State of the Bay Report 2010-Final - Anchor Environmental

11 BIRDS
11.1 Introduction
Anchor Environmental
Together with the five islands within the Bay and Vondeling Island slightly to the South,
Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon provide extensive and varied habitat for waterbirds. This
includes sheltered deepwater marine habitats associated with Saldanha Bay itself, sheltered beaches
in the Bay, islands that serve as breeding refuges for seabirds, rocky shoreline surrounding the
islands and at the mouth of the Bay, and the extensive intertidal salt marshes, mud- and sandflats of
the sheltered Langebaan Lagoon. Langebaan Lagoon has 1 750 ha of intertidal mud- and sandflats
and 600 ha of salt marshes (Summers 1977). Sea grass Zostera capensis beds are more extensive at
the southern end of the lagoon. Beds of the red seaweed Gracilaria verrucosa are mainly found at
the mouth and patchily distributed over the sandflats. There are also small saltpans and drainage
channels which add habitat diversity around the lagoon. Most of the plant communities bordering
the lagoon belong to the West Coast Strandveld, a vegetation type which is seriously threatened by
agricultural activities and urban development. Twelve percent of this vegetation type is conserved
within the park (Boucher and Jarman 1977, Jarman 1986). Although there is no river flowing into the
Lagoon, it has some estuarine characteristics due to the input of fresh groundwater in the southern
portion of the lagoon.
Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon are not only extensive in area but provide much of the
sheltered habitat along the otherwise very exposed West Coast of South Africa. There are only four
other large estuarine systems which provide sheltered habitat comparable to Langebaan Lagoon for
birds along the West Coast – the Orange, Olifants and Berg and Rietvlei/Diep. There are no
comparable sheltered bays and relatively few offshore islands. Indeed, these habitats are even of
significance at a national scale. While South Africa’s coastline has numerous estuaries (about 290), it
has few very large sheltered coastal habitats such as bays, lagoons or estuaries. Indeed, the
Langebaan-Saldanha area is comparable in its conservation value to systems such as Kosi, St Lucia
and the Knysna estuary.
Saldanha Bay, and particularly Langebaan Lagoon, are thus of tremendous importance in
terms of the diversity and abundance of waterbird populations supported. A total of 283 species of
birds have been recorded within the boundaries of the West Coast National Park, of which 11 are
seabirds, known to breed on the islands within the Bay (Birdlife International 2011).
11.2 Birds of Saldanha Bay and the Islands
11.2.1 National importance of Saldanha Bay and the islands for birds
Saldanha Bay and the islands are important not so much for the diversity of birds they
support, but for the sheer numbers of birds of a few species in particular.
The islands of, Vondeling (21 ha), Schaapen (29 ha), Malgas (18 ha) and Jutten (43 ha),
Meeuw (7 ha) and Marcus (17 ha), support important seabird breeding colonies and forms one of
only a few such breeding areas along the West Coast of South Africa. They support nationallyimportant
breeding populations of African Penguin (recently up-listed to Endangered under IUCN’s
red data list criteria), Cape Gannet (Vulnerable), Cape Cormorant (Near-threatened), White-breasted
Cormorant, Crowned Cormorant (Near Threatened), and Bank Cormorant (Vulnerable), Kelp and
Hartlaub’s gulls and Swift Tern.
In addition to seabird breeding colonies, the islands also support important populations of
the rare and endemic African Black Oystercatcher (Near-threatened). These birds are resident on
State of the Bay 2010: Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon 234