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!

Flower power

Another side project that I have been working on is looking at the pollination syndrome of Brunsvigia orientalis. Monica from Offshore Adventures has been running this project, supervised in part by Mark and I have been assisting with a lot of the fieldwork. Besides locating as many populations as possible and counting the number of flowers in each (sometimes ranging up to and over 1000 plants!) we have been bagging flowers and measuring nectar volume and concentration. We have also been doing pollinator observations, and it seems that sunbirds are the primary pollinators. We are hoping to publish the data we have collected, which would be awesome!

Amethyst Sunbird on a Brunsvigia plant.

Bagged flowers.

One of the fields we were working in, and our faithful fieldwork companion.

Full anther contact on a Greater Double-collared Sunbirds head.

Natural and human hazards

While out on the boat with Offshore Adventures collecting seal behavioural data I have seen some interesting things. One being a seal that had miraculously escaped death by shark but bore the marks of the encounter. A half moon bite mark, seeming severe but seals are resilient creatures and will survive this, but the next seal may not be so lucky.

Once bitten twice shy?

The other sighting of note was a seal with what appeared to be netting or twine wrapped around it's neck. The seal didn't seem to be in great discomfort but the noose was a little too tight for my liking. Unfortunately I have not spotted this individual again, and not for lack of trying! I can only hope that it somehow managed to free itself.

Human hazards.

Swimming with seals

One morning Mark and Jesse joined me on a seal swim with Offshore Adventures. Jesse was very taken with the pups, and them with him, perhaps due to his small size. We all had an awesome time and I got another session of data collection done, I am going to miss this once all the data has been collected!

Mark and Jesse.

Jesse and I.

Monica from Offshore Adventures.

Jesse greeting the seals!

They come very close, and are often interested in the dive slate that I use to record data.

Sleek seals

While doing boat observations with Offshore Adventures, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the seals that I am spending so much time watching. They really are such cute creatures!

Offshore Adventures

Although the kelp gull breeding season, and my fieldwork, is finished I have managed to not be confined to my desk for too long! Mark has set me up as a research assistant with Offshore Adventures doing seal behavioural observations. Observations need to be done from land, from the boat, and from the water looking at the seals reactions to swimmers in the water. Robberg is home to a colony of roughly 5000 Cape Fur Seals and I got into the water with them. At this time of year, the pups are testing themselves and learning their limitations, and they are exceptionally friendly! Luckily, the first excursion into the water was for me to familiarise myself with the seals and their behaviour. I was far too taken with these incredible animals to do any data collection! If you have the opportunity to swim with seals, take it! It is a most incredible experience!

Ready to jump in!

White-fronted Plovers

We were made aware of some White-fronted Plover chicks in Nature's Valley and so a trip was made to go and ring them, a new species for Mark to add to his ringing list! There were two pairs and we ringed a total of three chicks. They are very difficult to find, and a mission to catch, but with 4 of us we managed to get them, putting both metal and colour rings on.

What a cutie!

A lightweight.

Get it OFF!

The view.

Colour-ringed and ready for resightings.

Awesome owlet

Mark received a concerned phonecall regarding an 'abandoned' owlet suspected to be sick, and so Mark, again with Shirley and I in tow, headed to a housing estate in Plett. Many people do not realise that owl chicks often roost on the ground during the day and are not accompanied by the parents. This little owlet, a Spotted Eagle-owl, was in fine fettle and big enough to ring. Luckily this bird did not need to be taken to a rehab centre and was released where it was caught, with reassurance to the residents that the parents would find it and continue to look after it.

Don't even think about it! A grumpy little owl.

Gotcha!

NVT to the rescue! 

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.

Notice this notice!

Mark was given some funds by BirdLife South Africa to put up a sign about the breeding birds on Lookout beach. Between the two of us we designed this sign and managed to get two out of the money we were given for this purpose. CapeNature donated the poles for the frame and helped us put the signs up, one on each side of Lookout beach. We are very proud of our efforts, and hopefully the signs made a difference over the breeding season making holiday-makers more aware of the breeding birds.

Assembling the frame on the beach.

Fitting the sign into the holes and straightening it out.

Filling up the holes.

The sign, standing straight and proud!