Page 61 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

2.2.3.1 Coastal breeding localities of seabirds in Skeleton Coast
National Park

Authors: DB Tom, and RJM Crawford
Abstract:
Five seabird species have bred at 34 localities along the coastline of Skeleton Coast National Park (SCNP) in northern Namibia:
Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis), White-breasted Cormorant (P. lucidus), Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus), Grey-headed Gull
(Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus) and Damara Tern (Sternula balaenarum). The breeding has taken place at 34 localities between
the mouths of the Cunene (Kunene) and Ugab rivers that include both natural sites and artificial structures such as ship wrecks. The
most recent estimates of numbers of Damara Terns breeding in SCNP suggest that 192 pairs bred there, or c. 25% of the species’
population.
Introduction:
Records exist of breeding by five species of seabirds along the coastal zone of Skeleton Coast National Park (SCNP), Namibia,
which stretches from the mouth of the Cunene River at the border with Angola in the north to that of the Ugab River. The park’s
southern fence is just south of the Ugab River mouth (Braby 2011). The positions of the 34 localities are shown in Figure 1. Cape
Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis) bred at four of the localities, White-breasted Cormorant (P. lucidus) at ten, Kelp Gull (Larus
dominicanus) at three, Grey-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus) at one and Damara Tern (Sternula balaenarum) at 24.
Cape and White-breasted Cormorants, Kelp Gulls and Damara Terns also breed coastally in southern Angola. However, the Cunene River
mouth is the northernmost recorded locality for breeding by Grey-headed Gulls in the Benguela ecosystem.
Records of breeding in SCNP are collated below with brief descriptions of localities used for breeding. ‘√’ signifies breeding occurred
at the locality but the numbers were not ascertained; ‘?’ that breeding may have taken place. A short summary of methods used to obtain
estimates of numbers breeding is given in the chapter ‘Introduction to Seabird Breeding Localities’. Where data were available, the
number of Damara Terns breeding in 2021/22 were estimated from Kolberg (2022), as the larger of the count of pairs/nests (each fledgling
seen was assumed to represent a pair) and an estimate of breeding pairs that was derived from a relationship between approximately
concurrent counts of numbers of pairs and adults (Braby et al. 2024a). The most recent estimates of numbers of Damara Terns breeding
in SCNP suggest that 192 pairs bred there, or c. 25% of the species’ population (Braby et al. 2024b).
Only five localities (the Cunene River mouth and surrounds, Die Oase, the Henrietta Spachette wreck and saltpan, the Toscanini pylons
and Decca station and Huab River and surrounds) hosted more than one seabird species. These sites are dealt with first and then followed
by accounts of localities used by single species. In all groupings, the localities are ordered from north to south.

1. Multispecies breeding localities Grey-headed Gull
Year No. of pairs
Cunene River mouth and surrounds
Coordinates: 17.25 S; 11.80 E (estuary); 17.27 S; 2002 a 6
11.73 E (surrounds) a Paterson (2004)
Description: White-breasted Cormorants and Grey-
headed Gulls bred on vegetated, rocky islands in the Damara Tern
Cunene River estuary (Brooke et al. 1982, Patterson
2004). Nests of Grey-headed Gulls were platforms of reed, Year No. of pairs
lined with grass, that were built on top of short spiky grass 1992 a 2
c. 20 m from the water’s edge (Paterson 2004). Damara 2021/22 b 5
Terns bred in the surrounding area south of the estuary
(Braby 2011). a Braby (2011)
Conservation status: It falls within SCNP but is a popular b Kolberg (2022) as described in Braby et al. (2024a)
place for fishing, which may result in substantial vehicular
traffic causing disturbance at breeding habitat (Kolberg Die Oase
2022). Coordinates: 19.45 S; 12.82 E
Note: Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia), which breed to Description: A reed-fringed lake c. 7.5 km from the sea.
the north at Ilha dos Tigres in southern Angola and along Cape and White-breasted Cormorants nested among the
the Namibian coast between Swakopmund and the Orange reeds (Cooper et al. 1982, Kemper and Simmons 2015). In
River, occur at the Cunene River mouth. On nine counts 1983, a solitary Kelp Gull nest was located on a sandspit at
undertaken at the mouth, the mean number seen (± SD) the lake (Bridgeford 1982).
was 11 ± 16, with a maximum count of 50 (Simmons 2015). Conservation status: The site is within SCNP.
Species and numbers breeding:
Species and numbers breeding: Cape Cormorant
White-breasted Cormorant Year No. of pairs
Year No. of pairs a
1981 a 15 1981 c. 75
a Cooper et al. (1982)
a Brooke et al. (1982)

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