Thanks to well known birder Eric Barnes, local bird enthusiasts have a comprehensive bird check list for the Clovelly and Fish Hoek Valley. Eric has lived in Clovelly for over 50 years and has kept meticulous records of bird sightings in the South Peninsula for over 30 years. While this bird list is a compilation of the bird sightings he has recorded in the Clovelly & Fish Hoek Valley from January 2006 to November 2011, it can also be used as a guide for bird watching in the South Peninsula. His neat hand written data sheets of bird sightings and finely drawn graphs of the seasonal variation of species record his passion for birds and provide an extremely valuable record of information which spans decades. Photo of Eric Barnes with some of his many record ledgers of bird sightings.
Eric recalls that he has always been aware of birds, but it was only once he bought a pair of binoculars that his interest really developed. In 1966 he joined the Cape Bird Club, a branch of Birdlife SA and has been an active member of the Club’s Conservation Committee, and has shared his knowledge by writing articles for their magazine Promerops and for the press over the years.
Eric is a mine of bird information and can explain the relationships between many species, when or where to look for them and which birds are being seen less frequently and which more often. Apart from his bird records for the Clovelly & Fish Hoek Valley, he has extensive records of bird sighting for other areas in the South Peninsula. Wildevoelvlei and the abutting waste water treatment works used to be one of his favourite birding sites. The value of his bird records is well illustrated by his accounts of seeing over 2000 coot on Wildevoelvlei at a single count in the past. Then about 12 years ago, the bird numbers dropped so dramatically that he stopped recording birds at Wildevoelvlei. “There was no longer anything to
count., ” he explained. He still does a monthly bird count at the waste water treatment works which is not a natural system, but ironically, is providing a better water bird habitat than the severely stressed Wildevoelvlei. While the experts argue about the reasons for the dramatic change to Wildevoelvlei and the Authorities keep approving more development in the vlei’s catchment, Eric’s records are a classic Canary in the Coalmine. They make a clear statement that the system is in trouble and it is unlikely that only birds have been affected!!! RHS Photo of Eric pointing out the seasonal variations of bird species as well as the decline of sightings of some species over the years.
On a happier note, Eric’s Bird Check List is a very special resource for all levels of birders. It is a challenge for those of us who would personally like to see all the birds in our area – and perhaps find a new `mythical‘ bird not on the list. It is also an excellent aid to identification. If we are uncertain about the ID of a particular bird, the list provides a guide of possible candidates – still quite a challenge with 127 birds on Eric’s list. Have Fun.
KimK
Bird Check List:
Key: C - Common sighting; B – Breeds locally; I - infrequently seen; R - only a few sightings recorded; AY - all year sightings
Sporadic: no specific pattern to sightings; Summer: Summer pattern to sightings; Transient: Seen flying overhead
Birds common name (new name) |
Comment / date of sightings |
Frequency |
Season |
| Cape Francolin (Cape Spurfowl) | C B | AY | |
| Helmeted Guineafowl | C B | AY | |
| White Faced Duck | Jan 2009 | R | |
| Egyptian goose | C B | AY | |
| Spurwing Goose | Mainly winter from 2008 | I | |
| African Black Duck | I | ||
| Yellow Billed Duck | C | AY | |
| Greater Honey-guide | 1 record Oct 2010 | R | |
| Ground Woodpecker | Sporadic 2006 – 2009 | I | |
| Cardinal Woodpecker | Sporadic in 2010 / Aug 2011 | R | |
| Malachite Kingfisher | I | ||
| Giant Kingfisher | I | Sporadic | |
| Pied Kingfisher | C | AY | |
| Speckled Mousebird | Decreasing sightings | I | |
| Klaas Cuckoo | C B | AY | |
| Diderick Cuckoo | 1 Record | R | |
| Burchall’s Coucal | Used to be common in Clovelly / seen again in 2010/ | R | |
| Alpine Swift | C | summer | |
| African Black Swift | C | summer | |
| Little Swift | Decreasing sightings | I | |
| White-rumped Swift | C | summer | |
| Spotted Eagle Owl | C B | ||
| African Wood Owl | Clovelly Garden in 2007 | R | |
| Fiery – necked Nightjar | C | Sporadic | |
| Speckled Pigeon | C B | AY | |
| African Olive Pigeon | 1 record | R | |
| Laughing Dove | C B | AY | |
| Cape Turtle Dove | I | ||
| Red-Eyed Dove | C | AY | |
| Common Moorhen | C B | AY | |
| Red-knobbed Coot | Less common in summer | C B | |
| African Snipe | 3 records | R | summer |
| Greater Painted Snipe | 1 record Feb 2006 | R | |
| Water Dikkop (Thick-knee) | 1 record | R | |
| Spotted Dikkop (Thick-knee) | C B | ||
| African Black Oystercatcher | C | ||
| Three-banded Plover | 2 records Summer 2006 | R | |
| Blacksmith Plover (Lapwing) | C | AY | |
| Crowned Plover (Lapwing) | Sightings in 2006 & 2007 then none – decreasing | Decreasing! | |
| Kelp Gull | C | AY | |
| Grey-headed Gull | 2 records in 2006 | R | |
| Hartlaub’s Gull | C | AY | |
| Caspian Tern | 1 record Aug 2007 | R | |
| Swift Tern | Absent in Late winter | C | |
| Sandwich Tern | Feb, Mar 2006 | R | |
| Common Tern | 3 records | R | |
| Black-shouldered Kite | Decreasing sightings | C B | sporadic |
| Black Kite | 2 records Nov 2008 / Nov 2010 | R | |
| African Fish Eagle | flies down Valley | I | transient |
| Gymnogene / African Harrier Hawk | Increasing – More sightings in 2011 | I | |
| African Goshawk | Feb 2008 to Feb 2010 / jul 2011 | I | |
| Red- breasted Sparrow Hawk (Rufous –chested Sparrow Hawk ) | 1 record July 2008 | R | |
| Black Sparrow Hawk | C B | ||
| Steppe Buzzard | C | ||
| Jackal Buzzard | C | ||
| Black Eagle (Verreaux’s Eagle) | 2 records | R | transient |
| Booted Eagle | 1 record | R | |
| Rock Kestral | C | AY | |
| Peregrine Falcon | C | ||
| Little Grebe (Dabchick) | 3 records | R | |
| Cape Gannet | Seen fishing in the Bay | C | |
| African Darter | C | AY | |
| Reed Cormorant | C | AY | |
| Crowned Cormorant | C | AY | |
| White- breasted Cormorant | C | AY | |
| Cape Cormorant | C | AY | |
| Little Egret | C | ||
| Yellow-billed Egret | Increasing frequency | C | AY |
| Grey Heron | C | AY | |
| Black-headed Heron | C | AY | |
| Purple Heron | C | AY | |
| Cattle Egret | C | AY | |
| Black-crowned Night Heron | 5 records in Spring | R | |
| Little Bittern | Infrequent till 2011 increasing sightings | I | |
| Glossy Ibis | I | ||
| Hadeda Ibis | C B | AY | |
| African Sacred Ibis | C | AY | |
| African Spoonbill | C | AY | |
| White Stork | 2 records Feb 2010 / Oct 2011 | R | |
| Fork-tailed Drongo | 1 record Oct 2007 | R | |
| African Paradise Flycatcher | C B | Summer | |
| Southern Boubou | C B | AY | |
| Bokmakierie | C B | AY | |
| Cape Batis | C B | AY | |
| Pied Crow | C | AY | |
| White-necked Raven | C | AY | |
| Common Fiscal Shrike | C B | AY | |
| Brown-throated Martin | C | ||
| Barn Swallow (European Swallow) | I | Summer | |
| White-throated Swallow | C B | Summer | |
| Greater Stripped Swallow | C B | Summer | |
| Rock Martin | C | Summer | |
| Black Saw-wing Swallow | Decreasing occurrence | I | Summer |
| Cape Bulbul | C B | AY | |
| Sombre Bulbul (Sombre Greenbul) | Used to be mainly summer now AY | C | AY |
| Cape Grassbird | C | AY | |
| Little Rush Warbler (African Sedge Warbler) | Increasing sightings | C B? | AY |
| African Reed Warbler | I | Early Summer | |
| Lesser Swamp Warbler (Cape Reed Warbler) | C B? | AY | |
| Cape White-eye | C B | AY | |
| Levaillant’s Cisticola | C | AY | |
| Neddicky | 1 record | I | |
| Karoo Prinia (Spotted Prinia) | C B | AY | |
| Cape Rock Thrush | I | ||
| Olive Thrush | C | AY | |
| Fiscal Flycatcher | 4 records 2009 – 11 | I B | |
| African Dusky Flycatcher | C | AY | |
| Cape Robin (Cape Robin-chat) | C B | AY | |
| Familiar Chat | I | sporadic | |
| Red-winged Starling | C B | AY | |
| European Starling | C B | AY | |
| Orange-breasted Sunbird | Summer preference 2010 +11 AY | C B | |
| Malachite Sunbird | C B | AY | |
| Lesser double-collared Sunbird | C B | AY | |
| Cape Sugar-bird | C | summer | |
| Cape Weaver | C B | ||
| Southern-masked Weaver | Mainly Winter, sometimes till Dec | B | June- Dec |
| Common Waxbill | C B | AY | |
| Pin-tailed Whydah | C | sporadic | |
| House Sparrow | 2 records Feb + May 2008 | R | |
| Cape Sparrow | C | sporadic | |
| Southern Grey-headed Sparrow | 3 Records Mar 2008 / May Oct 2010 | R | |
| Cape Wagtail | C | AY | |
| Common Chaffinch | 6 records | I | |
| Cape Canary | C B | AY | |
| Brimstone Canary | C | AY | |
| Cape Bunting | C | AY |
View other entries in Enviro News, Environmental Matters >>
After the wonderful rains on Monday (we recorded 28mm at our home in Risiview in Fish Hoek) we had great swirls of swallows circling fairly high overhead, some softly calling. I first noticed them before the initial downpour at about 7.30am and they were very active again in the late afternoon/evening. Interested in finding out whether the weather had something to do with the great number of and the high level of activity amongst the birds, I emailed Eric who sent me the following response.
“I am not an entomologist so don’t really know why there seems to be almost an explosion of flying insects when I think a low pressure appears such as we had on Monday. I didn’t see any swallows on Monday afternoon but there were certainly a fair number of swifts (African black swifts and maybe others) over Risiview way. They feed on insects so they fly around with their mouths open to scoop up supper as they pass through the clouds of insects! Of course swallows do the same thing although they fly at lower speeds and often over water bodies where the midges swarm. There may well have been swallows with the swifts yesterday evening The Greater striped swallows have a very attractive melodious warble which we always enjoy while Black swifts screech but not at all unpleasant.”
Interestingly, I have not seen seen the flocks since. Perhaps the Southeaster had been too strong for the midges and the miggies?!
Viv
Hi Kim and Viv,
It would be useful to unlock the bird list from your interview and make it available for others to download.
It is a very important list for the area and should be available to be distributed as far as possible.
Regards,
Gavin Lawson.
Hi Gavin, Yes! it does need to be available to encourage and support bird enthusiasts. Will give some thought to the technology.
Kim
[...] contribution. For a comprehensive list of birds for the Fish Hoek and Clovelly valley go to. http://www.scenicsouth.co.za/2012/01/bird-list-for-the-clovelly-fish-hoek-valley/ Kim von Brandis and Paul Miller of the Save our Seas shark Center in Kalk Bay with Grade 7 [...]
Hi all
Yesterday afternoon (16 February 2012)at 5 o’clock there was a Brown-backed honeybird (Sharp-billed honeyguide) present in Clovelly. I watched it for about 5 minutes until it flew off in a southerly direction. It was in our garden on the hillside moving from electric wires to a tree before it left To the best of my knowledge this is the first visit by this species to Clovelly. ( we have lived here for over 50 years)
All the best
Eric Barnes
Hi Kim, I have linked this article to the CBC website, under General articles.
Regards,
Gavin.
Also linked the article to the Zandvlei Trust site under ZIMP, then birds.
Regards,
Gavin.
Woke up this morning to flocks of twitchers outside our home in Hilton Road, Clovelly… come to welcome a Little Crake to our wetlands!
[...] http://www.scenicsouth.co.za/2012/01/bird-list-for-the-clovelly-fish-hoek-valley/ [...]
My wife and I have been hearing Marsh and Barn owls at night neat the sports field in Silverglades for years. Has anybody else positively identified these species as visitors to the valley
I agree with Gavin Lawson – great list, but not user friendly in terms of transportability. Trying to print it for my son to use as a guide was cumbersome. Please attach the list in a format that can be downloaded and used!
Thanks so much.
Last year some time there was a Barn owl at the school in Upper Recreation Road. It was there for only a few days as far as I know and I didn’t get to see it because I misunderstood which school and by the time I found my mistake it was too late. About 8 or 10 years ago a very experienced bird guide was staying at Afton Grove in Noordhoek and he saw a Marsh owl at the reed bed wetland on the opposite side of the road. It seems that these are the only two substantiated instances of either of these having been in this area. I think Kim had a Wood owl in their garden a while ago which I really would have liked to see because the only time I have seen one was a not very good view when in the Zoutpansberg a few years ago.
Good news on the birding front here is that there there have been reports of a number of species not often seen in many places in this valley. Orange throated longclaws have been present at the sports fields first discovered on the model aeroplane landing strip. Over 20 years ago they were regularly seen in grassy patches at Wildevoelvlei. With the apparent departure of the Little crake there are still enough interesting creatures around for observers of wildlife. Apart from the otters of the Cape clawless variety which recently produced three young and seem to be hiding now, yesterday Friday 6th April there were an African purple gallinule ( now swamphen ) at the pond below the bottom gabion, a young Dabchick ( Little grebe ) below the upper gabion and a Red-knobbed coot on one of the circular reservoirs at the golf course. There was also a Verreaux’s eagle over Trappieskop. Yesterday also an adult Black sparrowhawk was seen to swoop into a tree nearby and emerge with a late lunch, probably a dove of some sort. To-day another raptor came from the same tree but was too quick –
it was probably a Rufous-breasted sparrowhawk not often seen in the vicinity.