Page 196 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

Ospunt Rock Year No. of pairs
Coordinates: 34.3867 S; 18.8358 E 2013 0
Description: A rock off the east of Cape Hangklip.
Conservation status: It is not protected. 2014 0
Species and numbers breeding: There was one record 2015 0
of White-breasted Cormorant breeding at the rock. 2016 0

Year No. of pairs 2017 0
1976 23 2018 0
2011 0 2019 0
2012 0
2013 0 Grootvleie
2014 0 Coordinates: 34.3617 S; 18.8888 E
2015 0 Description: White-breasted Cormorants bred on the
2016 0 ground and on bushes on an island in Grootvleie Lake
2017 0 (Brooke et al. 1982).
2018 0 Conservation status: It is not protected.
Species and numbers breeding: White-breasted Cormo-
rant bred in the late 1970s and early 1980s but no longer
Maasbaai Rock do.
Coordinates: 34.3867 S; 18.8327 E
Description: A rock off Maasbaai slipway. Year No. of pairs
Conservation status: It is not protected. 1979 35
Species and numbers breeding: Breeding by Bank, 1980 34
White-breasted and Crowned cormorants was observed at 1981 37
the rock in 1980. That by Bank Cormorants persisted until 2011 0
at least 1997 but no nesting by any of the species has been 2012 0
observed since 2006. Annual numbers of pairs breeding 2013 0
are shown on the following table. 2014 0
2015 0
Bank White-breasted Crowned
Year 2016 0
Cormorant Cormorant Cormorant
2017 0
1980 35 18 6 2018 0
1996 26 2019 0
1997 5
2006 0 Stony Point, Betty’s Bay
2007 0 Coordinates: 34.3736 S; 18.8909 E
2008 0 Description: The Stony Point Nature Reserve at Betty’s
2009 0 Bay is a vegetated area around a rocky point. The first
2010 0 record of seabirds breeding there was of four pairs of
2011 0 0 0 Crowned Cormorant in 1955 (Crawford et al. 1982b);
a maximum of 41 pairs bred at the site in 2018. Sixteen
2012 0 0 pairs of White-breasted Cormorant bred at Stony Point in
2013 0 0 1957 (Brooke et al. 1982) and the maximum was 111 pairs
2014 0 0 in 1999 (Crawford et al. 2013b). Single pairs of Kelp Gull
2015 0 0 nested at Stony Point in five years between 2010 and 2016.
2016 0 0 The locality was colonised by African Penguins in 1982
2017 0 0 0 (Broni 1982). The colony grew to 104 pairs in 2000, > 1,000
2018 0 0 0 pairs in 2011 and attained a maximum of > 2,500 pairs in
2019 0 0 2015. It has since remained > 1,500 pairs and in the 2010s
was one of South Africa’s best performing penguin colo-
Holbaaipunt Rock nies (Sherley et al. 2020). The rapid growth of the colony
Coordinates: 34.3751 S; 18.8623 E in the early part of the 21st century matched a shift of the
Description: A rock off Holbaai Point. main prey of African Penguins (sardine Sardinops sagax
Conservation status: It is not protected. and anchovy Engraulis encrasicholus) to the south and
Species and numbers breeding: There was one record east (Crawford et al. 2015). Earlier, losses of penguins to
of White-breasted Cormorant breeding at the rock. Records mainland predators caused a decrease in the colony from
of observations are shown on the following table. 1990 to 1993 (Whittington et al. 1996). The locality was
then fenced exclude predators and those entering the site
Year No. of pairs were removed. A boardwalk through the colony allows the
1965 1 public to observe the penguins.
2011 0 Cape Cormorants colonised Stony Point in 2010 (Craw-
ford et al. 2016) and > 2,000 pairs bred there in 2018. In
2012 0

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