African Wildlife & Environment Issue 79

DESTINATIONS

from the then Transvaal Nature Conservation Division, regarding the importance that the wetland had become for the birdlife, with the protection afforded by the mining company. These negotiations ended with the company donating an area of 550 hectares to the TNCD for the permanent establishment of a bird sanctuary. This offer was almost immediately accepted, and

variety of rails and crakes include African Rail, Black Crake, Purple Swamphen, Common and Lesser Moorhen, Baillon’s Crake, Spotted Crake, Jacana and Red-chested Flufftail. The African Snipe is another 'special', and common bird which is often heard and seen displaying and 'drumming' in the breeding season. The Greater Painted Snipe has also been recorded.

A Goliath Heron (Photograph: Albert Froneman)

a further area was subsequently negotiated to make up approximately 1,000 hectares, officially proclaimed the Marievale Bird Sanctuary in 1976. Since 1968 over 290 species of birds have been recorded here. Research since the 1970s, in the form of bird ringing, well-coordinated regular bird counts, and the observations of keen birders, have proved that Marievale is indeed a particularly important sanctuary for both resident and migratory birds. It is a haven for Palearctic and intra-African migrants and also for passage migrants. Thirteen species of herons are listed, among them are Purple, Goliath, Squacco, Black- and Black-crowned Night Heron. The Little Bittern is one of the 'specials' to see at Marievale. The

Warblers are well represented in the reeds and sedges; common residents are Lesser Swamp Warbler and Little Rush Warbler, while migrants include Great Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, and Sedge Warbler, which occur during the summer. The areas of open water provide habitat for many species of duck and geese, and most of the duck species that have been recorded in southern Africa have also been recorded at Marievale, as follows: Egyptian and Spurwinged Geese, Hottentot (Blue-billed) and Red-billed Teal, Cape Shoveler, Southern Pochard, Yellow-billed, Whitebacked, Whitefaced and Fulvous Ducks. During the winter months certain duck species, such as Spurwing Geese, use the safety provided by Marievale to

45 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 79 (2021)