CWAC at Zandvlei Nature Reserve – 18 October 2013.

This is a working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club.

Alan Morris started the co-ordinated bird counts in December 1974 and they still continue at Zandvlei.

The preceding day on 18/10/2013 a very strong SE wind blew. The estuary mouth was closed in the late afternoon on same day.
Full moon is today 19/10/2013. The sky was clear and sunny with a gentle SE breeze. The water level was quite high with the mouth closed, compared to the last 4 months with the mouth open. There was no visible water flow under the railway bridge at the confluence of the Keysers and Westlake Rivers into Zandvlei. There was the odd carp spawning with thrashing about in the water. Observations by local residents indicate the carp all stopped spawning on 13/10/2013, after fierce activity for days preceding this. In this process the water became very turbid and visibility at the surface almost zero. Visibility today was about 15cm down from the surface. Generally there were very few bird species in the air or on the water today, possibly due to the preceding days weather conditions, with strong SE winds churning up the sea, and the locals call it a “washing machine” – green and foamy with extreme chop.
Barry’s brother and sister-in-law visitors from the UK came along as they are out door people and wanted to see the plant and bird species at Zandvlei.
The same woman in the last quarter photograph was feeding the mallards as we went past at a similar time. One minute before her a man with a large plastic bag full of white bread dumped the lot in the water for the mallards and just walked off without looking back!
An observation the black Mallard hybrid resident in the yacht club basin has started turning into a piebald colour, from a glossy green / black colour one year ago.
There was a sign up at the outside parking area for the Zandvlei Sports Club indicating the water quality was suspect. It didnt put off a pair of windsurfers or 2 canoeists trying their hand at the disciplines almost beneath the signboard by the City of Cape Town – Health Dept the only active people on the waterbody while we were counting. Maybe the sign should be turned around towards the water?
The Marina south canals were not counted, as no one was available to do so.

photographs by Gavin Lawson.

Gavin Lawson.

 

SHARE THIS


Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.