SA’s national birds grace Plett with their presence
Local birding enthusiasts are fortunate to have observed two pairs of breeding Blue Cranes (Anthropoids paradiseus – ‘vulnerable’ on IUCN Red List) around the Bitou River valley for the past few years.
Members of Birdlife Plettenberg Bay have kept an eye on these Blue Cranes during the breeding season, usually from August to October, and have collated some interesting information about breeding events The Bitou pair has been using a grassy berm in the wetland along the R340 towards Wittedrift, near a farm gate and signage for Bitouvlei Birding. The nest site for the other pair, called ‘the N2 pair’, is unknown. They are regularly seen in the fields along the N2 between Buco and the Bitou River bridge. In 2015, we believe this pair was observed on a nest with egg(s) on Stanley Island.
Once the chicks have fledged, the birds usually stay in the vicinity of the nest site for several months and can be seen foraging in the fields as they grow to adult size.
Thereafter the cranes and juveniles seem to move off further afield and we presume that the now full size but still immature cranes find their own territories. The cycle starts again after several months when the adults return to their breeding areas in the Bitou River valley.
There are many predators around as well as other risk factors, so the chicks do not always survive to adulthood. But club members’ sightings and photos taken during the 2017 and 2018 breeding seasons confirm that both pairs produced two chicks each, and these four chicks all reached adulthood.
The Bitou pair laid two eggs in mid-August and both hatched some 30 days later. The chicks hatch a day apart and the family moves away from the nest site a day or two after the last chick hatches.
We should be able to view this Blue Crane family foraging around in the fields nearby to the farm gate along the R340 for the next several months and watch out for the N2 pair to arrive in the fields with their chicks in the coming months.
• Bruce Ward-Smith is the chairperson of Bird-Life Plettenberg Bay. Email bwardsmith@mweb.co.za for additional information.