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NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FOR BOULDERS BEACH
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On 20th January 2009, SANParks field rangers collected 50 penguin nests donated by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust to be installed at Boulders Beach, in Cape Town. This urban mainland colony is home to about 900 breeding pairs of African penguins. Our hope is that these new housing additions to the colony will provide much needed shelter and protection to breeding African penguins. SANParks plans to purchase 50 additional nests for the colony, and the placing of the nests and promotion of the nest box project at Boulders Beach is well underway. DICT, in addition to SANCCOB, and IKAPA Honorary Rangers, are all in support of the project. Monique Ruthenberg, who manages the Boulders colony, plans to do a research project on the nesting of the penguins in their new “homes”, which will be wonderful as it will allow a comparison to be made with results we are getting from a similar study on Dyer Island by penguin researcher Lauren Waller from UCT. By expanding the Faces of Need project to other breeding colonies of African penguins, DICT hopes to actively reverse the dramatic population decline of this now vulnerable species.
 
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