West Coast

'The gullsâ gab and rabble on the boat-bobbing sea ... scamper of sanderlings, curlew cry ... he got a little telescope to look at birds...'. Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood

The southwestern Cape’s western seaboard, stretching along the Atlantic shores from Cape Town northwards to the Olifants River, is best known for its superb beaches, bountiful sealife, internationally recognized coastal wetlands, and spring wildflower displays that are nothing short of spectacular. Birding is excellent: there is an abundance of migrant waders and other waterbirds, and rewarding ‘strandveld’ birding. Highlights range from the quiet elegance of a Black Harrier quartering low over the scrublands of the West Coast National Park, to the frenzied activity of the Cape Gannet colony at Lambert’s Bay.

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Introduction
Leaving Cape Town: Waterbirds and Rietvlei
Entering the Strandveld: Silwerstroomstrand
Darling Farmlands and Wildflowers
Yzerfontein
West Coast National Park
Langebaan Quarry
Vredenburg to Paternoster and St Helena Bay
Berg River Estuary, Velddrif
Lambert's Bay to Verlorenvlei
Kransvlei Poort

Top Birds Black Harrier, Grey-wing Francolin, Southern Black Korhaan, Chestnut-banded Plover, Cape Long-billed Lark, Clapper Lark, Southern Grey Tit, Sickle-winged Chat, Cape Penduline Tit, Cloud Cisticola, Protea Canary, and a host of waders.		SELECT SPECIALS Black Harrier Southern Black Korhaan Protea Canary Cloud Cisticola
SPECIAL FEATURES Lemming Cycles at Langebaan Lagoon Finding Rarities Seasonality of Rare Birds Cape Gannet Colony