Page 186 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

information centre, residential area and car parks. Penguins
Year Cape Cormorant
are readily seen from viewing decks at Foxy Beach and
1981 9 move past bathers to and from the sea at Boulders Beach.
2012 0 They need to avoid traffic in parking areas and those
2014 0 prospecting further inland must cross the busy Queens
2015 500 Road that links Simon’s Town to Cape Point. Penguins
2016 500 at the colony are at risk to natural and feral mainland
predators. Attempts were made to remove Caracal (Caracal
Smitswinkel Bay caracal) that entered the colony. Ark Rock lies offshore at
Coordinates: 34.2623 S; 18.4694 E 34.1922 S; 18.4540 E. The colony attracted many local
Description: Cliffs in the bay. and international visitors and generated substantial gate
Conservation status: It is within Table Mountain National revenue and employment (Lewis et al. 2012). Numbers of
Park. visitors to the section of the colony that is administered by
Species and numbers breeding: Cape Cormorant bred South African National Parks (SANParks) for split years
on the cliffs. Numbers of pairs recorded are shown on the (1 April to 31 March) are shown on the following table
following table. (information kindly provided by SANParks; *numbers for
2022/23 only reflect visitors up until 31 January 2023).
Year Cape Cormorant The lower numbers visiting in 2020/21 and 2021/22 are
2008 574 attributable to lockdowns enforced during the covid-19
2015 0 pandemic of that period.
2016 0
Split year Number of visitors
Steenbras Rock, Partridge Point 2016/17 847,416
Coordinates: 34.2556 S; 18.4815 E 2017/18 928,042
Description: A rock offshore at Partridge Point.
Conservation status: It is not protected. 2018/19 856,133
Species and numbers breeding: Bank and White- 2019/20 787,867
breasted cormorants bred at the rock. Numbers of pairs 2020/21 63,871
are shown on the following table. Maxima were 79 pairs of 2021/22 240,410
Bank Cormorant in 1988 and 44 pairs of White-breasted
Cormorant in 2015. 2022/23* 447,414

Bank
Year Cormorant White-breasted Conservation status: The northern section of the penguin
breeding area is within Table Mountain National Park; the
Cormorant
1975 23 southern section (Burghers’ Walk) is managed by the City
1976 18 of Cape Town (Marnewick et al. 2015).
1980 18 Species and numbers breeding: Numbers of pairs of
penguins breeding at the locality are shown on the following
1986 67 23 table. The penguin colony was initiated in 1985 and grew
1988 79 19 rapidly during a period of high anchovy abundance, with
1995 25 immigration of first-time breeders from Dyer Island to the
1996 27 17 southeast (Crawford et al. 2000). It held > 500 pairs from
1997 15 23 1997 onwards.
1998 13
2006 13 15 Year African Penguin
2008 23 23 1956 0
2010 16 1985 2
2011 21 17 1987 7
2012 22 11 1988 34
2014 21 1989 38
2015 20 44 1990 54
2016 20 15 1991 131
2017 21 18 1992 158
2018 20 1993 241
2019 5 1994 359
2020 11 1995 366
1996 416
Boulders Bay and coast to south 1997 726
Coordinates: 34.1950 S; 18.4484 E
Description: A strip of coast having boulders, rocky shore 1998 555
and a sandy beach. There is dense vegetation inshore of 1999 906
the coastline. The altitude rises rapidly from the beach to an 2000 949

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