Caspian Terns

After returning from Blue Hill Escape, Mark, Selena and I made a quick trip to Keurbooms Peninsula to hopefully ring an especially exciting bird. On a previous trip with Felix searching for entangled gulls, we came across the Caspian Terns fiercely defending.. something. I was hesitant to disturb them anymore than our presence already had but managed to take some photos from afar. Once home and the photos were downloaded and magnified, what appeared to be two fluffy bundles were the objects of the tern's protection. So, more than a week later found us on the peninsula to ring Caspian Tern chicks.

Mark went to the nest to assess the contents. There was no certainty about the status of the nest, if there were in fact chicks or whether the chicks (or chick) was of ringable age. Selena and I got the wave and we headed over eagerly! There were two chicks! Perfect size for ringing!

Mark and I each ringed a chick, and after a quick photo shoot we vacated the area. I feel so privileged to have been able to ring one of these amazing birds! Hopefully these two cuties will fledge and soon join the breeding population of this threatened species!

Kelp Gulls unhappy with the intrusion of a human!

What a cutie!

They do appear to blend in very well with the nest bowl.

Mark and I, very chuffed with the days ringing!

My, what a large mouth you have!

You're so cute when you're angry!

Fly me away

Jason, King of the Sky, once again came to the peninsula to do the last drone count of the season. Here are some of the amazing aerial photos he took. All photos are copyright Jason Van Greunen.

Disheartening days

Alan Lee, a researcher from Percy FitzPatrick Institute working in Baviaanskloof joined the NVT team for a fynbos ringing session in Natures Valley. Keen to show him all the bird associated activities we undertake, I invited him to join me while I did some disturbance work with the African Black Oystercatchers and ringed one of the season’s chicks that was big enough. I was excited to show off the amazing area that I call home, but instead of a beautiful pristine beach the shocking reality of an urbanised coastal ecosystem was revealed. We saw a gull with a plastic bag wrapped around its wing, a juvenile oystercatcher with terrible avian pox (suspected cause) on its legs as well as an adult oystercatcher that appeared to have fishing line wrapped around its wing and/or leg with a length trailing behind. It was a disheartening experience.

Plastic bag wrapped Kelp Gull. Photo by Alan Lee.

Poxy juvenile African Black Oystercatcher. Photo by Alan Lee.

Oystercatcher trailing fishing line. Photo by Alan Lee.

A few days later I decided to go ‘dazzling’. Kellyn Whitehead, a new volunteer at NVT, joined me at Lookout beach one night with the intention of catching the juvenile oystercatcher with pox on its legs; I wanted to take it to the rehab centre at Tenikwa. Armed with headlamps and a spotlight we stalked the beach looking for our bird. Over an hour of traipsing through the colony yielded no oystercatcher and a few failed attempts at catching Crowned Lapwings. Then came a horrific discovery. Kellyn and I came across two dead oystercatchers. A pair. Wrapped together by fishing line. It was most likely the bird that we had seen earlier that week. The trailing fishing line had become entangled with its mate and the two had either starved or drowned, most likely the latter. It was utterly depressing. The death of two individuals of a Near Threatened species due to the negligence of our 'superior' race. This has reinforced my conviction to educate beach-goers, emphasising the care of our beaches to aid in the conservation of all the species that breed in this area.

Fun fieldwork

They always look so cute and photogenic when they're small!

Peninsula

Birds on the Peninsula were mostly safe from human disturbance as no-one would dare risk the wrath of the gulls in the colony, but the oycs on the beach were another story. One pair in particular were very close to the boat beaching area and were repeatedly disturbed. Shirley and I did our best to educate beach-goers to her presence, and some kind individual/s built a 'kraal' around her nest to show others that they were to stay away as she was breeding.

The oyc in her kraal.

Beautiful days.

Evidence of an octopus meal, with a colour ring from a previous project.

Peninsula

We had some interesting happenings on the Peninsula. Firstly an oystercatcher which was steadfast in her incubation, regardless of how close the people got! And a Kelp Gull which had become rather confused! It appears that it brought an oystercatcher egg to its nest.. Very interesting! I will be writing up a short note about this..

Spot the oystercatcher!

The cracked oystercatcher egg that was adopted.

A broody bird.

Come see!

Part of what NVT was hoping to accomplish over the holiday season was public awareness of the breeding birds that share our beaches and how important they are. The signs we put up at Lookout beach was a good start, as well as the various articles in local newspapers. What we also did was run the first of two open days in December targetting holiday makers. I was so worried that we wouldn't have anyone that would come to our advertised open day but we ended up with a good little crowd. Mark gave some introductory remarks and passed over to Shirley who ran through her disturbance work. We also were able to ring two oystercatcher chicks and show them off up close and personal, bringing home what we were talking about. Finally I spoke about everything that I was busy with, although there was not much data to look at just yet.. All in all it was a success and we hoped the second one would go as well!

Mark explaining what NVT is all about.

Shirley running through a disturbance simulation.

One of the chicks we ringed.

Checking out the sign.

Aerial attack!

To get an idea of what is happening up above me while I continue with the research, I strapped a GoPro to my head, and angled it heavenward. These photos need no more explanation.

After a solid poo hit to the GoPro I called it a day.

Research team to the rescue!

After a wonderful and short fieldwork session at Lookout beach, including some distraction with bees, Shirley and I headed back to the car. Along the way we passed a fisherman and a small group of bystanders, and Shirley and I joined to see what the interest was all about. The fisherman had managed to catch a Spotted Gully Shark, and had no idea what to do with it! So Shirley and I decided to rescue the snared shark. It took two attempts for us to pull the shark up into shallow water and stay its thrashing to be able to pull the hook out of its mouth. Despite the small size, it was strong and we struggled but managed to get the hook out and quickly turned it around and pushed it back out into deeper water. We turned to grin victoriously at the little group of onlookers who were impressed with our actions, but were quite concerned with the presence of SHARKS in the estuary. These Spotted Gully Sharks would not take small dogs, or small children, and although we explained this, they were not convinced. Shirley and I left the beach, quite happy with our productive day.

A small willing worker.

Busy bee.

Research team to the rescue!

Come fly with me

When it was time for another monthly drone count Jason came through for me again and brought his drone to the peninsula. The Browns joined me for the outing and Jesse was very interested in the drone, a budding pilot perhaps?! The gulls were still in full breeding mentality, making counts a little more difficult. The count went well, nevertheless, and we returned to the safety of the beach unharmed and free of poo.

Protecting the pilot!

Gulls harassing the 'newcomer'.

Flight of fancy

Jason came to the rescue again and joined the Browns and myself on the peninsula to fly his drone for us. With a GoPro camera attached to the underbelly of the beast he flew transects over the peninsula, photos being taken twice a second by the GoPro. I got home and downloaded just under 500 photos and then had to put together composites of the transects to count the white and black blobs.

Protect the pilot!

The gulls weren't entirely sure about the new boy on the block.

View from above.

I live in a spectacular place!

Count the dots.