Long-term trends from Citizen Scientists: 24 years of breeding success data of African Oystercatchers Haematopus moquini in the Garden Route

Abstract

Long-term data on breeding success in beach-nesting birds in southern Africa are scarce. Citizen science projects have risen to the forefront of large dataset collection efforts globally, with several local projects helping us unpack long-term trends for species in southern Africa. A long-term monitoring project on African Oystercatcher Haematopus moquini breeding success in parts of the Garden Route on the south coast, conducted by the Lakes Bird Club, enables us to determine whether conservation efforts are positively influencing the species there. Since the onset of the study in 1997/1998, there has been a steady increase in the number of breeding pairs at Knysna and Sedgefield, but not at Brenton-on-Sea. A similar increase in hatching success is recorded, with an overall increase in the number of fledglings per adult pair over the area throughout the study. Collectively, this indicates that some local and national conservation efforts, such as the beach driving ban and awareness campaigns like #ShareTheShores, have been successful, leading to positive trends in these parameters for this species. This article highlights the usefulness of long-term datasets for corroborating outcomes from other large datasets, like the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2.