Winter storms: a potential threat to African oystercatchers Haematopus moquini

Abstract

Substantial effort has gone into identifying threats to the African oystercatcher Haematopus moquini, a species of seabird native to the mainland coasts and offshore islands of southern Africa. Winter storms represent a possible further threat owing to the potential to exclude an obligate intertidal forager from its feeding areas for periods of days. Using data from the Slangkop wave buoy off the Cape Peninsula of South Africa during surveys of the number of oystercatchers on Robben Island, and arguments based on body-mass records, the tentative conclusion is that winter storms do not currently represent a threat to the African oystercatcher but this may become a factor in the future.

Keywords:

• feeding area
• Robben Island
• Slangkop wave buoy
• shorebirds
• significant wave height
• southeastern Atlantic
• storm impact