Counting African Oystercatchers on Robben Island : 17 May 2026

The African Oystercatchers on the coastline of Robben Island have been counted about 190 times since 2001. The earliest counts were of around 150 birds. The end of the blog will reveal what number was recorded on 17 May 2026.

Counting African Oystercatchers is not as easy as most people imagine it must be. The pair on the rocks in the foreground on the right are easy to spot, especially with the surf behind them. The second pair on the rocks among the cormorants and Kelp Gulls just right of centre are trickier.

The oystercatcher of the left has its bright red bill tucked under a wing, and the red eye ring is just visible with binoculars, and its mate is partly obscured behind a rock.

There are is a good variety of species on the shore. This Little Egret feeds in the rock pools at low tide, but during the spring high tide stands on a rock and waits for the opportunity to return to hunting.

Spotted Thickknees roost in the vegetation above the high water line.

Eurasian Whimbrels ought to be arriving on their breeding grounds in Siberia about now. We saw about 20. These are mostly young birds. Whimbrels do not breeding until the they are several years old, and it is pointless migrating 20,000 km there and back for nothing, so they stay put for the southern winter.

African Penguins restarted breeding in Robben Island in 1984. In spite of the Apollo Sea oil spill of 1994 and the Treasure oil spill of 2000 knocking numbers downwards, they reached a peak abundance on the island in 2007. The number of breeding pairs now is about 10% of that peak.

In the centre of the island, near the village is a large colony of Greater Crested Terns and also Hartlaub’s Gulls.

After the start of the wet winter season, the Blue Stone Quarry, on the north side of the island, is full. The island has turned green after a long, dry, brown summer. There’s a handful of oystercatchers on the outcrop of rocks in the middle.

The adult oystercatchers are currently doing their primary moult. This bird still has its outer four primary wing feathers old. Their tips are fraying; they have reached their “best before” date. The third primary from the end looks especially worn, and the feather shaft is fast losing the barbs. Adult African Oystercatchers start moult soon after the end of their midsummer breeding season, continue through winter, and finish in early spring. Within a month or two, they will have their next breeding season. starting in November.

The total for 17 May 2026 was 479 African Oystercatchers. This number is very much in line with recent counts, and a three-fold increase since we started these counts 25 years ago.

The very first count made on the island was 40 African Oystercatchers on 18 August 1977, reported in Phil Hockey’s PhD thesis. The reasons for the massive increase include a huge reduction in human disturbance along the shoreline, and the invasion of the coastline with the Mediterranean Mussel, an alien species that grows faster than the indigenous mussels, and which grows higher up the intertidal zone, providing longer feeding opportunities for the oystercatchers on each tidal cycle.

The Robben Island Museum has supported these oystercatcher surveys over the past 25 years, providing logistics on the island, and transport on the ferries to and from the island.

Our bird list, including species seen at sea, was 34 species: