Paarl Bird Sanctuary Counts in 2019.
A working partnership with the Drakenstein Municipality and the Cape Bird Club.
Monthly bird counts take place, on the last Saturday morning in the month.
Anyone interested in helping can contact Yvonne Weiss at 021 872 4972 for details of starting time and meeting place.
by John Fincham and Jo Hobbs.
Fluvous Duck.
photograph by John Fincham.
November 2019.
John reports – Kittlitz’s Plovers have not been seen for years and may have been nesting because Rita Meyer watched a broken-wing display.
October 2019.
John reports – I took these photos this morning. In addition to the Whiskered Terns there were some White-winged Terns present too.
September 2019.
See John’s report for September 2019.
August 2019.
John reports – this morning (Sat 31 Aug 2019) there were 6 juvenile Lesser Flamingos on B pan at Paarl Bird Sanctuary. The attached photo shows 4 of them. They were associated with a group of adult Greater Flamingos.
A note from Mark Anderson “They probably originate from Kamfers Dam or Sua Pan, or maybe (but a very unlikely maybe) Lake Natron (where c. 1 million Lesser Flamingo chicks were produced this year)”.
May 2019.
John reports – there were many interesting birds at the count this month.
See the Squacco Heron.
March 2019.
The monthly count for March was on Saturday 30th, 2019. A feature was a feeding frenzy on mosquitoes/gnats by swallows, martins and swifts above the E3 pan (map attached). Amongst the swallows Barns predominated, and there were lots of Brown-throated Martins. So the Barn Swallows have not migrated to the northern hemisphere yet.
The White-winged Terns are almost in full breeding plumage preceding migration but the underwing coverts have not yet changed to black, as shown in the attached photo in which one bird is showing the underside of the wings.
There was a pair of African Black Duck on the E3 pan, and the Grey-headed Gulls have chicks (nestlings) on E2 pan. Here is a layout of the pans.
photographs and reports by John Fincham.
