©2009 Full Circle Magazine.
52
52
birds of the south
The rarest bird on
the Peninsula?
by Rob Simmons Rob.simmons@uct.ac.za
September 2009 Vol6 No9
Birds that visit our gardens are among
the most common species and, of course,
the most visible; these include the flocks
of whiteyes, pairs of bulbuls, the robins,
and the pigeons and francolins that take
readily to feeding on seed and grain.
The more secretive ones are the Southern
Boubous (Laniarius ferrugine), that announce
their presence by duetting loudly from deep in
the bushes, the goshawks and sparrowhawks
in search of a meal as they panic the resident
starlings and, if you listen carefully, the Cape
Batis (Batis capensis) churring quietly as they
glean insects from leaves and branches.
On the mountainside around us are some
birds that are somewhat less common but still
familiar, such as the Cape Siskins (Serinus
totta) and Cape Canaries (Serinus canicollis),
White-necked Ravens (Corvus albicollis),
Rock Kestrels (Falco rupicolus) and, if you are
lucky, a resident Peregrine (Falco peregrinus)
streaking overhead panicking the Red-winged
Starlings (Onychognathus morio) from another
angle.
However, there are some species that
appear to be rarer than they were even 20
years ago. We know this because some long-
term residents have kept mental records; while
other professionals, such as Dr Terry Oatley
(who lived in Glencairn) kept bird-lists and
records of birds ringed in their own garden for
years. These birds include the Cape and
Sentinel Rock Thrushes (Monticola rupestris
and M. explorator) which once appeared in
gardens but now only occur high on the
mountainsides above our gardens. Included
here is the more secretive Fiery-necked
Nightjar (Caprimulgus pectoralis), which has
not been heard recently and may have
disappeared altogether? Other birds that we
know (because they were ringed) have
disappeared from around Elsie’s Peak are the
Ground Woodpeckers (Geocolaptes
olivaceus), possibly because of the growth in
vegetation-height over the years. It will take a
visit to the Silvermine Reserve and the
Noordhoek Peak to find these birds and it may
be no coincidence that they have apparently
retreated to higher ground. This may be due to
the more open vegetation there or because of
the cooler climate.
So what is the least common, or rarest,
resident bird in the Far South Peninsula? Well,
one candidate is likely to be the Buff-spotted
Flufftail (Sarothura elegans) that has been
recorded from time to time by Dr Peter Ryan of
the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African
Ornithology. He is one of the few people to
record this species above his house in
Muizenberg and we will ask him to tell us more
about this elusive species in a future article.
Another candidate species for the rarest
resident on the Peninsula is the Black Harrier
(Circus maurus). This is a particularly
interesting species because it is endemic (only
found locally) in South Africa and its core
breeding area is the Southwestern Cape
fynbos and Overberg. It is rare throughout its
range and its entire (world) population is
estimated at a mere 1 000 to 2 000 birds. Put
another way, if you were to reduce the known
Blue Crane (Anthropooedes paradisea)
population of South Africa by 95% you would
are mainly captured by the adult male who
then passes the food via an aerial food-pass
to the female (who does all the incubation
and brooding). She eats some of the hard-
earned prey herself before returning to the
nest to feed the youngsters.
This raptor has been classed as globally
‘Vulnerable’ in The BirdLife International Red
Data Book (Birdlife International) of
threatened birds, and for good reason. Birds
have lost ground to agriculture in the
Overberg region – where a mere 7% of the
original renosterveld vegetation (that harriers
breed in and forage over) remains intact.
Locally, alien vegetation has had an impact
because it reduces water run-off and
produces treed habitat that the harriers
eschew and avoid completely. So the birds
are rare because of habitat loss and because,
in the inland (montane) areas where it is also
found, the harriers have to hunt small, agile
birds and quail which are tougher to capture,
resulting in less food available for the
youngsters. We have also found that there
are higher predation levels in the mountains
that severely limits the productivity of such
nests.
So where can we find this bird locally and
what can you do? There is only one nest
known in the Peninsula (how much rarer can
you get than that!) and that it is found at Cape
Point in the Cape Peninsula National Park. It
is not even active every year but birds can be
seen floating around the Klasjackalsberg?
lowlands and surrounding areas. When they
have bred they have been successful, and
then dark brown youngsters with light fawn-
coloured bellies are a welcome addition to the
Park’s rather poor bird fauna.
So what can you do? The research at the
Fitz is now in its 10th year and about 150
harrier nest-sites are known from throughout
South Africa. These are monitored in most
years to record eggs and young produced.
You can assist by sending me sightings of
any clearly-identified birds at the e-ddress
below, with a note on (i) the date seen; (ii) a
location (preferably a GPS but this is
optional); and (iii) whether adult or immature
birds were seen. By doing this we can build
up a database of sightings which will tell us
where the birds are concentrated in Spring,
Summer and Winter. For those interested,
these sightings go on a national database run
by Kevin Ravno called Natural World
(www.natworld.org), and can be viewed by
anyone who wishes to join. Please let me
have your sightings and good luck in seeing
the Peninsula’s rarest, if not most beautiful,
resident bird, the Black Harrier.
get the same population as presently estimated
for the Black Harrier.
So what do we know about this species and
where can we see it? We know it breeds on the
ground in damper locations in fynbos areas not
impacted by humans. It is currently in the midst
of its main breeding season (August to
September) and the three to four eggs laid
generally result in one to two young being
fledged if they are in coastal areas. Here,
students at the FitzPatrick have found that the
stunning black-and-white adults feed mainly on
mice – Striped Mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) or
the larger Vlei Rat (Otomys species). These
