Page 223 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

Slightly vegetated Keurbooms Lookout Beach (front), and the
more vegetated Keurbooms Peninsula (back), breeding localities
of Kelp Gulls near Plettenberg Bay, 2014 (photo M Witteveen)

“Voorstraat” facing north, is a ledge along The Island at the south
of the peninsula. Oystercatchers use this area for nesting, as well
as other areas on Robberg Peninsula, including The Island beach,
the southernmost point of The Island, the southeast part of the
peninsula (just before the point), the southern point of the penin-
sula and the northeast part of the peninsula just before the gap
(photo CG Hauvette)

Notes: The point of the peninsula is a moving sand spit Kelp Gull and Sacred Ibis nesting at Keurbooms Lookout, Novem-
that is occasionally flooded during the breeding season ber 2021, by which time there had been some recovery of the veg-
with loss of nests, eggs and chicks. From 2003–2014, etation (photo RJM Crawford)
Keurbooms Peninsula hosted the largest mainland Kelp
Gull breeding colony in South Africa (Whittington et al.
2016). The first published record of 250 pairs was for
the 1978/79 breeding season (Crawford et al. 1982). In
2012–2014 an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV/drone) was
used to undertake aerial counts of the peninsula, when
maxima of 1,373 (2012/13) and 1,217 (2013/14) active
nests of Kelp Gulls were recorded (Witteveen 2015).
While the easiest access to the peninsula is by boat, the
peninsula, particularly the sand spit, is a popular picnic site
for tourists during the December holiday. This causes some
disturbance to the breeding colony.
Keurbooms Peninsula has also been used by African
Spoonbills (Platalea alba), Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta),
and Sacred Ibis as a breeding site. Since 2019 the Sacred A view of the Kelp Gull colony on Keurboom Peninsula, November
Ibis have been moving their nesting site from the Peninsula 2021 (photo RJM Crawford)
to Lookout Beach across the Keurbooms River mouth. On
18 November 2021, the Caspian Tern pair had one chick at Arch Rock, Keurboom Strand
a nest towards the northern edge of the Kelp Gull colony Authors: AB Makhado, RJM Crawford and PA Whittington
and there were four African Spoonbill nests. Coordinates: 34.00250 S; 23.46885 E
Keurbooms Peninsula is a potential site to establish a Description: A substantial rock arch adjacent to the
penguin colony; predator and prey surveys in the vicinity Maatjies River at its entry to the Indian Ocean.
were undertaken to gather further information on its suit- Conservation status: It is not protected.
ability (BirdLife South Africa 2021). Species breeding: Kelp Gull

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