{"id":546,"date":"2018-01-15T15:04:54","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T15:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/?p=546"},"modified":"2026-05-20T07:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:05:13","slug":"geelbek-western-cape-birding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/geelbek-western-cape-birding\/","title":{"rendered":"Geelbek Western Cape birding &#8211; Trip report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I learned about Geelbek Western Cape for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/bird-watching-for-beginners\/\">birding<\/a> through the Southern African Rare Bird News Reports I receive by email. While on holiday in Cape Town, I made Geelbek a priority visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also receive the Southern African Rare Bird News Reports, by joining the following Google Group: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/groups.google.com\/g\/sa-rarebirdnews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/groups.google.com\/g\/sa-rarebirdnews<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7709226522417656\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7709226522417656\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"7555211683\"><\/ins>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Geelbek is about an hour and a half scenic drive from Cape Town. Look for the Langebaan Lagoon at the West Coast National park. The Geelbek hide is where I spent most of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are thousands of sea birds along the beaches and the lagoon. The area is a Ramsar site. As per Wikipedia: &#8220;A&nbsp;Ramsar Site&nbsp;is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.&#8221;&nbsp;The Ramsar Convention&nbsp;conserves rare, important, and unique wetlands of international importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A great variety of migrant and wetland wader birds will keep you busy for hours. Flamingos, sandpipers, plovers, Cape gannets, African <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/boulders-beach-birding\/\">penguins<\/a>, and pelicans are among the birds you can look for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Oystercatcher-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Oystercatcher-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Oystercatcher-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Oystercatcher.jpg 848w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>African Black Oystercatcher<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"491\" height=\"346\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Geelbek-Western-Cape-birding-walkway.jpg\" alt=\"Geelbek Western Cape birding walkway\" class=\"wp-image-5637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Geelbek-Western-Cape-birding-walkway.jpg 491w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Geelbek-Western-Cape-birding-walkway-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Walking back from the hide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"826\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Curlew-Sandpiper.jpg\" alt=\"Curlew Sandpiper Geelbek Western Cape\" class=\"wp-image-607\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Curlew-Sandpiper.jpg 826w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Curlew-Sandpiper-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Curlew-Sandpiper-768x492.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 826px) 100vw, 826px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Curlew Sandpiper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"537\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Greater-Flamingo.jpg\" alt=\"Greater Flamingo Geelbek Western Cape\" class=\"wp-image-611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Greater-Flamingo.jpg 790w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Greater-Flamingo-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Greater-Flamingo-768x522.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Greater Flamingo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"823\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Grey-Plover.jpg\" alt=\"Grey Plover\" class=\"wp-image-614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Grey-Plover.jpg 823w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Grey-Plover-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Grey-Plover-768x502.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 823px) 100vw, 823px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Grey plover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Birding terminology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Twitchers are committed bird-watchers who travel long distances to see a rare bird that would then be ticked, or counted on a list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twitch: The act of traveling a long distance to see a rare bird. Synonymous with chase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lifer: A first-ever sighting of a bird species by an observer; an addition to one\u2019s life list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Life List: A list of every species of birds an individual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/birdwatching-using-camcorder\/\">birder<\/a> has ever seen, or heard, in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LBJ (or little brown job): Drab songbirds that are difficult to differentiate and identify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mega or megatick: A very rare bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vagrant: A stray far from the normal ecological range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope you enjoyed this post, Geelbek Western Cape birding. You might also be interested in these posts: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/boulders-beach-birding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/boulders-beach-birding\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is another post about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/is-cape-spurfowl-endemic-to-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cape Spurfowl<\/a> that is endemic to South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please leave a comment about your experience at Geelbek or anything you would like to share with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Content creator: Petrus A. van Tonder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I learned about Geelbek Western Cape for birding through the Southern African Rare Bird News Reports I receive by email. While on holiday in Cape Town, I made Geelbek a priority visit. You can&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birding","category-birds-south-africa","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wwbirds.co.za\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}