COORDINATED AVIFAUNAL ROAD COUNTS (CAR)

Winter 2005 count

I have been overwhelmed at the speed with which roadcount forms have flooded into the ADU since the winter count, and have been moved by the generosity of CAR participants in donating money to the project. This has been incredibly helpful while we try to source funding from the corporate and academic world. Since July participants have contributed R9 000 and other organisations have contributed R4 000. These organisations include BirdLife Border, Graaff-Reinet Bird Club, Sani Wildlife branch of WESSA, Somerset West Bird Club, St Francis Bay Bird Club, West Coast Bird Club and the William Quinton Karoo Wild Bird Society. What is striking is that it is all the smaller bird clubs! Thank you so much for all your help in this way and by counting so faithfully. I realise that many of you are retired and not in a position to give in addition to your enormous contribution of petrol, skills and time.

I am always so thankful when a winter count day dawns clear and still and the forecast has been favourable throughout the country. But life is always filled with surprises and two hours later Linda Tsipa (who does all the CAR data capture and ADU finances), Meyrick Barker (a UCT student), Fiona Hellmann (member of Tygerberg Bird Club) and I were stuck waiting at the start of our route in dense mist! It was impossible to count, worse than rain! After waiting for an hour with no change, Fiona with her local knowledge felt it wouldn't lift until 12! So we decided to head for the end of our route, which was on higher ground and count the route 'backwards' - it was amazing to be in brilliant sunshine again!

Mist reducing visibility at start of SW01. Photo by: Meyrick Barker

The same view later in the day after the mist lifted! Photo by: Meyrick Barker

Apart from mist on some routes in the Swartland, the winter count took place without any hitches. I have drawn attention to some highlights below and included photographs which have been sent in. One noticeable difference from other winter counts has been the number of White Storks present on some routes.

In the Overberg one route had the incredible total of 1338 Blue Cranes! This was Keith & Michelle Moodie's route, OV08, between the N2 and Witsands. They reported that some farmers have mentioned that there have been many large flocks this winter, probably due to the good rains this season leading to 'excellent crops and pasture'. A number of people remarked on the extent of cultivation as well. The route with the next highest total of Blue Cranes was OV13 counted by a committed team from Somerset West Bird Club. Sheila and Peter Siebert and Madelaine Loubser have often had muddy roads to contend with and recently unexpected gates on OV11 (see photo). Sheila wrote the following: 'Barbed wire concertina gate, which was slung across a muddy cow dung slushy track! Three urbanites struggled to exert enough force and maintain a firm foothold to close the gate!!!"

Left-right: Madelaine Loubser and Sheila Siebert in 'mud and concertina gate struggle' on OV11. Photo by: Peter Siebert

Heather Busby reported an interesting observation by a farmer whom they met on their count. "After handing the farmer at Prinskraal the CAR leaflet he informed us of a regular flock of Blue Cranes feeding on the undigested grain in his cow dung." In 11 years of CAR participation Heather's team had never seen so much water lying in sheets in the area, nor such an abundance of water birds. On OV16 Pierre van den Berg saw 108 White Storks and 11 Black Korhaan. They also saw new born calf that must have been born about 5 min earlier, being licked clean and struggling for about 30 min to get on its feet.

In the Swartland, SW01, the route we were counting had the highest total(381) for Blue Cranes ever on a Swartland route. We were also thrilled to see a Bat-eared fox near the end of our count. Sean and Louise Tucker remarked on the proliferation of vineyards which seems to have changed the bird life particularly on the first half of their route, SW02. There was also an unusual report of fifteen White Storks in a field on the right on the R399 from Velddrif to Vredenburg on 4 August.

In the Uniondale precinct Jonas Witbooi saw 7 White Storks on WU04. Mike and Gill Euston-Brown & Barry du Plessis saw 1 Black harrier on WU05, the first Mike has seen in the past 7 yrs. When I mentioned this to Odette Curtis, who has been working on Black Harriers, said she that they had reports of these harriers in drier areas which had received good rains. In the Calitzdorp area a new route, WC02, was started by Elton le Roux of Gamkaberg Nature Reserve.

Spring in the Swartland on SW01. Photo by: Meyrick Barker

Wonder of spring on SW01. Photo by: Meyrick Barker

In KwaZulu-Natal White Storks were recorded on a few routes and so far it looks as if the Swainson's Francolin numbers were up. Johan & Christine de Villiers remarked on increasing human settlement along KN01, particularly near Zaaihoek dam, leading to a decrease in birds, particularly the larger birds like korhaans and bustards.

St Gregory Primary School learners assisting on KE01, near Escourt. Photo by: Rose Laatz

Gavin & Sandi Calverley saw 3 Ground Hornbills on KO01. Dr Alan Kemp and Kevin McCann will be running a series of workshops and field trips in this Melmoth area, as well as other areas in the province where Ground Hornbills occur. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops to increase your understanding of Ground Hornbill biology and identification of the age and sex of individuals, please contact Kevin on 0834470657 or kevinm@ewt.org.za . Malcolm Gemmell recorded that 3 Ground Hornbills were seen feeding by a farmer on a carcass on a farm in the Creighton area. I also received a report of 15 Ground Hornbills seen on the Drakensberg Choir School grounds at dusk, not ideal conditions for counting. Alan and Kevin hope to follow this report up. Frik Lemmer, of KZN Wildlife, has started a new route, KP02, in the savannah biome in the Pongola area, but no Ground Hornbills were seen.

Left-right: Kathy Leitch, Gavin Calverley, Don Leitch and Sally Carlitz at their usual breakfast stop on KO01. "Seats on roof-rack were new! Not such a good idea through the thornveld" Photo by: Sandi Calverley

Wattled Cranes were seen on two routes in each of the Swartberg, Midlands and Underberg precincts. It was encouraging that Jimmy and Lorraine Scott reported seeing two pairs near nest sites. The first site is old one, now back in use by a new pair.

Malcolm Gemmell counted 16 Oribi on his route KC01 and Ken Gordon saw 17 on his route near Ladysmith. On the Midlands routes 12 Oribi were seen.

In Mpumalanga, in the new Chrissiesmeer precinct Alison Hanson & André Benadie saw 51 BHH, most of which were in two heronries on MC03. On a new route, which Barbi & Alan Forsyth recced, they saw 14 Blue Korhaan. On Lauraine Leigh's route 10 White Stork were counted, their last sighting just before their vehicle broke down near the end of their route!

The Steenkampsberg precinct had an average winter count. David and Helen Gaynor report that the Wattled Crane pair seen on their route, MS01, was on the same farm as last winter, but in this case was clearly nesting. The 21 Crowned Cranes on Anton and Anje Linström's route were on three adjacent farms, but must be part of the flock of 20 plus known to frequent the area. A lone White Stork was seen by Jim McLuskie, interestingly on the same route on which 3 were observed in July 2003.

Winterton Primary Outdoor Club assisting Ann Gray on KL11. Photo by: Ann Gray

Colin and Nalda Williams saw 147 Blue Cranes and 47 Swainson's Francolin on their route MT01 in the Standerton area! White Storks were observed on three routes in this precinct.

In the Eastern Cape on EB01 Ken and Gertie Griffith saw 15 Crowned Cranes, the highest total for their route since counts began in summer 1998. Usually there have only been 2-3 Crowned Cranes on this route, apart from summer 2001 when there were 5 and winter 2004 when there were 9. The large heronry at Witches Krantz is no longer in use, for no apparent reason. Graham Winch has usually recorded at least one Black Harrier on his route, but this last count none were seen. There was a lone White Stork on EB04, counted by Ken and Barbara Monfoort.

Some of the routes in the northeastern Easten Cape precinct were very dry. Crowned Cranes were observed on most of the EE routes. In the Humansdorp precinct conditions were extremely dry this winter and the pasture areas looked particularly dry and barren A feature in this part of the world is the increasing number of game sightings all along the route - blesbok, springbok, zebra, wildebeest, bushbuck, duiker, and bontebok. Yvonne Craig and her team saw 28 Stanley's/Denham's Bustards and their best sighting ever of a pair of Whitebellied Korhaan. On EG03 I was glad to see Bo Bonnevie recorded 4 Kori Bustard.

Maureen Turner saw 4 White Stork on EK05 and 19 Stanley's/Denham's Bustard. A number of Oribi were reported on these Kenton-on-Sea routes. On EP01 Patrick Brett and Denise Hoffmann saw 36 Ludwig's Bustards and 50 Blue Cranes, as well as other species. Their route was in an area which had received good rains and the veld was in fine condition. Dave Brown saw 15 Kori Bustards and 41 Ludwig's Bustards on his route, EP08, near Aberdeen!

Bradley Gibbons, of the South African Crane Working Group, started a new route near Middleburg. Debbie Abrahamson sent me some photos showing the habitat along her route, which really helps me to picture the area. If you are able to send photographs showing the typical habitat I would like to start a record of this. Neville Willows had the incredible total of 562 Blue Cranes along his route ES08 and he also saw 5 Kori Bustard and 41 Ludwig's Bustard. Forty of the Ludwig's Bustards and 375 of the Blue Cranes are regularly on a lucerne land on a particular farm where he discovered the landowner leaves the lucerne for the birds. Patrick Palmer, Chairperson of the Graaff-Reinet Bird Club, recced a new route near Graaff-Reinet and Des and Martie Schroeder recced a new route on the Craddock road. I am delighted that more routes are being established in the Eastern Cape.

Seven routes were counted in the Gauteng province! Craig Whittington-Jones, of Gauteng Nature Conservation, is sending me the details of more routes which he and a colleague have recced recently. Craig plans to have 21 routes in the province by January!

Early in August James and I travelled to Oudtshoorn to give presentations and feedback on ADU projects to Cape Nature. I always appreciate the opportunity to meet people. Natalie Baker and Paul Buccholz who are now coordinating the Uniondale routes were present, as well as Flip Esau, the new Kammanassie Reserve Manager, and Elton le Roux who initiated the new Calitzdorp route.

Thank you to all of you for counting this last winter. I will receive the Free State and Karoo Large Terrestrial Bird Survey forms shortly. The Karoo participants had a successful gathering the night before the winter count when a number of landowners were presented with Crane Custodian Boards in an initiative by the Northern Cape Department of Tourism, Conservation and Environment, in partnership with Vodacom and the South African Crane Working Group.

If you have made a donation and haven't received an email or letter thanking you, please contact me as I am obviously unaware of it and need more details to trace it in the UCT donations account. I will print a list of all those have made donations in the next newsletter.

Much of my time recently has been spent trying to source funding for CAR, there are various possibilities at the moment, but so far none have come to fruition. I do hope to be able to give you more positive news in the December newsletter.

Kind regards to you all,

Donella Young
Project Coordinator

Spring in the Swartland on SW01. Photo by: Meyrick Barker.