CWAC round 2

CWAC round 2 dawned a grey, chilly day and I was concerned about being rained upon, weather for ducks came to mind, but as it was ducks and waterbirds we wanted to count that meant until the rain actually arrived, we were going to go forth with the count! And luckily we were not rained on! We had a bigger crowd involved in this count, a few members from the bird club as well as Mark, Eliska (student from the Czech Republic), Hannah (volunteer from England), Dawid from Cape Nature and myself. We broke into two groups, one taking a boat along the Keurbooms and Bitou River and another taking a car to certain areas (marshes) that the boat was unable to go. Mark, Eliska, Hannah, Maaike, Dawid and I were on the Cape Nature rubber duck which I was stoked about; regardless about the weather I love floatation devices! What an awesome morning! It was wonderful to putter along the river sighting and counting any water birds that we came across. We saw the usual Kelp Gulls, various cormorants, and counted over 1000 Swift Terns, which outnumbered the 450 odd gulls we saw! We saw both the Greater and Lesser Flamingo, an odd occurrence in Plettenberg Bay but they have been known to irregularly frequent the area. African Spoonbills and Black-winged Stilts are high on my list of exciting sightings, they are such cool birds! We came across a fair number of Little Grebes which are so entertaining as they run-fly across the water as they escape the oncoming boat. Unfortunately, we only saw one Pied Kingfisher, again the Half-collared eluded me. All in all an exceptionally pleasant way to spend a morning!

The team, Eliska, Maaike, Hannah, Mark and Dawid.

Surveying the Keurbooms colony.

Water Thick-knees. 

Little Grebes running on water.

African Spoonbill.

Reed Cormorants.

Lesser and Greater Flamingoes.

Little Egret.

Black-winged Stilt.

Blacksmith Lapwing.

African Darter.