CWAC: Coordinated Waterbird Counts

Hi Everyone

Thank you to the teams who participated in the CWAC this past Saturday (07 February 2009); your assistance, as always, is greatly appreciated. Thanks too to the various parties for organising the necessary access permissions to the various counting areas.

The Bot River Lagoon was breached in August 2008 and within a month there was a marked reduction in the water bird activity on the lagoon and the November 2008 count showed an even further reduction in the number of birds on the lagoon. The summer rains in November/December raised the level of the water ever so slightly but this has quickly subsided again albeit that the sandbank linking the lagoon to the sea is fully closed.

There were no Red-knobbed Coot, Dabchick or Great Crested Grebe on the lagoon from the Bot River Bridge, all the way through to Meerensee. These species, especially the Coot, are usually plentiful and their numbers can reach into the thousands. Not sure about the Rooisand area at this stage but from what we could observe from our side of the Lagoon there wasn't much activity out that way either. There was an unusually eerie quite around the lagoon, even the bush birds and LBJ's where very quiet; maybe the heat from the previous few days had an effect on the usual activity in the region.

The Fisherhaven to Meerensee team reported large numbers of Terns, mostly Common Terns, on the sandbanks at Meerensee but very low numbers in other species. The Fisherhaven to Benguela Cover team reported that Afdaks River (which flows into the lagoon from the Fisherhaven side) was bone dry and there was absolutely no birdlife in this section of their count. The Bot River Bridge to Benguela Cove Team had large numbers of Yellow-billed Duck (they at least seem to have survived the disturbance to their breeding ground), as well as unusually large number of Sacred Ibis (close to 150 plus) which appeared to be coming in from the direction of the municipal dump/land fill at Karwyderskraal. There was also a large flock of Kelp Gulls (close to 300) resting on a sandbank in the shallows; both these flocks were opposite the Arabella Hotel. Although there were fair numbers of Reed and White-breasted Cormorants, they too didn't reflect their usual numbers. The waders, sad to say, were almost none-existent.

The lagoon definitely has not recovered from the breaching exercise last year (7 months ago now), and one can only hope that we have good winter rains again this year to raise water levels sufficiently. This should stimulate the growth of the natural feeding grounds for the water birds, so as to attract them back to this IBA site.

Leaving the Bot River Lagoon rather disappointed in the numbers for the count was soon exchanged for some excitement. Kevin Drummond-Hay and Margaret McCall called to say they'd taken a detour on the way home and were on the Karwyderskraal Road and had just witnessed a Brown Snake-eagle devouring a Cape Cobra. They apparently watched while it ate its lunch (about half of the snake) before flying off without taking the rest of the snake with it. An awesome sighting and definitely not a regularly reported sighting for the area! Kevin said he managed to get a few pictures of the bird despite being a bit far away.

Melissa Demaio and I decided that we'd take a chance and see if we could also catch a glimpse of the Snake-eagle but it wasn't to be. However, we had our own bit of excitement; also on the Karwyderskraal Road. We spotted a Secretary Bird strutting along in the veld and it was being mobbed by 3 Cape Grysbok. Each time the bird would take a few steps and then one of the buck would charge at him with his head down. The Secretary bird would politely flap its wings and fly off a short distance, just out of danger. At one point the bird was charged by two of the Grysbok at which it flew off about 50 metres; continuing to scan the veld for some food, totally unperturbed by the buck. One would have thought that with his talons he would strike out at the buck, but that never happened.

The Karwyderskraal Road often produces some interesting sightings so next time you're in the area, take a detour on your way into Hermanus or on your way back to Cape Town.

Cheers,

Lesley Teare, Tygerberg Bird Club

Bot river Lagoon season 2009