WeaveResearch Unit

Weavers of the World

Red-billed Quelea range records in the Western Cape, 2009-2010

More web pages about the quelea:
Identification of the Red-billed Quelea
Influx of the Red-billed Quelea
Red-billed Quelea breeding near Worcester

The Red-billed Quelea (hereafter quelea) has not occurred in the Western Cape historically, but in recent years has started expanding its range into this province. There is a single record of a flock of quelea at Zeekoievlei in 1946. The next record is from the Karoo NP in 1986. There was a large influx in April-May 2007. In April 2009 the first breeding colony was found in the winter rainfall region. This means that the quelea will now probably become well established in this area.

Paper published using earlier records of quelea in the W Cape:
Oschadleus HD, 2009. An irruption of Red-billed Quelea in the Western Cape province, South Africa. Ostrich 80:193-196
See news items at date 2009-12-13

Report sightings To continue monitoring this species, please send all sightings in the Western Cape to Dieter.Oschadleus - email below, tel 021-650-2421 (W). Details to send: Date - of seeing quelea Number - approximate number of birds seen Locality name - include detailed location (eg farm name with distance and direction from nearest town) or the address Coordinates - if you have a GPS or map. Make sure that you record the format in degrees, minutes and seconds in the WGS 84 format. Otherwise ensure that your locality details are detailed enough that I can determine the coordinates from a map. Identity - how you identified the quelea Notes - activity of the birds (eg feeding, roosting), other notes. If nests are found please send additional notes on this.

H.D. Oschadleus Adult male Red-billed Quelea

Records will be added to the table below. They will be marked as confirmed if all details were provided, and identity of the quelea was confirmed.

2010 Records (2009 records - see below)

Id	Date	Number	Locality	Coordinates	Reporter	Notes	Confirmed
27	23 May 2010	one	Misverstand farm, c 13 km SE of Piketberg	33 01 27S, 18 46 32E	Johan vd Westhuizen	one bird seen in large flock of Southern Red Bishop on fence between road & adjacent wheat field	yes, whitish underparts with the bright red bills & red legs
26	22 May 2010	6 quelea ringed	Moerasrivier, George	33 59.198S, 22 21.556E	Andrew Marshall	roosting with weavers	yes

2009 Records

Id	Date	Number	Locality	Coordinates	Reporter	Notes	Confirmed
1	6 April 2009	few 100	Nuwerus farm	3340S 1934E	Erna Rabie	roosting in reeds	yes
2	9 April 2009	few 100	Nuwerus farm	3340S 1934E	Charl Oettle	roosting in reeds	yes
3	12? April 2009	1?	De Vlei reserve, some 72 km from Ceres on the road to Calvinia		Richard Moffat
4	28 March 2009	some in a flock	Swaartjiesbaai (Kuifkopvisvanger) farm, near Velddrif	-32.81, 18.20	Melissa Demaio, Linda, Beverley		yes
5	18 April 2009	few 100	Draaivlei dam reeds where the stream enters the dam	-33.81, 19.44	Charl Oettle	roosting in reeds	yes
6	20 April 2009	10, incl male	Red Stone Hills at Buffelskloof farm, 14km east of Calitzdorp, 6km north of R62	-33.51, 21.87	Hermanus Bird Club, Barbara Palmer	feeding and flitting about in a hedge and on the ground	yes, male seen
7	20-21 April 2009	few 100	Nuwerus farm	3340S 1934E	DO, MF, Erna Rabie	old breeding colony, 116 quelea ringed	yes
8	18 April 2009	1 adult male	Karoo National Park, close to the main buildings	3215S 2230E	Elaine Beyers	feeding?	yes, photograph
Swartland records from 2008:
9a	16 May 2008	5 -10 birds with Southern Red Bishops and Cape Weavers	Geeldam farm waterway, c16 km NE of Moorreesburg	3302S 1845E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Perched & feeding near border of wheatfield	yes
9b	16 May 2008	15 - 20 birds with Southern Red Bishops and Cape Weavers	Along road to farm Misverstand near Misverstand Dam in Berg River; c20 km NE of Moorreesburg	3301S 1847E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Perched & feeding in wheatfield	yes
9c	30 May 2008	12 - 15 birds with Cape Weavers and Southern Red Bishops	Near old bridge over Berg River (Moorreesburg to Piketberg road), on farm Nuwedrift; c23 km N of Moorreesburg	3258S 1844E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Perched & flying in reeds	yes
9d	30 May 2008	4 birds with c 20 Southern Red Bishops	At a waterway with reeds on farm De Guns c29 km N of Moorreesburg	3257S 1842E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Sitting on a fence near road & reeds	yes
9e	31 May 2008	3 Adults with some Southern Red Bishops & Cape Weavers	On farm Middelburg along waterway with reeds, 18 km N of Moorreesburg & 2.5 km NE of Koringberg	3300S 1841E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Fed on grass along the waterway	yes
9f	6 June 2008	8 Queleas with Southern Red Bishops	Along road to Bridgetown on farm Watervlei, 12 km NE of Moorreesburg	3307S 1847E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Fed on ground near wheatfield	yes
9g	6 June 2008	About 20 Queleas with Southern Red Bishops and Cape Weavers	On farm Bridgetown c 17 km NE of Moorreesburg	3306S 1849E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Fed on ground on a wheat stubble land	yes
9h	7 June 2008	3 with Southern Red Bishops, Cape Sparrows & Cape Weavers	On farm Visserskraal on road from Moorreesburg to Pampoenkraal c12 km NW of Moorreesburg	3303S 1837E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Sitting on and flying between reeds	yes
9i	7 June 2008	2	On farm Klein Pampoenkraal on road from Moorreesburg to Pampoenkraal c17 km NW of Moorreesburg	3301S 1835E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Sitting on the fence	yes
9j	14 June 2008	2 with Cape Weavers, Cape sparrows & Southern Red Bishop	On farm Bokuile, at bridge over Kromrivier, 8.5 km SE of Piketberg on road from Piketberg to Porterville	3256S 1850E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Fed on grasses along a wheatfield near reeds	yes
9k	17 June 2008	8 -10 with Cape Weavers & Southern Red Bishops	On farm Hooggeleë at waterway on road from Moorreesburg to Koringberg; c13.5 km N of Moorreesburg, 4 km SE of Koringberg	3302S 1840E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Sitting near wheatfields	yes
Back to 2009:
10	3 May 2009	7 Queleas in 3 flocks of Southern Red Bishops	Along road to Bridgetown on farm Watervlei, 12 km NE of Moorreesburg	3307S 1847E - 3306S 1847E	Johan van der Westhuizen	Fed on grasses and weeds along the road	yes, male seen
11	4 May 2009	few below dam wall, some flocks in Nuy R	Nuwerus farm	3340S 1934E	Erna Rabie	none in breeding site	yes
12	24-25 April 2009	one	Vygebooms Kraal farm, c 35 km SE of VanWyksdorp	3353S 2135E	Maarten Ottervanger	coming to some seed put out for weavers	yes
13	7 May 2009	3 flocks below dam wall, flew to Nuy R	Nuwerus farm	3340S 1934E	Erna Rabie	none in breeding site	yes
14	25 July 2009	about 30 birds	R317	3407.2S 2005.5E	John Carter	being watched by a Black Sparrowhawk	[yes]
15	25 July 2009	few birds	R317	2km S of 3407.2S 2005.5E	John Carter		[yes]
16	recent (13 August 2009)	flock of 100	farm in Elim area	3435S 1945E~	via John Bowman		[yes]
17	10 May 2009	flock of 30-50 birds	N2 about 3 kms east of Riviersonderend	3409S 1956E	Amanda & Richard Younge Hayes	flying up to bushes & utility lines, and then flying down to feed	yes, photos
18	1 May 2009	about 100 - 200	farm Vyevlei, about 6 km E of Prince Albert	3315S 2204E	Japie Claassen		yes
19	end June 2009	about 10	Stillbay, 7 kms up the Goukou R	3418S 2122E	Louise		yes
20	25 Oct 2009	1 male with nesting Red Bishops	Farm Leeuwenboschfontein, south of Touws River	3334S 1959E	Melissa Demaio	possibly more quelea, around a little farm dam	yes
21	23 Sep 2008	small flock	northern end of Potgieterspoort	3329S 2157E~	Duncan and Inès Cooke	seen	yes
22	21 Oct 2009	huge flock (200+)	SE of Calitzdorp along road towards Calitzdorp Spa	3334S 2144E~	Duncan and Inès Cooke	at an ostrich feeder	yes
23	~22 Dec 2009	seen	Vierfontein farm, c150kms from Beaufort West	3210S 2330E	Mike Buckham	seen	yes
24	2 Aug 2008	few hundred birds	Vierfontein farm, c150kms from Beaufort West	3210 58 S 2330 53 E	Stefan Theron	roosting	yes
25	31 Dec 2009	2 males (breeding plumage), 1 female, 2 juveniles	Heidelberg, reeds in Duivenhoks River at Main Rd	34 05.592S 20 57.911E	Mark Harrington	roosting with large numbers of Barn Swallows	yes

Contact: H Dieter Oschadleus, weavers4africa [at] gmail.com
Copyright: