Major storms devastate South African sea bird colonies

Damage to Bird Island. Credit SANParks

African penguins
African penguin chicks, aged between two and four months old, were drowned by waves which flooded their nests. However, the extent of penguin chick deaths is not yet known as their bodies were washed away. Once researchers can investigate the damage done to nest sites which they have marked, the number of penguin deaths can be estimated.

Rangers have also captured some adult penguins with broken legs which they will take off the island for rehabilitation. The African penguin colony on Bird Island numbers about 2,675 breeding pairs.

Cape Gannets
The Cape gannet breeding colony on Bird Island - the largest of its kind in the world at about 80,000 pairs - was not affected by the high seas except for flooding of some peripheral nest sites by sea spray.

Cape fur seals
Black Rocks, which houses a 400-strong colony of Cape fur seals, was completely submerged by sea water, as were Stag and Seal Islands which lie close to Bird Island.

There was also extensive damage, estimated at up to R3 million, to the newly constructed jetty on Bird Island.

St. Croix Island 
Although Park rangers have not yet been able to assess the impact of the high seas on St. Croix Island, which also forms part of Addo Elephant National Park, it is thought that the African penguin colony here has also been affected.