Birds at Onrus

Several bird species seen regularly on the beach in Walker Bay are also common inland. Sacred ibises posing on the rocks here are an example. Large flocks of them feed among the kelp detritus on molluscs and possibly sand fleas that jump about frantically, signalling their whereabouts to prospective predators as if eager to serve. On the other hand, if they’re not a favourite dish, jumping about involves no risk.

Sand fleas are parasitic crustaceans of variable size, from smaller than the naked eye can see to almost cockroach size. The smaller sand fleas may be popular with Cape wagtails, known crustacean consumers that converge on heaps of rotting kelp where sand fleas abound.

Cape wagtails occur everywhere in South Africa, also along the coastline but are becoming rare in some inland areas, possibly due to the abundant use of chemicals. Sand fleas, sometimes called mole crabs, also bite people. What is not so commonly known is that people retaliate and eat sand fleas, as happens for instance in Thailand. Google some recipes! The notion that the sand flea is top of its food chain is also belied by it serving fishermen as bait.

Rediscovering such tidbits of information is rewarded with more enthusiam during famine. So, when the supermarket shelves are empty, go shoo away the birds from the kelp.

Other inland birds regularly seen when strolling near the hightide line in the Bay near Sandbaai or Vermont are Egyptian geese, the fiscal shrike (operating in solitary fashion) and small flocks of Eurasian starlings. This latter species eats molluscs by the sea, maybe sand fleas too, but much else, from insects, fruit, seed, spiders, worms and lizards.

Eurasian starlings were introduced into South Africa in 1899 by Cecil John Rhodes, a man of many talents, including the dubious one of improving South African birdlife.

The Eurasian starling spread across the country started at that time is still underway. The Starling Great Trek reached Port Elizabeth in 1955, East London in 1966, Kleinzee in Namaqualand by 1970, startling Durban residents by 1973. No ox wagons were used, so the media ignored this trek.

Although blessed with the talent of flight, the birds proved much slower than the ox wagons in crossing the South African countryside. Your opportunity for enjoying the company of these short-tailed immigrants in Gauteng may come soon. So, wait for it, don’t die just yet (Maclean, 1993; Wikipedia).