Fynbos fun

We were fortunate enough to find some time to join Mark in Nature's Valley for a morning of fynbos ringing before Shane left. It was an early start to the day, leaving home at 5am and setting up nets in a rather chilly, cloudy dawn. Our ringing table moved under shelter as it rained on and off for most of the morning. Despite the miserable weather we caught a total of 27 birds, and I was able to add 2 new species to my list: Swee Waxbill and Southern Double-collared Sunbird.

Swee Waxbill. Photo by Shane McPherson.

Birds on Bird Island

One morning Shane and I headed out to paddle to Bird Island. We packed some rings in case there were still some chicks that had yet to fledge. The river was exceptionally choppy as we made our way to the island half of Bird Island (the main breeding colony is in fact on a peninsular). There were hopes of some chicks to ring, but we were only able to find an African Oystercatcher chick for which we did not have any rings!

The decision was made and we paddled (and when I say we paddled I mean Shane paddled I passengered) across to the peninsular. Again all the chicks had fledged and it was looking rather bare compared to all the birds that were there a few weeks ago. We did find a Sacred Ibis chick but again we did not have the rings for it! That would have been an awesome new species to ring! And that was probably the last trip for the Green Machine until the breeding season starts again and it is now sitting at home, high and dry.

Water Thick-knee.

African Oystercatcher parents trying to distract us from their chick hiding in the vegetation.

African Oystercatcher chick.

Sacred Ibis breeding group.

Roadside raptor ringing

As soon as Shane set dates for coming to visit he also started organising his Western Cape ringing permit so we could go out raptor trapping. It ended up that Mark, Shane and myself went out early one morning to see what raptors we could catch. We left at 5am and started up the pass that the family and I had arrived into Plett on, which seemed remarkably shorter than I remember. First bird spotted was an owl which flew off before we had any real chance of trapping it. And that set the tone for the day. Roughly 300 km over 8 hours with many birds seen, and many trap drops done, and we caught a grand total of 1 bird, a Jackal Buzzard. For some reason I am more comfortable handling the Crowned Eagles that Shane and I had been ringing back in PMB and I was nervous about handling this bird. In the end I ringed the bird while Shane held it and then there was a huge debate about how to hold raptors and then I got to hold it and handle it while Shane checked my measurements, and then release it after some photos! I am starting to feel more confident about handling raptors, and ultimately every outing and raptor ringed and handled adds to my experience.. Soon I'll be a pro, hopefully!

Beautiful bird. Photo by Shane McPherson.

Freedom! Photo by Shane McPherson.

What's New in Plett

One evening out at Robberg Vlei ringing swallows I met Charmaine Wild Who owns The Print Shop, and also runs a local Plett newspaper called What's New in Plett. And so I had my first bit of publication about my project! Two weeks in a row! There is also a website and facebook page with lots of random bits and pieces and happenings in Plett.

And this little birdie..

After my last trip to Bird Island (as it is fondly referred to by the locals) on my canoe, I found those two Kelp Gull chicks, and decided that they should be old enough to ring this past week. Kel and I had planned a bit of a girls outing, to paddle across and ring the chicks (coz that's what the cool girls do!). As it turned out, this was not possible. So on Friday morning after dropping Kate at school we, Kel, Jesse and myself, headed over to a spot on the beach where we could easily walk across to Bird Island, unfortunately arriving on the wrong side of the island to where the chicks were. So we headed out, trudging through the sand on the lagoon side which was water logged and squishy. Jesse was full of energy and put Kel and I to shame jumping and running around! Unfortunately we were only able to find one of the two chicks that I had hoped to ring. Kel held the little fluffball and I ringed it, and it left her with a big 'I don't like you' poo down her shorts! Thanks bird! Jesse let the little thing go, which was so wonderful to watch. Budding ornithologist! Before we began our walk back I picked up an old, abandoned egg which I will blow out and use as a replacement egg when we are catching the adults. We then slowly walked back to the car, along the beach side this time which was easier on the legs! There was a brief chase after two other juveniles (with the egg in my pocket!) which was aborted after I realised both had rings on already! Awesome! Along our walk back, we searched for shells. The beaches here have such beautiful, large and intact shells, it is amazing to live here! We returned home after a successful trip! 1 chick ringed, 1 egg collected, and 2 odd shells that were later idenitified by a friend as razor clams, Solen capensis. Later that day I realised that the egg has a crack and is slowly leaking. So I rotated it and now it sits on my desk. It will need to be a brave day for me to tackle the smelly inside!

The little one with it's new ring.

Went running from the big featherless creatures.. Complete with new bling

The gull egg.

Interesting shells, identified as razor clams, Solen capensis.

Radical Raptors

Back in PMB, I had the awesome privelege of going to Raptor Rehab run by Ben Hoffman, part of the African Birds of Prey Sanctuary, to ring some rehabilitated raptors. To see these powerful birds up close is really amazing, and then to handle them and ring them, and on occasion to release them, what a pleasure! Just before I left for Plett, a group of us (Lindy, Patrick, Shane, my dad and myself) went to ring some of the rehab birds, which are at various stages of rehabilitation and will one day be ready for release. I had a wonderful time and thought it would be the last time I would ring rehab raptors.

Holding a Jackal Buzzard, Buteo rufofuscus. Photo by Lindy Thompson.

My crazy people, Patrick (left), Lindy (back) and Shane (front), ringing a Long-crested Eagle, Lophaetus occipitalis.

But last week I went with Mark to Radical Raptors, birds of prey rehabilitation and awareness centre, run by Dennis Robson, to ring some owls. Maybe it is their beautiful big eyes, watching everything, or the impressive snap/click type sound that they make with their beaks, but owls seem a little more aggressive and scarier in the hand than some of the other raptors I've handled. Mark and I each ringed 2 Spotted Eagle Owls, Bubo africanus, that had been brought to the centre as fluffballs that people had picked up off the ground thinking they had fallen out of their nests. The birds are all under six months old and are ready for release into the real world, now with metal rings around their legs! I took the opportunity after ringing to have a quick look around the centre, it is a well kept, well presented centre although it does have a smaller selection of birds than ABoPS, but this is not necessarily a bad thing considering why the birds are kept in captivity. I am looking forward to return trips to the centre, and hopefully some more rehab birds to ring for release!

Grumpy bird! Bubo africanus. Photo by Mark Brown.

Measuring the bill as Dennis holds the bird. Photo by Mark Brown.

Action and antics

So on my first solo trip into the colony I took the opportunity to sit and watch the birds. Within the colony there is some action, and I enjoyed watching all the antics, especially two fluffy cute chicks. But my attention was soon drawn to the beach where many adults and the fledged juveniles generally hung out. It was a wonderfully warm day (hence my t-shirt tan!) and the birds were often in the water bathing and having a good old time! And then when I got home I realised that some of the diving was not solely for a bath, but for food! These creatures have such character and I’m loving working on them, and watching them! I feel a bit like the paparazzi, every time I see a gull I want to whip my camera out! But here it paid off and I’m chuffed with some of these shots!

Soon to be ringed chicks.

Down..

Under..

Up..

And shake!

Flying start..

The downward plunge..

Fish!

The Green Machine

The day was warm. The tide was high. The water was calm. All until the Brown clan plus one (me) arrived with The Green Machine. Dum dum duuumm! This is the sturdy craft that will convey me to my Keurbooms study sites along with traps and an assortment of assistants throughout the breeding season. My floatation device was kindly loaned to me for the duration of the project by Cape Nature.

To the water we go! Photo by Kelly Brown.

First test run. Photo by Mark Brown.

Ready for the first trip to Bird Island.

Investigating Robberg

Probably on one of the hottest days of my parents stay it was decided that we would go for a walk at Robberg Nature Reserve. The 5 hour walk was deemed too long (thank goodness!), and so we settled for a shorter walk to the ‘Seagull nursery’, another of my study sites. The view as you arrive is stunning, and we saw a pod of dolphins which set a positive tone for the rest of the day. What an amazing downhill trundle! Except for the ants.. They bite! The sun is warm on your back as you wander along the trail that starts as fynbos and descends through cliffs and eventually reaches the beach. A description is so inadequate of the beauty of everything. I cannot properly convey the warmth of the sun as you march along, hot but not yet a scorching burn, and then to move into the coolness of the cliffs, where amazing little flowers of yellow and purple grow, precariously clinging to the small ledges and somehow flourishing. And then to reach the beach at the bottom and throw off hot takkies to plunge bare feet into rather cold water. It is an amazing place that I will be frequenting as a study site! Also on the beach were my subjects. With six fledged juveniles in total, this is a nice, relatively small colony that I hope to monitor closely. I hope to ring all the adults of the colony, as well as all the juveniles. This is a breeding site that experiences high predation by genets and otters, and I am keen to put up some cameras to catch the culprits in action in the next breeding season! After exploring the beach, and after copious photos, it was time for a swim! Another benefit of this field site is a stunning channel to dip into after a downward hike with heavy packs and after a hot few hours chasing and ringing gulls. But, man, the water here is cold! Hopefully I’ll toughen up after enough dips into the sea! Refreshed, we headed to investigate the little kopje that was the ‘Seagull nursery’. A pleasant walk around showed that the birds had finished breeding for this season. And then what goes down must go up. Up, up, up, huff and puff. In the very hot burning afternoon sun. With none of the refreshing cliff coolness. We all collapsed into the car and headed home for a much needed lunch and juice. Tired but refreshed; you cannot leave views like that and not feel buoyed.

Nic walking to the 'Seagull nursery'.

White-breasted Cormorant, Phalacrocorax lucidus.

African Oystercatcher, Haematopus moquini.

Agama of sorts?

Swallows

Sitting and chatting on the Brown’s stoep with the family one night, we all watched as small flocks of Barn Swallows, Hirundo rustica, flew overhead, off to settle in for the night in their roosting spot. After a comment from Mark about how he would love to find their roosting spot to be able to catch the swallows, Dad and Mark were suddenly off on a mission: Find the roost! They returned surprisingly quickly. The roost was not far off, in a reed bed, which had a convenient boardwalk through it, perfect for mistnets! Plans were hatched and the next evening found the entire Brown and Witteveen clans at the boardwalk. Nets were erected, and immediately we starting catching birds, one of the first being a Cape White-eye, Zosterops virens, a species that has a special place in my heart after using them as a study species for both my 3rd year and Honours projects. With the nets open sometime before dusk, we caught a few flocks of Cape Weavers, Ploceus capensis, most of which were juveniles, as well as a few Cape Bulbuls, Pycnonotus capensis, a new species for me (Stoked!) and a juvenile Black-bellied Starling, Notopholia corruscus, among others.

And slowly the swallows started circling in the sky. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see this, it is well worth the time to go to a Barn Swallow roost and be a spectator! Large flocks circle in the sky, and smaller groups break off and dive down to the roost, in this case the reeds. It is truly amazing! We caught 31 swallows that night, and have since been again and aim to continue to go once a week for the next few weeks. Hopefully we will get a bird with a foreign ring! But to be out and bird ringing, and to start learning my birds of the Western Cape, is awesome!

Nets up on the boardwalk.

Juvenile Black-bellied Starling, Notopholia corruscus.

Cape Bulbul, Pycnonotus capensis.

Initiation

Wow. Just wow. I fell into bed last night, a happy worn out lass. My initiation into working with Kelp Gulls, Larus dominicanus, was a success! I left the house, all fresh and smelling like sunblock, and returned covered in poo and vomit and smelling like fish. And I was in a much lighter mood than when we left!

Thursday morning saw the entire family tying netting to 2 of the 3 freshly painted gull traps, which we were to use on the first expedition into the Kelp Gull breeding colony at Keurbooms Lagoon. Traps were completed 30 minutes before we left and after a hurried toast lunch we dashed out of the house and went down to the boat launch site. Eben, a wonderful man who has been working for Cape Nature for the past 20 years and helped Phil Whittington with gull ringing, took us over on the Cape Nature boat (7 adults, 2 traps and various rucksacks and bags). A 5 minute scenic boat ride later we beached on the strip of land hosting the colony and offloaded. I kicked into hyperdrive. I was more excited than a kid at Christmas! Wow. Just wow.

Birds were everywhere, the sky was full of them, they were all over the landscape, and I just couldn’t take it all in. I whipped out the camera, straight into tourist mode, and then Mark called me over. Eben had caught a chick that needed a ring. Very quickly I ringed the chick (a metal SAfring ‘K’ ring on the left leg) and then I got to hold it. First lesson when working with gulls, they bite. Hard. Over the past few weeks I have been helping Shane, an MSc student from UKZN, ring Crowned Eagles, Stephanoaetus coronatus, (his blog is definitely worth checking out!). Crowned eagles, unlike gulls, very rarely bite, and its the feet that need to be carefully controlled and watched out for. I started off with a raptor mindset. Watch the feet! I have since had a paradigm shift, watch the bill!

Over the next 3 or so hours we moved through the colony and in total ringed 3 adult Kelp Gulls and 27 flightless juveniles, as well as 3 African Oystercatchers, Haematopus moquini, of which 1 already had a ring on. The juveniles were either snuck up upon and grabbed or quickly chased down and grabbed. Adults were caught on the nest using the recently completed traps, as were the Oystercatchers. I was so privileged to have my family join me for my first ringing outing, and it made me so happy to see my boetie get in there too! Mom was the ever present photographer, Nic helped with catching, and Dad and I ringed and caught. Both Dad and I have 2 new species to add to our ringing lists, Kelp Gull and African Oystercatcher.

Throughout the few hours I was poo-ed on, vomited on and bitten, but what an experience! We celebrated a successful afternoons ringing with pizza on the beach and retired home weary but elated! I am so very excited for the next two years! I know that it is going to be hard work, with trials and tribulations but the rewards are going to overpower all else! Here’s to an eventful MSc!

Dad surveying the scene. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Lesson 1: Gulls bite, keep your face out of the way! Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Looking at the moult with Dad and Mark. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

First adult to be ringed, wearing ring K001. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Nic and I with smiles all round. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

My project in Plett

The Kelp Gull. Scavenger. Pest. Beach polluter. And my new study species. When I tell people in Plettenberg Bay that I have moved her to study Kelp Gulls, I get curious looks and amused smiles. Strange girl. But I am excited! To be working in a most beautiful part of South Africa, and to be on the beach (minimal lab work!), and to be working with seabirds and gaining experience about a whole different variety of birds and definitely excited for all the opportunities that await me!

My MSc project aims to look at a few questions regarding the Kelp Gulls, Larus dominicanus, nesting at two breeding sites in Plettenberg Bay, Keurbooms River (fondly known as Bird Island) and Robberg Peninsular. Firstly I will be looking at how successful the colonies at both breeding sites are, and hope to do regular aerial counts during the breeding season. Secondly, I will be looking at the foraging habits of the birds; to what extent do the birds forage in a mosaic of urban and natural areas, how important are human refuse and fishery discards as sources of food and does foraging behaviour and diet composition change with chick age? And finally, I will be investigating whether nest microclimate affects the breeding success of the gulls and the development of thermoregulation in gull chicks. I also have thoughts about looking at the stats of Kelp Gulls being taken to wildlife sanctuaries and vets in the area but that aspect is still a thought roaming the recesses of my mind at the moment.

This is my first field-based project, and I am somewhat daunted by the work that lies ahead, but I am so excited for the next two years as I delve into the lives of these birds!

One of my study sites, and the birds! Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Introducing me

My name is Minke Witteveen. Minks and Minkles to friends and family. I was born in Durban and grew up in Westville. I was a kid who loved playing in the garden rather than with Barbie dolls, wore shorts rather than dresses, and spent copious hours reading. Not much has changed. My love of the natural world stems from my dad, who is a naturalist who knows something about everything. So at the end of my final year in high school, with a love for and strength in Biology, I decided to register for a general BSc, majoring in Genetics and Zoology. As Zoology was only offered in Pietermaritzburg my first major life change was undertaken. A family trek of 45 minutes was made to move yours truly, at the tender age of 18, to my new home at The YW in Pietermaritzburg, which was also occupied by 5 other females. I was concerned. Four years and an Honours degree later, I am so glad I moved out of home and have loved living with a bunch of wonderful and diverse girls. My university experience at UKZN PMB has been amazing. There have been highs and lows, but the experiences and opportunities I have had, the people I have met and the lessons I have learnt have really made it worthwhile. The growth and self discovery that occurs at university is astounding. And now the new chapter of my life begins. My new journey begins. More specifically, at 04h30 on the 5th of January 2013 two heavily laden vehicles left Westville for a 2 day trip to Plettenberg Bay. It is here that I will spend the next two years studying Kelp Gulls, Larus dominicanus, for my MSc, registered through UCT. Weeks of organising and packing and buying and furnishing my house to be culminated in an afternoon of packing cars, and all of a sudden we were on the road. It has been an emotional time, leaving behind deep friendships and special people, but today I have had the first stirrings of true excitement. To speed through this beautiful South African landscape, to see bright yellow sunflowers bobbing around and sprays of purple and blue flowers on the roadside and breathe deep. What an amazing country to be working in, what an amazing time to start something new!