“This success of the project is an important step in the conservation of the Endangered African Penguins. It has created a new safe breeding habitat in an area of good food availability and proves that it is possible to establish new land-based African Penguin colonies, something that has never been done before.”
Cape Town, South Africa (20 November 2022) – A pair of chicks has been seen at a nest at the site of the new African Penguin colony in the De Hoop Nature Reserve and Marine Protected Area, near Bredasdorp in the Western Cape, South Africa.
BirdLife South Africa, CapeNature and The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) have been working to re-establish a penguin colony in the De Hoop Nature Reserve to allow breeding penguins better access to moving fish stocks. The project has now reached an important milestone with the first penguin pair successfully hatching and raising two chicks, providing new hope for the future of African Penguins. The African Penguin breeding colony at Stony Point, adjacent to the Betty’s Bay Marine Protected Area, also started with very few birds and is now a flourishing breeding colony.
African Penguins, categorised as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, attempted to breed at De Hoop Nature Reserve between 2003 and 2008, but predation by caracal resulted in them abandoning the colony. In 2015, BirdLife South Africa, in partnership with CapeNature, began investigating whether the colony could be re-established there.
In 2018, a predator-proof fence was constructed, and penguin decoys and a speaker playing penguin calls were installed. Over 140 juvenile penguins from SANCCOB have been released from the site since 2021. These birds were released at the new site to encourage them to return to breed when they have matured in 3-6 years’ time.
In June 2022, three adult penguins were found roosting at the site. These birds had arrived spontaneously and were not any of the released birds. The number of penguins fluctuated with a maximum of seven being seen in one day. It appeared that some penguins had formed pairs, but no nests were confirmed.
“I was there to do some maintenance on the fence and was casually observing the penguins sitting on the rocks. I was stunned when I realised there was a chick standing next to an adult. On closer inspection, I saw there were actually two chicks,” said Christina Hagen, project leader and the Pamela Isdell Fellow of Penguin Conservation at BirdLife South Africa. “This is a very long-term project, and we hadn’t expected to see any breeding yet, but we are thrilled that it has happened now,” continued Hagen.
“This success of the project is an important step in the conservation of the Endangered African Penguin,” says Mark D. Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of BirdLife South Africa. “It has created a new safe breeding habitat in an area of good food availability and proves that it is possible to establish new land-based African Penguin colonies, something that has never been done before.”
“The chicks are two to three months old, and will likely take another few weeks to fledge,” says Dr David Roberts, Clinical Veterinarian at SANCCOB. Penguins fledge between about 75 and 120 days after hatching. “The nest is in a very rocky area and the chicks would have stayed hidden in the nest for much of the time, which explains how they weren’t seen before,” explains Dr Roberts.
“The presence of an African Penguin nesting site on De Hoop is a significant step towards the establishment of a viable African Penguin breeding colony at De Hoop and holds promise for the future success and contribution to African Penguin conservation,” says Dr Razeena Omar, CapeNature’s Chief Executive Officer.
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