Close escape: Cape Cormorant entangled by sack

Abstract

This short note continues a theme initiated by Oschadleus (2012), who reviewed the deaths of weavers entangled with the threads of discarded fabric woven into nests, and continued by Robinson et al (2012) who reported on the death of a Bank Cormorant Phalacrocorax neglectus chick entangled by nylon fishing line which its parents had incorporated into its nest on Robben Island. The incident reported here took place on Dyer Island, Western Cape, South Africa ? this island is one of South Africa's breeding platforms for seabirds. It is a CapeNature reserve and was selected as an Important Bird Area (Barnes 1999).