Page 247 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

St Croix Island
Coordinates: 33.799 S; 25.770 E
Description: A rocky, steep island, 12 ha in size that rises
to 58 m above sea level. Vegetation is sparse. A high rocky
ridge runs east to west across the island and there are a
few buildings at the south west that were built for guano
collectors in 1944 (Rand 1963). Their shade and that of
boulders and crevices gives some relief to penguins that
nest in late summer and autumn. However, high tempera-
tures and a lack of shade over most of the island may cause
many penguins to abandon breeding attempts and return
later to nest (Randall et al. 1981, Randall 1989). White-
breasted Cormorants have mostly nested near the summit
of the ridge and Cape Cormorants and Roseate Terns on
its slopes. Landing requires clambering onto rocks at the
edge of a gully on the west side.
Seabird guano was collected at St Croix Island in six
years between 1946 and 1958, the total quantity removed St Croix Island (photo BM Dyer)
from the island in this period being 99 metric tons (Tom et
al. 2024).
Eggs of African Penguins were collected at St Croix Is- Year African Penguin Cape Cormorant White- breasted Cormorant Kelp Gull Roseate Tern
land until 1935 but no records of these collections have
been found (Rand 1963, Makhado et al. 2022).
Conservation status: It falls within GAENP and has re- 1992 4 3 9
stricted access. 1993 19478 60
Species breeding: African Penguin, Cape Cormorant, 1994
White-breasted Cormorant, Kelp Gull, Roseate Tern. 1995
Numbers breeding: The maximum numbers (pairs) of 1996 93 21 0
seabirds breeding annually at St Croix Island, 1919–2022. 1997 0 4 44
1998 14005 117
30
1999
African Penguin Cormorant White- Cormorant Kelp Gull Tern 2001 16950
Year Cape breasted Roseate 2000 15211 0 89

1919 c. 30 2002 9116 10 30
2003
1956 6000 c. 285 2004 10088 61 0 30
1958 86 2005 4153 126 21 10 29
1960 2 2006 8077 157 26 0
1967 2007 4363 23 23 51
1969 √ 2008 7739 117 143 25
1970 100 2009 6824 87 127 6 0
1971 2 2010 135 79 55 0
1972 0 2011 8500 0 6 0
1973 0 2012 6625 48 72 0
1974 0 2013 7657 31 89 5 0
1975 c. 53 2014 8685 162 102 8 0
1976 25 2015 7616 323 60 6 0
1977 410 36 2016 6107 223 111 5 0
1978 208 0 2017 6145 89 0 0
1979 13821 30 2018 5428 0
1980 14850 46 ? 2019 3638 56 1
1981 42 0 2020 1500 51
1982 √ 2021 1543 54
1983 30 √ 2022 1262
1984 32 0
1985 19448 32 √ Notes: Almost 19,500 pairs of African Penguin bred at
1986 134 the island in 1993, but this subsequently fell to only 1,262
1987 pairs in 2022. Maxima of 323 pairs of Cape Cormorant
1988 (2015), 143 pairs of White-breasted Cormorant (2008), 410
1989 pairs of Kelp Gull (1977), and 134 pairs of Roseate Tern
1990 (1986) have bred at the island. An increase in the number
1991 of White-breasted Cormorants at St Croix Island after the

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