Other summer migrating birds include the several species of Terns with their pirating Skuas in attendance. Then there are the  Barn Swallows, European Bee-eaters and other migrating land birds that pass through the Berg River System.
The Benguela System that drives the West Coast is a great up welling of cold nutrient rich ocean with its own endemic bird species such as Hartlaub’s Gulls and Swift terns that breed on the Berg River.

In winter Greater and Lesser Flamingoes, Red-knobbed Coots and other species migrate from the central regions to escape the cold or drought and use the estuary.
This myriad variety has led to a list of over 250 species being identified of which 127 are waterbirds.
The Lower Berg River Wetlands has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA SA 104), which means that it has met certain internationally agreed criteria, holding more than 1% of a biogeographic population of a waterbird specie or holding on a regular basis more than 20,000 of a coastal bird specie

. The Lower Berg River Wetlands meet these requirements many times over with more than 10 species  listed. There are also 12 Nationally or Globally near-threatened species, Caspian Tern, African Marsh Harrier, Chestnutbanded Plover which can be be regularly seen and Blue Cranes now breed in the wheatlands near by.
For the birder, especially the less mobile the birds are accessible either viewing from the car or with only a few metres walk on good surfaces. There is a hide on the mudflats above the Carinus Bridge where rareities are often seen.
Most of the records available are of the birds that use the area for feeding, however there are also the birds that use it as a safe sanctuary for a night roost, for example over 30,000 Cape Cormorants have been counted coming  in nightly.

Keith Harrison.
(West Coast Bird Club – Chairman,
  Tel 022 – 7133026)