whittington.qxd Short Note New breeding locality for Crowned Cormorant P.A. WHITTINGTON ISSN 0075-6458 125 Koedoe 47/2 (2004) The Crowned Cormorant Phalacroco- rax coronatus is endemic to the south- ern African subregion with an estimated population of about 2700 pairs, breed- ing at 48 localities between Walvis Bay, Namibia and Cape Agulhas, South Africa (Crawford et al. 1994, Crawford 1997). The easternmost point at which breeding has previously been recorded is 2 km west of Aasfontein (34°46'S, 19°50'E), where 35 nests were recorded in January 1981 (Crawford et al. 1982). Non-breeding birds have been seen fur- ther to the east as far as Holkom Meester se Baai (34°23'S, 21°49'E) (Crawford et al. 1982). On 29 October 2003, counts were made of breeding seabirds at the Number 12 Stacks (33°59'S, 23°35'E) in the De Vasselot section of the Tsitsikamma National Park. Counts were made of occupied nests and fledged young of all species present on three stacks visible from the mainland. These three stacks were thought to be those labelled as Carbo, Capensis and Dominicanus by Crawford (1983). While counting nests of White-breasted Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus and Cape Cormorants Pha- lacrocorax capensis, four occupied nests of Crowned Cormorants were located on the stack corresponding to that named Carbo by Crawford (1983). All four had a sitting bird and it was not possible to see whether the nests con- tained eggs or chicks. Most occupied nests of nearby White-breasted and Cape Cormorants contained chicks. In addition, 20 fledged White-breasted Cormorants and 71 fledged Cape Table 1 Counts of occupied nests, old nests and fledged young of all species breeding at Number 12 Stacks, 29 October 2003 Stack Carbo Capensis Domini- canus White-breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo Occupied nests (total) 15 0 0 Nests with chicks visible 6 0 0 Old nests 13 0 0 Fledged young 20 0 0 Cape Cormorant Phalacrocorax capensis Occupied nests (total) 27 2 8 Nests with chicks visible 25 0 6 Old nests not not not counted counted counted Fledged young 71 103 94 Crowned Cormorant Phalacrocorax coronatus Occupied nests (total) 4 0 0 Nests with chicks visible 0 0 0 Old nests 0 0 0 Fledged young 0 0 0 Little Egret Egretta garzetta Occupied nests (total) 1 0 0 Nests with chicks visible 0 0 0 Old nests 0 0 0 Fledged young 0 0 0 Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus Occupied nests (total) 1 11 5 Nests with chicks visible 0 0 0 Old nests 0 0 0 Fledged young 0 0 0 Cormorant chicks were counted on this stack (Table 1). The solitary Little Egret Egretta whittington.qxd 2004/10/05 12:57 Page 125 garzetta nest contained one egg. Crowned Cormorants can breed throughout the year (Rand 1960). At Malgas Island off the west coast of South Africa, most breed- ing takes place between September and April with a peak in breeding activity between December and March (Crawford et al. 1999). It is thought that the birds recorded at Num- ber 12 stacks were either incubating eggs or brooding small chicks. The potential for the Crowned Cormorant to extend its breeding range on finding suitable breeding sites is illustrated by the construc- tion of the Bird Rock Platform north of Walvis Bay, Namibia, and the wreck of the Meisho Maru No. 8. These resulted in previ- ous breeding range extensions of 415 km to the north and 16 km to the east respectively (Crawford et al. 1994). This observation extends the breeding range of the Crowned Cormorant by approximately 355 km to the east and is about 169 km east of the nearest observations made of non-breeding birds. The species was not recorded by previous seabird surveys made in Tsitsikamma National Park (Crawford 1983). Acknowledgements Support for this research from the University of Port Elizabeth and from the National Research Founda- tion is gratefully acknowledged. I am indebted to Andre Riley of South African National Parks for arranging access to seabird colonies within Tsitsi- kamma National Park at very short notice, to Karools Peterse for guidance in the field and to Peter and Carol Humphrey for their wonderful hospitality. R.J.M. Crawford, John Cooper and N.T.W. Klages commented on the draft manuscript. References CRAWFORD, R.J.M. 1983. Some observations on seabirds breeding in the Tsitsikamma Coastal National Park. Koedoe 26: 145-152. CRAWFORD, R.J.M. 1997. Crowned Cormorant Pha- lacrocorax coronatus. Pp 38-39. In: HARRISON, J.A., D.G. ALLAN, L.G. UNDERHILL, M. HERRE- MANS, A.J. TREE, V. PARKER & C.J. BROWN. (eds.). The atlas of southern African birds. Vol 1. Non-passerines. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa. CRAWFORD, R.J.M., P.A. SHELTON, R.K. BROOKE & J. COOPER. 1982. Taxonomy, distribution, popu- lation size and conservation of the Crowned Cormorant, Phalacrocorax coronatus. Le Ger- faut 72: 3-30. CRAWFORD, R.J.M., B.M. DYER & R.K. BROOKE. 1994. Breeding nomadism in southern African seabirds-constraints, causes and conservation. Ostrich 65: 231-246. CRAWFORD, R.J.M., B.M. DYER & L. UPFOLD. 1999. Seasonal pattern of breeding by Cape and Crowned Cormorants off western South Africa. Ostrich 70(3&4): 193-195. RAND, R.W. 1960. Biology of guano-producing seabirds 3. Distribution, abundance and feeding habits of the cormorants Phalacrocoracidae off the south western coast of the Cape Province. Investigational Report Department of Com- merce and Industries, Division of Sea Fisheries. 42: 1-32. P.A. WHITTINGTON, Department of Zoology, University of Port Eliza- beth, Box 1600, Port Elizabeth, 6000, South Africa (philip.whittington@upe.ac.za) Koedoe 47/2 (2004) 126 ISSN 0075-6458 whittington.qxd 2004/10/05 12:57 Page 126