Investigating Lookout

As the start of the breeding season has arrived, the start of my intensive fieldwork season begins. So to kick it off I have started visiting the three breeding colonies that will be my field sites. As the peninsula is largest colony I have made visits there, but decided to expand my operations and keep an eye on what’s happening at the other sites. So I made a trip to the colony at Lookout. It is the colony that has the easiest access, no paddling, and no hiking, just park and take a stroll along the beach. The first thing I come across is a delightful surprise, two gulls feeding on an octopus. There had been some heavy rains and some flooding so it’s most likely the poor creature met its demise due to acts of God and not gull, but the gulls got the feast! Besides that, the gulls are slowly preparing nest scrapes but I marked only 4 as looking likely for a breeding attempt. I also found an Egyptian Goose nest, in thick grass near the water’s edge. Finding it was not incidental however, an inconsiderate individual walking dogs off the leash was the cause. The dogs were uncontrolled and went dashing through the colony chasing gulls and flushed the goose off the nest. The geese made such a racket during their escape to the water that I just knew there was a nest in the area and sure enough I found it. I managed to have a word with the individual in question who is a Plett local of 20 years and well aware that it is a protected bird breeding area, but ‘dogs have their place too’. Dogs need to run, and walking a dog straining on the leash is an unpleasant experience, but to walk them off the leash in a protected area is irresponsible and egotistical; there are other areas available for such activities. I left feeling helpless and seething with anger. Dogs chase birds, and when those eggs hatch the chicks will be easy prey. But it is not only about the geese, or the gulls, but about the other threatened seabirds that nest in that area. There are signs declaring the area protected and banning dogs on the beach, but there is a lack of enforcement and with the beach now made accessible after the flood a few years ago, Lookout beach is popular, for humans and their canine companions. It seems to be a hopeless situation.

Calamari for breakfast!

He was a big one!

Collecting nest lining.

The goose nest.