Study

Numbers of waterbirds at a commercial saltpan, and suggestions for management

  • Published source details Martin A.P. & Randall R.M. (1987) Numbers of waterbirds at a commercial saltpan, and suggestions for management. South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 17, 75-81.

Summary

Provide artificial nesting sites for ground and tree-nesting seabirds

A site comparison study in 1982–1986 on a salt pan in the Eastern Cape, South Africa (Martin & Randall 1987) reported that four seabird species successfully reared young on artificial islands. White-breasted cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo, Caspian terns Hydroprogne caspia, grey-headed gulls Larus cirrocephalus and kelp gulls Larus dominicanus attempted to breed on the islands – typically several times over the study period. Colonies contained up to 432 nests. All four species reared young to fledging in at least one colony. However, three species (all except kelp gulls) failed to produce fledglings in at least one colony. Kelp gulls nesting on the islands had greater breeding success than conspecifics nesting elsewhere on the salt pan: 97% of fledglings were raised on the islands (vs 3% elsewhere) from only 91% of the nests and eggs (vs 9% elsewhere). “Several” islands were created in a saltpan in 1961–1962, using waste material from excavations. The three largest islands (where most nests were found) were 0.5 ha, 1.3 ha and 9.9 ha. Birds were surveyed between July 1982 and May 1986.

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