ADU travels, expeditions and events

Winter 2001 count of the waders at Langebaan Lagoon

Photo L.G. Undehill
Salt marsh at Langebaan Lagoon, with the Geelbek Education Centre in the distance. Langebaan Lagoon is at the southwestern corner of this Africa-shaped pond

The 52nd count of the waterbirds at Langebaan Lagoon took place on 15 July 2001. These counts were started by the Western Cape Wader Study Group in winter 1976 and have continued since then every six months. This is one of the longest time series of waterbird counts at any wetland in the southern hemisphere. Langebaan Lagoon is the key component of the West Coast National Park, about 100 km north of Cape Town.

These counts now form a vital contribution to CWAC (Coordinated Waterbird Counts) and are organized by Doug Harebottle of the Avian Demography Unit. Nine people were involved in the winter 2001 count: Brian van der Walt, Dave Whitelaw, Jenny Underhill, Les Underhill, Manfred Waltner, Mel Tripp, Phil Whittington, Rene Navarro and Vincent Ward.

Photo L.G. Undehill The exception proves the rule! Langebaan Lagoon is remarkably free of flotsam and jetsam. This big piece of junk probably comes from the iron-ore loading facility at nearby Saldanha Bay; in its lifetime it would have been one of the buffers between ship and jetty

The count was conducted in all weathers, starting out cold and windy, with an unpleasant spell of rain in the middle, clearing to calm and mild with a few outbursts of sun

The winter 2001 count was distinguished for the minimal numbers of Palearctic migratory waders. This was not unexpected, because the previous breeding season in the Siberian tundra (where most of the migrant come from) is known to have been a low productivity year, with most nests being lost to predation. (Most species of young wader do not breed at age one year, and do not migrate back to the tundra from South Africa. A good indication of breeding success in Siberia one year previously is the number of waders on the Langebaan Lagoon winter count.)

Photo L.G. Undehill The boats of the West Coast National Park distribute counters to their sections. The little boat can get into shallow water and ferries a couple of observers to and from count sections that the large boat cannot reach. We are grateful to the staff of the South African National Parks for their assistance with these counts in every way.

There were also lots of Greater Flamingoes; the total number counted will only be known when all the data are submitted, but it will probably be in the low thousands. About 10% of these flamingoes were young birds. Presumably these are the early arrivals after the huge breeding flamingo event taking place in Botswana this year after the floods in February.

After the survey, the team of observers filled in a bird list for BIRP (Birds In Reserves Project) for the day. The number of species seen in the West Coast National Park was 72. The coverage of waterbirds would have been excellent, but quite a few common terrestrial birds were not recorded.

Photo Mel Tripp Mud, glorious mud!