Birding

If the Great White Pelican feeding frenzy at Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya was not enough for me to witness the pelicans performed yet again! This time I was blown away by thousands of these large birds flying in every morning and evening to bathe.

Having 5000 Great White Pelicans, fly en-masse just over your head and land in the water a few meters away to begin a feeding frenzy is indeed a humbling and awe inspiring moment.

The noise that is created from all the wing flapping is deafening and sounds a jet flying low over your head, whilst the visual cues send your senses into explosive overload.

The Cape Gannet Morus capensis is a conspicuous resident of the southern African coast, and it is hard to believe that it is regarded as a ‘Vulnerable’ species. They often gather to feed around trawlers, and follow the annual sardine run up the east coast to KwaZulu- Natal in winter. At such times large numbers of birds can be observed flying beyond the breakers, plunging into the sea with closed wings and leaving a plume of spray as they disappear beneath the surface. The total population is estimated at 20 000 pairs that breed in dense colonies at six islands off the cape and Namibian coasts. In winter some birds migrate up the west coast to the gulf of Guinea

In the dim pre-dawn light the dull white shadows taking off from the island in the middle of the vlei were barely discernible. It was the sound of the squawking and whooshing of heavy wing beats that had first drawn my attention to the spectacle unfolding before my eyes.

The 27 600 hectare West Coast National Park is one of South Africa’s Important Bird Areas and the Langebaan Lagoon, which forms the centre of this ecologically diverse area, proudly and rightfully holds Ramsar status, which is only allocated to sites of international importance. The park is a hotspot for endemism and is probably best known for its vast fields of spring flowers and for the huge numbers of Palearctic waders that it attracts during the northern hemispheres winter.

Birding is one of the fastest growing sectors of the international tourism market and here in South Africa we are particularly well blessed with both a diversity of special places and a variety of bird species, many of which are endemic.

As the first faint rays of light, over a distant horizon heralded the dawn of a new day, the rush hour began with a cacophony of sound and frenetic activity. The night shift of  penetrating calls of Fierynecked Nightjars and their “Good Lord Deliver us” praises and the screeches of the resident Barn Owls gave way to Bokmakerrie and Cape Robin-Chat as they heralded their territories from the tops of bushes and trees.