SANCCOB's Conservation efforts on the ground

SANCCOB provides on the ground support to African penguin breeding colonies that are considered critical to the survival of this species. SANCCOB deploys a number of penguin rangers in colonies that are under the protection of South African nature conservation authorities such as at Boulders Beach (managed by South African National Parks {SANParks}); Stony Point in Betty’s Bay (managed by CapeNature); and Robben Island (managed by Robben Island Museum). In the Eastern Cape, SANCCOB first responders (trained volunteers that rescue birds) monitor the coastline near Port Elizabeth and Cape St Francis, looking out for ill, oiled and/ or injured penguins and abandoned chicks; and SANParks monitors the colonies (e.g. Bird and St Croix islands) in Algoa Bay where the largest South African population of African penguins can be found. Groundreaders have been installed at most of the colonies which record any microchipped penguin crossing the strategically placed transponder readers in the colonies. The information that we receive from the groundreader is crucial in understanding the movement of young birds and also provides us with information on how birds decide to breed. Interesting news in the past year is that hand-reared chicks released with transponders in 2013 and 2014 are now successfully breeding at the colonies, including Boulders in Simon’s Town, i.e. they are starting to breed at the same age as birds reared in the wild. Video - courtesy of Artis