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.
Zandvlei Upper.
The weather was cool with a S.E. breeze blowing and high partly cloudy sky. The sun was hot when one was out of the wind. Very few birds were to be seen over the main waterbody. A Yellow billed Kite was seen overhead where we start at the end of Promenade Road. The main waterbody was full this morning with no shoreline around the edges. Low tide was to be at 10h00. There were no birds seen flying or in the water when we started. The first pond reed enclosed we pass was full of water as of the middle of winter. The reeds near the railway line have not grown up yet from the fire earlier in the year so the visibility to the railway bridge was very good. When we were there we could still see the Rutter Road Pond which is not visible when the reeds have grown up. The pathway appeared to be damp from over night localised showers. There were 7 Lesser Flamingos recorded for the main upper reserve which was encouraging. A note about the Pied Crows which frequent the Main Gate area, they had found a baby Angulate Tortoise about 6cm in diameter and had eaten the contents of the shell. There were no ants in the shell yet, indicating it was a fresh kill.
Zandvlei Lower.
When we arrived at the change over point from upper to lower at the Scout base we checked for the Water Thick-knees and the pair were back and not too spooked by the scouts assembling tents in the area. The main waterbody was quite empty of birds flying or paddling about. At times about 10 years ago there were nearly 1000 Coots to be counted. There were times about 20 years ago when up to 650 Egyptian Geese would be moulting on the picnic grass with feathers and poo every where at this time of year.
A Yellow billed Kite flew overhead from the mountain across the vlei and across the Caravan Park going east.
Even the Cape Cormorants were in low numbers today. There was a part of the very high sand spit above the water with Sandwich, Caspian and Swift Terns resting.
The water flow was 1 metre per 4 seconds under Thesens (foot) Bridge so the the estuary mouth was open, the surface water was rippling about 25 metres ahead of the bridge indicating a high speed flow. There were 5 Grey Herons in the Norfolk Pine tree (heronry) in Axminster Road behind The Tides flats. The one and only Three banded Plover was recorded before the first bend of the estuary.
Zandvlei Westlake Wetlands and Rutter Road Pond.
While counting a Jackal Buzzard arrived from the south and landed on the overhead train powerlines.
The water flow under the bridge was 1 metre per 10 seconds flowing against the wind from the S.E. direction. What was initially baffling was the height of the water level flowing into the main water body under the bridge. There has been no rain to date in the catchment this month although it appears there was localised showers early this morning as in some places the ground was damp. The water level in the main vlei was very full, giving us the impression the estuary mouth was closed. We established it was open later on when we arrived at the mouth and it was low tide at approximately 10h00. There is a very high 2 metre tide in October at full moon which was on 17 October 2024.
So the deduction is that the tide pushed the water back under the railway bridge and into the Keysers and Westlake Rivers and was now starting to flow back into the main waterbody. (see the water speed for the lower section under the Thesens footbridge).
There were very few birds recorded this count. The preceding week days weather was not adverse for the birds so they have gone else where.
The Brown throated Martin nesting hole is still visible and they were not present when we were there.
Thank you to all who came to help today, your contribution does make a difference.
Bird list supplied by Gigi Laidler.
Trip: 2024_10_19 Zandvlei CWAC
Date: 2024-10-19 to 2024-10-19
Observations: 48
Species: 48
Species (heard only): 2
Pentad: 3405_1825, Start: 2024-10-19, End: 2024-10-19, Species: 48, Observations: 48
1. Rock Dove, 2024-10-19 11:23
2. Black-headed Heron, 2024-10-19 11:13
3. Grey Heron, 2024-10-19 11:13
4. Three-banded Plover, 2024-10-19 11:09
5. Greater Crested Tern, 2024-10-19 10:53
6. Sandwich Tern, 2024-10-19 10:53
7. African Sacred Ibis, 2024-10-19 10:36
8. Little Egret, 2024-10-19 10:26
9. Cape Cormorant, 2024-10-19 10:17
10. Hadada Ibis, 2024-10-19 10:14
11. Cape Spurfowl, 2024-10-19 10:14
12. Yellow-billed Kite, 2024-10-19 10:14
13. Cape Sparrow, 2024-10-19 10:13
14. Laughing Dove, 2024-10-19 10:13
15. Spotted Thick-knee, 2024-10-19 10:10
16. Cape Wagtail, 2024-10-19 10:05
17. Blacksmith Lapwing, 2024-10-19 10:00
18. Great Crested Grebe, 2024-10-19 09:48
19. Water Thick-knee, 2024-10-19 09:43
20. House Sparrow, 2024-10-19 09:39
21. Red-winged Starling, 2024-10-19 09:38
22. Levaillant’s Cisticola, 2024-10-19 09:32
23. Speckled Pigeon, 2024-10-19 09:31
24. Pied Crow, 2024-10-19 09:28
25. Hybrid Mallard, 2024-10-19 09:19
26. Caspian Tern, 2024-10-19 09:18
27. African Darter, 2024-10-19 09:17
28. Common Waxbill, 2024-10-19 09:02
29. Jackal Buzzard, 2024-10-19 09:01
30. Cape Bulbul, 2024-10-19 09:00
31. Common Moorhen, 2024-10-19 08:58
32. Red-knobbed Coot, 2024-10-19 08:58
33. Yellow Bishop, 2024-10-19 08:54
34. White-breasted Cormorant, 2024-10-19 08:53
35. Little Grebe, 2024-10-19 08:49
36. Hartlaub’s Gull, 2024-10-19 08:49
37. Kelp Gull, 2024-10-19 08:49
38. Reed Cormorant, 2024-10-19 08:48
39. Yellow-billed Duck, 2024-10-19 08:48
40. Southern Fiscal, 2024-10-19 08:48
41. Lesser Swamp Warbler, 2024-10-19 08:48
42. Greater Striped Swallow, 2024-10-19 08:31
43. Egyptian Goose, 2024-10-19 08:28
44. Southern Double-collared Sunbird, 2024-10-19 08:27
45. Pied Kingfisher, 2024-10-19 08:25
46. Southern Masked Weaver, 2024-10-19 08:24
47. Common Starling, 2024-10-19 08:18
48. Red-eyed Dove, 2024-10-19 08:18
photographs by Gavin Lawson and Gigi Laidler.
Gavin Lawson.
Below are the count datas for 19 October 2024.
