Betty's Bay is for the birds

One day, as the sun rose over Stony Point in Betty's Bay, the sky went black.

"They just arrived three weeks ago. I went mad, felt like committing suicide," said resident Barbara Wallers, who just a year ago had to contend with thousands of African penguins caught breaking and entering homes.

Now Waller - who said she is "80-and-a-half" and is one of few permanent residents in the Western Cape holiday town - has to deal with hundreds of endangered Cape cormorants nesting in her back yard.

"As the sun comes up they turn the sky black when they fly. They strip gardens to build nests," Wallers said.

She said along with the birds came a "pungent smell" and countless flies.

Last year, thousands of endangered African penguins built up to 50 nests in residential gardens.

The penguins - from a nearby breeding colony - sneaked through holes in a fence that had been erected to keep them away from homes. Their rowdy behaviour kept those with holiday houses away. However, the Overstrand Municipality mended the fence and the penguin problem is a thing of the past.

But there is little officials can do about the cormorants.

"The Cape cormorant is currently listed as near-threatened, according to the IUCN [International Union for the Conservation of Nature] red listing. However, due to the population decline of this species, this threat status is being reviewed," said ecologist Lauren Waller.

According to BirdLife International, the world's largest nature conservation partnership, the population was estimated at 72000 pairs in 1996.

The organisation's website points to guano mining, commercial overfishing and disease as threats to the birds.

Ward councillor Lisel Krige said, while the birds might be a disturbance to some residents in the immediate vicinity, the chances were slim that property values would be affected by their presence.

"They are, after all, endangered and it is heartening that they appear to have found a food source in our waters," said Krige.

Even Wallers concedes the birds cannot be chased away: "Now I just have to deal with penguins, francolins, pigeons, doves, seagulls and cormorants."