COORDINATED AVIFAUNAL ROAD COUNTS (CAR)

Winter 2003 count

Thank you very much for the many roadcount forms which have been steadily flowing into my post box - I know that apart from the important information recorded they represent a day of your time and inevitably a tank of petrol! Fortunately, the weather was far more favourable than last winter, when observers braved strong winds and even snow in the northeastern Cape.

All regular route leaders should have received a copy of the eight year report 'Big Birds on Farms: Mazda CAR Report 1993-2001' by now (See press release here). I hope you have enjoyed seeing your route fitting into the bigger picture being painted regarding these magnificent birds. We are grateful to Mazda Wildlife Fund for making it possible to send out one copy per route. At this stage I am delighted to report that the Tony & Lisette Lewis Foundation have agreed to continue their generous support of CAR. We have also been greatly encouraged by the news that four of the smaller bird clubs, as well as Cape Bird Club, are able to contribute towards the costs!

I have focused on some of highlights of the winter count below:

In the Overberg, John Carter and his Somerset West Bird Club team saw the amazing total of 26 Karoo Korhaans on OV05, the highest ever recorded on an Overberg route. This total has only been surpassed by the Beaufort West route, on which 46 were recorded this last winter. Pierre van den Berg, Louis Fielies and Willem du Toit of Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve saw seven different CAR species, including 10 White Stork and 786 Blue Cranes, on OV16. Keith Moodie also had a high total of 714 Blue Cranes on his route OV08. Both these routes are south of the N2 near Heidelberg. Keith reported two ringed cranes, Tom & Freya Brett saw one ringed crane and Sue Mare and John Coats saw three. Heather Busby reported seeing a Blackheaded Heron holding a rat in its bill and swallowing it in one gulp. On a KZN Midlands route Margie Sleigh also saw a rat disappearing down a Blackheaded Heron, but with some difficulty, the rat was enormous, about 200 X 110cm!

In the Swartland I was saddened to see the effects of the drought. There were many patchy wheat fields, or even bare, unplanted fields. Cattle were being fed, as there was no grazing. Spurwinged Geese numbers appeared high, they were more visible due to the drought.

In the Uniondale precinct, where they have had good rains, Mike & Gill Euston-Brown and Barry du Plessis had an exciting count. They saw 62 Stanley's Bustard, all along the first 40 km of dirt road, and 273 Blue Cranes! In a recent email, Peter Chadwick, the new Kammanasie Reserve Manager, remarked on the increase in cranes in this area.

In the Eastern Cape, on route EE03, Helen Lechmere-Oertel, the new Educational Officer at North East Cape Forests, and Adéle Moore 'were madly excited to find two Wattled Cranes as they have never been sighted there before'. They phoned Jon Smallie, of East Cape Crane Project, South African Crane Working Group, who thought it could be the pair from Rush Valley Pan (further up the mountains) that hadn't been sighted for months. Strangely, Bo Bonnevie and his team from Diaz Cross Bird Club, encountered "LOTS of traffic - "King Solomon's Mines" film crew, actors, horse-trailers, you name it!" on their route EG03. This route must be on one of the worst dirt roads I have driven on (Doug Harebottle and I explored it two years ago on an Eastern Cape trip). In the Humansdorp area there was some frustration that the crane numbers were lower on the count day, I know many of you experience this! However, route EH05 observers saw many more birds than ever before. Yvonne Craig wrote that they had been wondering if it was worth continuing the route, but this count proved that it had something to offer. "The birders were ecstatic about their count , especially the Whitebellied Korhaan(4) and Stanley's Bustard(24). They saw none at all last winter, when it was particularly dry. This area has also received a fair amount of rain over the past few months. There were pockets of Sacred Ibis totalling up to 50 all over the Humansdorp district, that probably indicates how abundant surface water is in the fields."

BirdLife KZN Forum  Standing (left to right): Steve Davis, Roy Cowgill (BirdLife Port Natal), Tony Roberts (BirdLife Northern Natal), Duncan McKenzie (Vryheid Wild Bird Club), Mike Spain ( BirdLife KZN Midlands) and Jan van Wyk ( BirdLife Southern KZN) Foreground: Pat Brenchley and Duncan Pritchard (BirdLife Zululand)

In KwaZulu-Natal conditions were windy in the Swartberg area. Jimmy and Lorraine Scott, who count KG11, remarked that the 7-8 month old Wattled Crane chick on Hebron farm was still with its parents, who were not showing any signs of breeding this winter. Two Oribi were also seen on their route. Bob Williams saw 5 Oribi the following day and Val Baxter frequently sees 5 resident Oribi on a neighbouring farm, but these unfortunately are under threat due to hunting. Ken Gordon, Neil Smith and Kevin Immelman saw 3 Oribi and the first Wattled Crane for route KL01. Thank you to KZN observers for including Oribi in their counts.

Trish Swanepoel and six Grade 6 learners, counting on Ann Gray's route.

Ann Gray counted KL11 with six Grade 6 learners from Winterton Primary School, who appear in the accompanying photograph with their teacher, Trish Swanepoel. Thirteen Oribi were seen on the Midlands routes. Shirley Bennett wrote that there were always 3 Ground Hornbills in the vicinity of KM06 until about 6-7 years ago. One was killed, something happened to the second, but one was seen on this count led by Evelyn Hughes. In winter 2002 Pam Nicol reported meeting a farmer, while counting KM05, who said that a Ground Hornbill had flown onto his farm that morning, a species not seen in that area for years. Gavin and Sandi Calverley saw 4 adult Ground Hornbills and 1 juvenile on their route KO01, the only route in KZN on which Ground Hornbills are sighted fairly regularly. If you see Ground Hornbills during the year, do let me know so that I can forward this information to the Ground Hornbill Research & Conservation Project. Frik Lemmer, of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, started a new route in the Paulpietersburg area. I have included photographs of Dundee observers I enjoyed meeting and people present at the BirdLife KZN Forum meeting in March this year.

Dundee observers:   Back row (left to right): Tony Roberts, Tony & Val Cross, Paul Garner, Margie Post and Elisabeth Durham Front row: Bev Garner, Brendon and Curtis Roberts, David McMillan and Mark Durham

In Mpumalanga conditions were very dry in the Wakkerstroom and Steenkampsberg areas. On MS09 three over-wintering White Stork were sighted. Alison Richardson wrote that "the Wakkerstroom wetland was almost completely dry and many of the dams were mere mud patches: the lack of water affected the bird numbers dramatically." Colin and Nalda Williams started a new route near Standerton on which 62 Blue Cranes were sighted, as well as Bald Ibis and Blue Korhaan.

Brian Colahan reports that it was a bit windy in the Free State, he is gathering the many Free State forms in. Mark Anderson said that the Karoo Large Terrestrial Bird Survey went well; he found a flock of 129 Blue Cranes after his count, six of which were colour ringed (all birds that Ronelle Visagie or he had ringed).

Please send in any outstanding roadcount forms as Linda Tsipa is capturing the data at the moment. We do appreciate your important contribution to this project.

Donella Young
Project Coordinator