St Lucia Estuary Mouth- Rare bird Magnet

Crab plover at the St Lucia estuary mouth

There are a few locations on the Southern African coastline which are hotspots for rare or vagrant coastal birds. Strandfontein Sewage works, West Coast National Park, Mile 4 Saltworks in Swakopmund, Cape Recife Nature reserve and Macaneta in Mozambique all consistently turn up rare birds….St Lucia Estuary mouth is another…

Firstly, just to clarify exactly what makes a bird ‘rare’…..they are birds which are not commonly seen, are few in number or are vagrant (occurring far beyond their normal distribution zone due to glitches in their navigational ability). The reason the areas mentioned are hotspots for rare birds is most likely due to a combination of factors including:  favourable conditions (St Lucia estuary mouth is protected within  the Isimangaliso Wetlands Park and the marine ecosystem is therefore very healthy providing plentiful food for piscivorous birds, shoreline birds and waders); high densities of other birds (safety in numbers) or favourable location (St Lucia estuary mouth is situated on the far North-eastern coastline so is a prime location for cyclone-affected pelagic birds).

Birding at the St Lucia Estuary Mouth during the summer months is therefore a very exciting prospect where one almost expects to find something unusual! Rare birds seen at the St Lucia estuary mouth in the last number years have included Crab plover, Gull-billed tern, Brown noddy, Sooty tern, Eurasian oystercatcher, Eurasian Curlew, Lesser frigatebird, Chestnut-banded plover, Greater sand plover, Roseate tern and Franklin’s gull.​

Interestingly, the discovery of one rare bird normally leads to others….the increased ‘traffic’ of twitchers and bird watchers coming to search for the initial rare bird usually leads to the discovery of others due to the increased scrutiny the area. This could possibly provide a clue as to why the above-mentioned hotspots do consistently produce rare birds- because of their reputation they are birded far more intensively. Makes one wonder how many hidden gems are out there which just aren’t birded as frequently….

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African skimmer at the St Lucia estuary mouth