THE BIRDS: WESTERN CAPE AND SURROUNDS

WESTERN CAPE AND SURROUNDS

The Western Cape Province is roughly L-shaped, extending north and east from the Cape Of Good Hope, in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It stretches about 400 kilometers (250 mi) northwards along the Atlantic coast and about 500 kilometers (300 mi) eastwards along the South African south coast. It is roughly the size of England or the US state of Louisiana. The capital and largest city is Cape Town and other major cities include Stellenbosch, Worcester, Paarl and George.

The coastline varies from sandy between capes, to rocky to steep and mountainous in places. The province is topographically exceptionally diverse. Most of the province falls within the Cape Fold Belt, a set of nearly parallel ranges of sandstone folded mountains of Cambrian-Ordovician age (from 510 to about 330-350 million years ago that vary in height from 1000m to 2300m. The valleys between ranges are generally very fertile as they contain the weathered loamy soils of the Bokkeveld Mudstones.

The far interior forms part of the Karoo. This region of the Province is generally arid and hilly with a prominent that runs close to the Province's most inland boundary.

The principal rivers of the province are the Berg and Olifants which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Breede and Gourits which drain into the Indian Ocean.

The vegetation is also extremely diverse, with one of the world's seven floral kingdoms almost exclusively endemic to the province, namely the Cape Floral Kingdom, most of which is covered by Fynbos (from the Afrikaans meaning "Fine Bush" (Dutch: Fijnbosch These evergreen heath lands are extremely rich in species diversity, with at least as many plant species occurring on Table Moutnain as in the entire United Kingdom. It is characterised by various types of shrubs, thousands of flowering plant species and some grasses. With the exception of the Silver tree, Leucadendron argenteum, which only grows on the granite and clay soils of the Cape Peninsula open fynbos is generally treeless except in the wetter mountain ravines where patches of Afromontaine Forest persist. The arid interior is dominated by Karoo Drought Resistant Shrubbery. The West Coast and Little Karoo are semi-arid regions and are typified by many species of succulents and drought-resistant shrubs and acacia trees.

Cape Wagtail

Bank Cormorant

Purple Heron

Yellow-Billed Egret

Western Cattle Egret

Little Grebe

Lesser Kestrel

Sickle winged Chat

Protea Canary

Fiscal Flycatcher

White-Rumped Swift

Steppe Buzzard

African Sacred Ibis

Black Sparrowhawk

Yellow Billed Duck

Black Shouldered Kite

Cape Vulture

White Breasted Cormorant

African Darter

Blacksmith Lapwing

African Black Duck

Cape Sugarbird

Kelp Gull

Hartlaub's Gull

African Penguin

Speckled Pigeon

Common Moorhen

Jackal Buzzard

Forest Buzzard

Common Buzzard

HARTLAUBS GULL, WC, MARKWELL

KELP GULL, UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER

CAPE SUGAR BIRD, OWNERS NAME ABOVE

AFRICAN/JACKASS PENGUIN, MARKWELL

HARTLAUBS GULL, WC, MARKWELL

, CAPE WAGTAIL,WC, MARKWELL

CAPE BULBUL, WC, MARKWELL

SICKLE WINGED CHAT, MARKWELL

GULLS, GULLS, GULLS, WC, MARKWELL

CAPE CORMORANT, WC, MARKWELL

KELP GULLS AND CAPE CORMORANTS, WC, MARKWELL

SPECKLED PIGEON, MARKWELL WITH A PHONE.

While travelling the winelands a worthwhile stop is at the SPIER winery where they have a raptor rehabilitation center which allows for very close encounters with some very impressive birds. Most of these are birds brought in by the public, victims of car related incidents, poisoning, snares etc. They have a 90% success rate in terms of rehabilitating their birds... its all rather cool. Species include:

Rock Kestrel

Forest Buzzard

African Wood Owl

Cape eagle Owl

Spotted Eagle Owl

Southern White faced Owl

Lanner Falcon

Gyr Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Tawny Eagle

Verreauxs Eagle

Martial Eagle