 212 | Coot, Red-knobbed | Fulica cristata | 51 | 61.00 | 71 | |||
| 10014 | Duck, Unidentified | N/A N/A | 10 | 10.00 | 10 | |||
| 100 | Duck, White-faced Whistling | Dendrocygna viduata | 1 | 2.50 | 4 | |||
| 96 | Duck, Yellow-billed | Anas undulata | 2 | 5.00 | 13 | |||
| 59 | Egret, Little | Egretta garzetta | 2 | 2.00 | 2 | |||
| 61 | Egret, Western Cattle | Bubulcus ibis | 2 | 6.00 | 13 | |||
| 86 | Flamingo, Greater | Phoenicopterus roseus | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 89 | Goose, Egyptian | Alopochen aegyptiaca | 2 | 5.80 | 17 | |||
| 88 | Goose, Spur-winged | Plectropterus gambensis | 1 | 4.20 | 12 | |||
| 5 | Grebe, Black-necked | Podiceps nigricollis | 5 | 5.00 | 5 | |||
| 6 | Grebe, Little | Tachybaptus ruficollis | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 263 | Greenshank, Common | Tringa nebularia | 1 | 30.67 | 89 | |||
| 167 | Harrier, African Marsh | Circus ranivorus | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 69 | Heron, Black-crowned Night | Nycticorax nycticorax | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 55 | Heron, Black-headed | Ardea melanocephala | 2 | 2.00 | 2 | |||
| 54 | Heron, Grey | Ardea cinerea | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 57 | Heron, Purple | Ardea purpurea | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 81 | Ibis, African Sacred | Threskiornis aethiopicus | 4 | 4.00 | 4 | |||
| 83 | Ibis, Glossy | Plegadis falcinellus | 9 | 31.00 | 53 | |||
| 397 | Kingfisher, Malachite | Corythornis cristatus | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 245 | Lapwing, Blacksmith | Vanellus armatus | 1 | 9.91 | 27 | |||
| 509 | Martin, Brown-throated | Riparia paludicola | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 210 | Moorhen, Common | Gallinula chloropus | 1 | 1.67 | 2 | |||
| 361 | Owl, Marsh | Asio capensis | 2 | 2.00 | 2 | |||
| 237 | Plover, Kittlitz's | Charadrius pecuarius | 9 | 9.50 | 10 | |||
| 238 | Plover, Three-banded | Charadrius tricollaris | 2 | 10.25 | 35 | |||
| 102 | Pochard, Southern | Netta erythrophthalma | 18 | 18.00 | 18 | |||
| 251 | Sandpiper, Curlew | Calidris ferruginea | 164 | 164.00 | 164 | |||
| 262 | Sandpiper, Marsh | Tringa stagnatilis | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 264 | Sandpiper, Wood | Tringa glareola | 1 | 2.00 | 4 | |||
| 90 | Shelduck, South African | Tadorna cana | 2 | 14.25 | 49 | |||
| 94 | Shoveler, Cape | Spatula smithii | 2 | 13.80 | 39 | |||
| 250 | Snipe, African | Gallinago nigripennis | 1 | 2.33 | 3 | |||
| 85 | Spoonbill, African | Platalea alba | 1 | 1.00 | 1 | |||
| 270 | Stilt, Black-winged | Himantopus himantopus | 7 | 77.25 | 216 | |||
| 253 | Stint, Little | Calidris minuta | 636 | 636.00 | 636 | |||
| 99 | Teal, Blue-billed | Spatula hottentota | 7 | 10.50 | 14 | |||
| 98 | Teal, Cape | Anas capensis | 2 | 8.00 | 18 | |||
| 97 | Teal, Red-billed | Anas erythrorhyncha | 5 | 8.33 | 12 | |||
| 304 | Tern, White-winged | Chlidonias leucopterus | 80 | 80.00 | 80 | |||
| 10008 | Wader, Unidentified | N/A N/A | 3 | 3.00 | 3 | |||
| 686 | Wagtail, Cape | Motacilla capensis | 2 | 11.71 | 36 |
Thursday 18 April 2024 08:40
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology
Department
of Biological Sciences - University of Cape Town
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