Page 259 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

Port Edward estuary Durban quarry
Coordinates: 31.0421 S; 30.2240 E Coordinates: 29.8145 S; 30.9717 E
Description: A tree in the estuary. Description: East-to-south-facing ‘cliffs’ of abandoned and
Conservation status: Not protected. flooded Clare Road Quarry.
Species and numbers breeding: Conservation status: Not protected.
White-breasted Cormorant Species and numbers breeding:
White-breasted Cormorant
Year No. of pairs
Year No. of pairs Source
Mar–Apr 2012 4 (“< 5 nests”)
Apr 2009 21 1
Source: D Kleynhans, BirdLife Trogons Bird Club in litt. in 10 Jun 2022 22 2
Crawford et al. (2013)
Note: “Breed annually” (D Kleynhans in litt.). Sources: 1 DG Allan in Crawford et al. (2013); 2 DG Allan
(unpubl.)
Clairwood Racecourse Notes: Nests are sometimes threatened when bulldozers
Coordinates: 29.9373 S; 30.9703 E push excavated material over the edge of the top of the
Description: Dead trees on a small island in a small dam. ‘cliffs’ during land-levelling procedures. African Sacred Ibis
Conservation status: Not protected. (Threskiornis aethiopicus) have also bred at this site.
Species and numbers breeding: Mt Edgecombe
White-breasted Cormorant Coordinates: 29.7083 S, 31.0414 E
Year No. of pairs Source Description: On a concrete block in a dam.
Apr 1998 27 1 Conservation status: Not formally protected.
Species and numbers breeding:
2003 Probably bred 2 White-breasted Cormorant
2012 0 1
Mar 2022 0 3 Year White-breasted Source
Cormorant
Sources: 1 DG Allan in Crawford et al. (2013); 2 McInnes Pairs
and Allan (2004); 3 DG Allan (unpubl.)
Note: Bred with Reed Cormorants (Microcarbo africanus). Jun-Oct 2018 0 Stuart Dicks (per comm.)
May 2019 6-10 Stuart Dicks (per. comm.)
Dec 2020 at least 3 Stuart Dicks (per. comm.)
Durban Bay Apr 2021 5-10 Stuart Dicks (per. comm.)
Coordinates: 29.8731 S; 31.0564 E (harbour mouth) and Jun 2022 5-8 Stuart Dicks (per. comm.)
29.8944 S; 31.0061 E (Silt Canal)
Description: A tall pole emergent in the harbour Note: In a small fig tree growing out of a concrete block
mouth and floating steel harbour buoys in the Silt Canal. structure in a medium-sized dam on a golf eco-estate.
Conservation status: Not protected. Reed Cormorant and African Darter (Anhinga rufa) were
Species and numbers breeding: also breeding. There was no evidence of breeding by any
White-breasted Cormorant waterbirds at this site in photos taken June, July and Octo-
ber 2018; subsequent photos showed a rapid defoliation of
Year No. of pairs Source the tree as cormorants and darters nested in it.
May–Jul 2002 1 (harbour mouth) Allan (2012) Zimbali
Apr 2008 7 (Silt Canal) Allan (2012) Coordinates: 29.5491 S; 31.2030 E
May 2009 1 (harbour mouth) Allan (2012) Description: A Ficus natalensis tree on an island in the
main Zimbali Lake.
Conservation status: Not protected.

A photo (DG Allan) taken in March 2022 of the site at Clairwood
Racecourse where White-breasted Cormorants previously bred.
The island and dead trees on which the cormorants bred had
ceased to exist. In 2022, the surrounding was being developed as White-breasted Cormorants breeding on ‘cliffs’ at the Durban
a logistics park (DG Allan, pers. obs.) (Clare Road) quarry (photo DG Allan)

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