Poo

Today I was poo-ed on. At least some bird aimed at me and loosed it’s bowels. By some fortunate feat of physics, at least for me, the bird missed! But this is what I have to look forward to.. raining poo droplets! This shows the birds are getting serious about intruders, the breeding season marches on! It was a wonderful time out on the peninsula though. I was mightily lazy! I forgot the nest markers at home so just did a nest check, but midway through I decided to just have a sit. So I sat and watched, first the birds and got some wonderful photos, and then the sea. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and watching in the right direction, and saw whales! Well first I saw the whale watching boat and wondered why they weren’t moving, then I saw the whales! There must have been a large school of fish in the area as the whales were putting on quite a performance! I sat and watched for about 15 minutes before I decided I had to get back to work and finish checking all the nests. The nests are still empty, but I am hopeful for eggs soon!

A whale breaching.

I wish I was out on that boat!

The gulls managed to steal an unfortunate Sacred Ibis chick.

They are so close to the colony, vicious predators.

Mom I'm HUNGRY!

Testing out the wings.

You can clearly see the first-hatched of the two chicks here.

Storms River

After speaking about it for a while, Shirley and I decided to go to Storm’s River to do the walk to the suspension bridge. It was an absolutely beautiful day! A pleasant drive with a minor missed-turnoff detour, we arrived at the gates to Tsitsikamma National Park only to queue for a while.. Perhaps the beginning of the school holidays was not the best time to go! But the wait wasn’t too long, and the walk to the suspension bridge was surprisingly empty considering the number of cars around! It was a stunning walk! We saw so many dassies and lizards along the way, I had so much fun taking photos of them! After crossing the suspension bridge we decided to take the additional trail to the lookout point.. What a climb! We just went up and up and up and up, we needed a few rest stops along the way. When we finally got to the bench at the top, wow was it all worth it! To sit up there and rehydrate, sharing a packet of chips for lunch, and survey the land and sea far below us. To know the reality of human frailty against the persistence of land and sea over time, but to marvel at the sanctity of life and be strengthened by vitality and breath!

What a beautiful day!

Fun in the sun!

A pretty ladybug.

I enjoyed the lizards we came across.

Rock Hyrax enjoying the sun.

Rock hyrax in a tree, enjoying a snack!

Copulation!

What a day! Although Shirley and I had recently visited the peninsula, I needed to mark a lot of new nests, and so we made another trip. Upon arriving in our borrowed craft we saw our first gull copulation! Yay! The first of three pairings that I saw! So soon there will be eggs! I marked another 23 nests and that was hardly making a dent, all of a sudden new nests are popping up! Once I had used all my available nest markers I went to help Shirley with the disturbance trials, although I don’t do too much. I really enjoy it, I am helping to the maximum capacity I can, but while I wait for my cue I get to look around and take photos. This is when I managed to get some cool photos of a ladybug, a butterfly, and a copulation event! I am so enjoying being out and doing fieldwork, and I have a horrendous t-shirt tan to show for it!

Copulation in birds - it's a balancing act!

A pretty ladybug.

Enjoying the other organisms on the peninsula.

Very stoked with this photo!

It has only been a few days but the Sacred Ibis chicks are growing fast!

Loggers off!

10 days after putting the GPS loggers on the rehab Kelp Gulls, Shirley, Demi and myself went back to Tenikwa to take them off. Surprisingly, the one I thought would be the more likely of the two to come off was still quite firmly on, whereas the one I thought we had put on very well, was hanging by a few feathers. I carefully took the tape off the feathers and relieved the birds of their packages. The one upset gull showed it’s displeasure by taking advantage of my handling complacency and bit me in a rather sensitive part of my anatomy, I was not impressed! It was a quick visit and once home I downloaded the data, it seems that all is well for the breeding season with regards to the GPS loggers!

The logger was still firmly on the juvenile. 

The grumpy bird that bit me!

Peninsula

A supposedly routine trip to the peninsula turned into a great adventure! We arrived at Poortjies to launch the canoe, only to find the lock had rusted shut, not good. So back home we went to get some Q20 – if it sticks when it’s not supposed to use Q20, if it doesn’t stick when it’s supposed to use duct tape! In this case the damage was too bad and despite drowning the lock with Q20, it refused to budge. So Shirley and I decided to borrow a canoe. There are a number of canoes and various other floatation devices that are left at Poortjies, clearly not often used judging by the sand collection, often to the point where it is half buried! So we chose a suitable craft, cleared out all the sand and water, a huge job in itself, and stole off onto the water hoping that (1) it didn’t have any leaks! And (2) that the rightful owners didn’t decide that they wanted to use the canoe at that particular moment. Thankfully we made it to the peninsula without any leaks and mishaps and began our relative missions. I am not enjoying the peninsula too much at the moment, with the Sacred Ibis breeding I need to be so careful where I walk and I am unable to check on some gull nests because they are too close to the Sacred Ibis breeding aggregations. The gull nests I did check still have no eggs, but I did notice a large number of new, well-developed nests that I will return and mark soon. The one spoonbill that we saw on the last trip was there, with 3 friends, so that will be exciting if they decide to breed there, but also will add another complication to my trips there. Some of the Sacred Ibis eggs have hatched with is so wonderful! Strange squeaking noises were being emitted from the one main aggregation of nests and after some time of looking I saw the fluffy chicks. Unlike the gulls which hatch and within a day are up and running around, Sacred Ibis chicks are quite helpless and unable to do much except lie around after hatching, and days thereafter, even their head movements are limited. It is going to be so delightful to watch as these chicks grow up, and hopefully in time some will wear one of my rings!

A selection of the birds on the peninsula: Kelp Gulls, Sacred Ibis, African Spoonbills and Egyptian Geese.

Spot the fluffy chicks!

Cute little blobs!

Did you find them all?

Find these chicks..

Did you get them?

I cant wait for them to get bigger!

Our trusty borrowed craft!

Waterbird ringing

After the bird walk at Goose Marsh Mark and I decided it should be good fun to do some water-bird ringing there. So Sunday morning Mark, Shirley and myself set out for the first, hopefully of many, ringing sessions at Goose Marsh. We put our gear on a mostly dry patch of ground and sloshed off to find a good spot to put up the nets. As this was a trial run, we put up 3 sets of 2 nets in various spots hoping that we would catch something in our artful and practical arrangement. There was a wind making the nets billow which wasn’t helpful, but when after the first hour we hadn’t caught anything and there were no birds even in the vicinity I went for a walk. Mission: Find birds and chase them closer to our nets! I was so grateful for gumboots! Wonderful invention they are! I stepped off the firm “mainland” and sloshed and slogged and splashed and schlepped around on sea grass, soggy mud and sandbars. We had timed the ringing badly, with the tide going out leaving our nets on drier land while all the birds foraged further out on the newly exposed soggy ground. Unfortunately I do not make a good herder and the birds evaded all my attempts at gently edging them closer to the nets. Eventually I gave up and made my way back to firm ground where I didn’t need to worry about sinking into a mud pit and overbalancing to land in the muddy soup, or getting a gumboot full of it! Mark suggested we move 2 of the nets further out to where the birds were foraging, quickly and easily done, mostly. And then we resumed the wait. After 3 hours of waiting since we had put up the nets we decided to call it quits; we took the nets down. A rather disappointing day bird wise but we have refined our game plan and hopefully will catch something next time!

Our nets left somewhat high and dry as the tide receded.

The birds foraging in the soggy ground.

Robberg

Shirley and I made a trip to Robberg for a check-up, and not much has changed there. No new nests, and no eggs. Shirley did manage to do her first round of disturbance trials with the Robberg gulls which was productive!

Sanderling.

Disturbance work.

Southern Rock Agama (Agama atra).

Wilderness ringing

It was recently South African National Parks (SANParks) week, and there was an expo at Wilderness Ebb-and-Flow Rest Camp where various organisations affiliated with SANParks had an information stand, including Nature’s Valley Trust (NVT). On top of this, Mark was asked to do a ringing demonstration and that’s where Shirley and I come in. When we arrived I was slightly concerned as to where we were going to put the nets, but we managed to find a spot beside some reeds to put up 4 nets, and a 5^th on a little pond island near a few weaver nests. I was dubious as to how many birds we would catch as it was already 2 in the afternoon and a school group was expected at 3. The first 15 minutes those nets were up we caught quite a few Cape Weavers, and a Malachite Kingfisher which was a treat! After that we had a steady flow of weavers until we started packing up to go home. Unfortunately the school groups were in general not very interested in the ringing which is a shame, but we had a variety of people from the organisations present very interested. The Malachite Kingfisher was especially popular!

Matome, Mula and Babalwa at the NVT stand. Photo by Mark Brown.

Members from the Lakes birdclub watching as I ring the Malachite Kingfisher. Photo by Mark Brown.

The kingfisher pales in comparison to my bright colours! Photo by Mark Brown.

A group of school kids watching a ringing demonstration.

It really is a beautiful place!

Lookout

A check-up at Lookout revealed the same situation as a week ago: many gulls, few nests and no eggs. I wandered around looking for new nests and checking on the marked nests while Shirley got busy with the disturbance stuff, our usual routine. Things have somewhat settled into routine and normalcy which I am glad for, I am feeling more in control of everything! Once I had finished my checks I joined Shirley and helped with the disturbance work, all the while keeping an eye on nest 1. There is a pair of gulls that seem to occupy that area, hopefully the same pair each time! One of the two is always sitting on the nest it seems, exciting times!

Cape Canary.

Busy with a disturbance trial.

Entertaining efforts

Doug Harebottle from the ADU has been in Plett for the weekend and staying with Mark. He has been here to do the talk on My Bird Patch and led the bird walk on Sunday. He was also very interested in seeing the gull colony, and perhaps even more interested in the Sacred Ibis breeding there at the moment. So Monday afternoon Mark, Doug, Shirley and myself headed for the peninsula, the plan being I would take the paddle-ski across and the other 3 would take the Green Machine. We arrived at low tide and decided that instead of taking the long paddle trip around, we would walk carrying paddle-ski, canoe and gear to the channel, cutting the paddle trip in half. Here we had the first spanner in our plans, the Green Machine, despite her awesomeness, cannot hold three adults. I was on the paddle-ski floating around and watching the antics of the other 3 trying to get into the canoe and not capsize! Momentarily amusing but wholly frustrating. We ended up ferrying Doug and Mark to the nearest exposed sandbank to walk to the start of the colony while Shirley took the canoe and I the paddle-ski and paddled the long way around to beach safely above the high tide mark. By the time we reached the colony we were already tired and ready to head home; I am hoping the muscle conditioning will come quickly! Regardless, Shirley went off to do her disturbance work and Mark, Doug and myself headed into the colony. While I went about checking nests, Doug and Mark spent some time counting Sacred Ibis nests and eggs. Still no gull eggs though, and many nests were no longer active. An exciting development was the first sighting of an African Spoonbill on the colony! I really hope they decide to breed on the colony! Another first was a fresh dead adult gull, which Shirley and I dissected. Empty stomach and empty crop, no plastics or other anthropogenic items, and there are suspicions of botulism poisoning. The deceased was buried in a shallow grave on the dunes, hopefully no scavenger will dig it up. That ended our time on the peninsula and we packed up for the paddle back. By this time the water level had risen and the sand bank that Mark and Doug had walked along was no longer; Mark kindly and bravely volunteered to wade/swim back while we paddled back. The trip back was truly horrid, we were paddling back on the incoming tide and facing a brisk wind in combination making it feel like I was paddling so hard and going nowhere for my efforts except for getting a face full of splash back. I also kept a cautionary eye on Mark, the rip tide in the area is notorious but on an incoming tide is manageable and in the right direction. He even made it back to the launch site before we did! After a while I gave up and walked the paddle-ski back, I could walk faster than I could paddle. We all got to the car, varying degrees of soaked and every degree of exhausted! All in all an interesting afternoon!

Me in all my field-kit glory.. quiver of nest markers on my back!  Photo by Mark Brown.

A gull checking out our awesome weather station. Photo by Mark Brown.

The lone spoonbill investigating the area. Photo by Mark Brown.

Mark and Doug looking at the breeding Sacred Ibis.

The stare-down! Photo by Mark Brown.

Then one of the pair quickly moves in and steals an egg.. And fumbles the pass! Photos by Mark Brown.

Juvenile birds still moulting into full adult plumage for their first breeding season.

Shirley and I dissecting a dead gull to look at stomach contents. Photo by Mark Brown.

A wonderful walk

After a talk on how to use My Bird Patch, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to make, there was a field trip to put it all into practice, which I joined. We went to Goose Marsh, which as the name suggests, is rather wet! As we sloshed through the soggy ground we saw a wonderful range of birds, totalling 42 species for the 2 and a half hour walk. For me the highlight was definitely the Cape Longclaw, a new species for me and oh so pretty! As we walked along, Mark and I started scheming about doing some waterbird ringing.. watch this space!

Entering Goose Marsh.

Enjoying the flowers.

I love the colours here.

Levaillant's Cisticola.

Kittlitz's Plovers.

Cape Longclaw.

Sacred Ibis.

After a wonderful walk we went to look at a heronry extending over two neighbouring pine trees. At first glance, you wouldn’t really notice the birds and the nests, but once you take a good long look, along with the aid of a pair of binoculars, you’ll be amazed! It really excited me to see this, a mix of Grey and Black-headed Herons breeding together in these two big pines, invisible despite their size until you look hard or see one arriving or leaving. What a way to end the morning! Shirley and I got home starving but happy, and made crumpets for lunch!

Grey Heron.

Collecting nesting material.

Spot the birds!

And now look at this..

How many did you get?!