The Cape Bird Club

Nico Myburgh's Underwater Club by Nico Myburgh narrated to Peter Steyn

photograph by Peter Steyn

Whiskered Tern on its nest with eggs.

It all began on 6 October 1960 when Peter Steyn and I were walking around Klawervlei on my farm of the same name at Faure. The vlei had become a Mecca for birdwatchers and the Cape Bird Club held regular outings there. If lucky, an elusive Ballion's Crake might be seen and the first Red-chested Flufftail nest in the Southwestern Cape was found in the thick grass on the edge of the vlei.

On that memorable October morning we watched several Whiskered Terns in full breeding plumage alighting on a matted area of wateruintjies Aponogeton distachyus the first sighting ever of this species in the area. Soon afterwards they were seen collecting wateruintjie stems to construct their nests, and a week later the first nest with eggs was recorded. The following week there were three nests with eggs and Peter Steyn extended the legs of his hide in which he stood in waist deep water to obtain the first nest pictures of this delightful confining species. * (Accounts of their breeding behaviour may be found in reference at the end of the narrative).

The news of their nesting soon spread through the photographic community and the terns continued to breed in increasing numbers in subsquent years. A procession of photographers both local and international came to Klawervlei and it was then that the incidents began. John Harvey was the first when he tripped over a submerged log while wading out to the nest with the resultant dunking of himself and his camera. Next was Roy Johannssen who fell in with his Leica. Fortunately as he worked at a photographic shop in Cape Town, he was able to replace his equipment without too much expense. While disembarking from a canoe at the hide Ray Viljoen toppled over and his camera joined the growing number of Leicas to fall into the vlei. Ray was fortunate to retrieve his camera and to repair it himself.

The next event could have been fatal. Mrs Koransky from Germany went in on her own with chest waders but became stuck in the mud. As she sank in, her waders began to fill with water. Fortunately she was able to extricate herself from the waders but these together with her Lecia with 400mm lens were never found again.

After this incident I decided to form the Klavervlei Underwater Club, the only requirement for membership being that you had to submerge along with your camera. Little did I realise that the last member to join would be the most distinguished.

Gerry Broekhuysen was a further founder member of the Cape Bird Club and its Chairman for 22 years (see Jubliee Issue of Promerops, April 1988). His enthusiasm was infectious and he did more to stimulate the growth of his beloved club in its formative years than any other person. Gerry was a regular visitor to Klavervlei and a good friend. He was the first to photograph the Red-chested Flufftail at its nest and he took good cine footage, as well as still pictures of the Wiskered Terns, but they were not the reason for his membership.

On that fatefull day Gerry was photgraphing at the nest of a Great Crested Grebe, the final session of his research on the species. One egg had just hatched and he filmed the adult with the chick on its back. From time to time I would check the hide from the shore until a protruding white handkerchief indicated that he was ready to be fetched. The hide was on poles in the water 5 meters deep and I rowed across to fetch him. As he extricated himself his leg gave way under him and he fell into the water, together with his camera bag, instead of into the boat. The Dutch are amoungst the worlds best sailors but are often poor swimmers. Gerry was no exception. He disappeared beneath the water but I was able to reach down and grab him by his collar, haul him to the surface spluttering and gasping for air and manouvre him into the boat. The camera bag lay at the bottom of the vlei, but it was more important to take him back to the farmhouse and immerse him in a hot bath and find dry clothes for him.

My son Johan , seventeen at the time went back to the hide in the boat. Holding onto the legs of the structure he dived down and on the second attempt found the precious bag. Fortunately both the cine film and the slide films were sealed in watertight cassettes. All were dully processed and came out perfectly. The 2 Lecia cameras were cleanedd and restored by the technians at the University of Cape Town where Gerry was a Professor in the Zoology Department. However the 16mm Bolex cine camera was a write off, but fortunately it was insured and soon replaced. The pictures taken on that eventful day ere used worldwide, so the saga had a happy ending.

* References:

Steyn, P. (1960) Nesting of the Whiskered Tern in the Southern Cape.  Bokmakierie 12 (2): p35 - 36 and
Steyn, P. (1968) Whiskered Terns. Bokmakierie 18 (4): p83 - 85