African Penguin, Betty's Bay

Back in 2009 we visited Boulders Beach to take a look at the African penguin colony - this time it was the turn of the only other mainland nest site, Stony Point.

Needless to say the penguins have much appeal, and the varying states of moult provide much "oohs" and "aahs" from birder and non birder alike.

Check out how much fatter the youngsters are compared to the adults!

Keeping feet cool in the rock pool!

Piles of moulted downy feathers...

Security was tight with this Rock Hyrax on guard at the ticket office!

Birding at the site was good - bank, crowned, cape and white-breasted cormorant, grey heron, hartlaub's gull, cape gannet, swift tern, speckled mousebird, cape wagtail and black oystercatcher were all noted.

2010 - Review January - June

2010 has been an awfully quick year - here are a few of my highlights...

Above - African Penguins at Simonstown, South Africa during out New Year holiday to the Western Cape
Below - A UK tick - black-throated thrush, Newholm, North Yorkshire, January

February saw a visit to Cleveland for a very obliging ring-necked duck ~ the best and most close views I've had of the species in the UK. A great bacon sandwich was has had courtesy of CB afterwards!

March saw the arrival of a common crane at Eshott ~  a vocal bird and not popular with the territorial lapwing!

April was a month of wagtails - the possible black-headed at Cresswell was a stunner... even in the rain!

May was a busy month - the first week was spent abroad, with visits to Dubai and Mauritius.

The red-wattled lapwing was in Safa Park, Dubai - a park that had playing fields covered in hoopoe!

Mauritius was limited species-wise, we saw some really great birds ~ echo parakeet, Mauritius olive white-eye, white-tailed tropicbird.... but the enigmatic pink pigeon will never be forgotten...

May also saw the first of 10 planned annual birding weekends with the birders of my youth - Mark, John and Rob. 2010 saw us on Mull and Iona where corncrake was bird of the trip!

May produced another UK tick for me - oriental pratincole at Frampton Marsh. I saw this delightful bird with Phil on a sunny day-trip.

June was quieter than hoped-for, but a singing marsh warbler was nice...

The rest of 2010 will feature in the next post!

Boulders Beach = Penguin's Galore!

African Penguin

... in from the sea

After a very nice lunch on the 31st December we headed to the famous african penguin colony at Boulders Beach, Simonstown.



This was a great experience, as the penguins were very, very close to the raised board-walk!

Great views from the boardwalk! (must remember to photoshop the grey hairs next time...)

What characters these birds are, a real hit with the tourists, birders and non-birders alike. In fact, I'm betting that african penguin is Mrs Birdingsometimes' new favorite bird.

This site is the larger of two mainland colonies of this globally threatened penguin, with approximately 1,000 pairs. It's remarkable to think that the first pair only nested in 1985.

The bulk of the penguins were loafing about on the sandy beach and were occasionally joined by small groups returning from their fishing trips in False Bay.

Two blacksmith plover (love these!), a cape gull and hartlaub's gull were also present on the beach, while swift tern and common tern fished offshore.

With our fill of penguins we headed north towards Cape Town, passing through Fish Hoek and and Kalk Bay. False Bay has some beautiful beaches...

Next stop? Where else would you choose to take your missus and bemused driver on New Years' Eve afternoon....? At Strandfontein Sewage Works of course!!

New Years Eve 31.12.09 / On the beach

African penguins head back to shore at Boulders Beach, South Africa.

Image courtesy of Mrs Birdingsometimes. (Canon PowerShot SD600 "point and click jobbie")

More images of the penguins soon...