Pigeon Valley

For the Pigeon Valley in Turkey, see Uçhisar.

Hikers in Pigeon Valley

Pigeon Valley is a Natural Heritage Park and formally declared municipal nature reserve in Durban, South Africa (29.8646° S, 30.9869° E). It is an unusual example of an urban reserve with very high levels of biodiversity. It was established to provide protection for the Natal elm (Celtis mildbraedii) and other forest giants of the coastal climax forest. Another rare tree that occurs here is Natal forest loquat (Oxyanthus pyriformis), which is endemic to the Durban area and to oNgoye Forest.

In March 2020, a juvenile Crowned Eagle stands over its prey, a Red Duiker

Pigeon Valley is about 11 ha in extent, and is situated on the Berea, overlooking Durban Bay. Its unusual north-south orientation may contribute to the biodiversity, with the south-facing slope covered in canopy forest, while the north-facing slope has thorny thickets. An adjoining reservoir, previously part of the reserve, provides a patch of coastal grassland.

Animals

Red duiker at Pigeon Valley

Male buff-spotted flufftail in Pigeon Valley, January 2014

The park is home to red duiker and blue duiker. Other mammals include Large-spotted Genet, a troop of banded mongooses as well as slender and water mongooses. Blue vervet monkeys are constantly present. In July 2019, a side-striped jackal was seen in neighbouring roads and was apparently living in the reserve for a time. This may be the southernmost sighting of this species.

Various species of forest birds are found here including; red-capped robin-chat, green twinspot, Cape white-eye, southern boubou, spotted ground thrush, purple-crested turaco and African paradise flycatcher. The black sparrowhawk breeds here annually. There are increasingly common visits by the Crowned Eagle, and it seems that two birds are now resident in the suburban area. Another bird that is seldom seen but that is generally present is buff-spotted flufftail. Unusual sightings of note in recent years include European nightjar, Knysna warbler, lemon dove, mountain wagtail, black-throated wattle-eye, common scimitarbill, palm-nut vulture and Knysna turaco. The current bird list for Pigeon Valley includes 162 species.

The spotted ground thrush is of particular note, as Pigeon Valley is one of the places where this endangered bird can be most reliably found in winter. It arrives typically in late March or early April, and is present until August or September; earliest arrival date recorded has been 22 March and latest (in 2015) 5 October, apart from a single January sighting. Summer migrants include, occasionally, black cuckoo, red-chested cuckoo and red-backed shrike.

Bird list

Bird list for Pigeon Valley

Number	Family	Species	Status	Notes
1	Apalis	Bar-throated	Breeding resident
2	Apalis	Yellow-breasted	Breeding resident
3	Barbet	Black-collared	Breeding resident	Recent decline in numbers
4	Barbet	White-eared	Breeding resident	Increasing in number
5	Barbet	Crested	Occasional visitor
6	Batis	Cape	Breeding resident
7	Batis	Chinspot	Occasional visitor
8	Bee-eater	Little	Occasional visitor
9	Blackcap	Black	Rare visitor	22 August 2020
10	Boubou	Southern	Breeding resident
11	Brownbul	Terrestrial	Breeding resident
12	Bulbul	Dark-capped	Breeding resident
13	Bunting	Golden-breasted	Occasional visitor	April 1992, 30 March 2013
14	Bush-Shrike	Gorgeous	Rare visitor	2007
15	Bush-Shrike	Grey-headed	Occasional visitor	2012; winter 2014, 2019-2020
16	Bush-Shrike	Olive	Winter and spring visitor
17	Bush-Shrike	Orange-breasted	Occasional visitor	Last seen 2011
18	Buzzard	Steppe	Infrequent visitor	March 2019
19	Camaroptera	Green-backed	Breeding resident
20	Canary	Brimstone	Regular visitor
21	Canary	Yellow-fronted	Regularly present
22	Chat	Familiar	Occasional visitor
23	Cisticola	Zitting	Rare visitor	Pair present 2015; 2020
24	Coucal	Burchell's	Occasional visitor
25	Crested-Flycatcher	Blue-mantled	Rare visitor	Female present 2014-6
26	Crow	Pied	Occasional visitor
27	Cuckoo	Black	Occasional summer visitor
28	Cuckoo	Diderik	Regular summer visitor
29	Cuckoo	Emerald	Occasional summer visitor
30	Cuckoo	Common	Rare visitor	1979; November 2018
31	Cuckoo	Jacobin	Rare visitor	October 2016
32	Cuckoo	Klaas's	Breeding resident	Breeding 2014
33	Cuckoo	Red-chested	Occasional summer visitor	2015, 2017
34	Cuckooshrike	Black	Occasional visitor	Mainly winter
35	Cuckooshrike	Grey	Occasional visitor	Mainly winter
36	Dove	Red-eyed	Breeding resident
37	Dove	Laughing	Breeding resident
38	Dove	Rock	Occasional visitor
39	Dove	Tambourine	Breeding resident
40	Dove	Lemon	Rare visitor	2012, 2018
41	Drongo	Fork-tailed	Breeding resident
42	Drongo	Square-tailed	Breeding resident
43	Duck	White-faced	Infrequent visitor	November 2017
44	Eagle	African crowned	Occasional visitor
45	Eagle-Owl	Spotted	Occasional visitor
46	Falcon	Lanner	Occasional visitor
47	Firefinch	African	Breeding resident
48	Firefinch	Red-billed	Breeding resident	First sighting January 2015; now established
49	Fiscal	Common	Not seen in recent years
50	Flufftail	Buff-spotted	Breeding resident	Seen regularly
51	Flycatcher	Ashy	Breeding resident
52	Flycatcher	Dusky	Breeding resident
53	Flycatcher	Fiscal	Regular winter visitor
54	Flycatcher	Spotted	Uncommon summer visitor	Present late 2014
55	Flycatcher	Southern Black	Breeding resident
56	Goshawk	African	Breeding resident
57	Greenbul	Sombre	Breeding resident
58	Greenbul	Yellow-bellied	Occasional visitor	Mainly winter and spring
59	Ground-Thrush	Spotted	Regular migrant	April to September; November 2014; January 2016
60	Hamerkop		Occasional visitor
61	Harrierhawk	African	Regular visitor
62	Hawk	African cuckoo	Rare visitor	Present June 2014
63	Heron	Black-headed	Occasional visitor
64	Hobby	Eurasian	Rare visitor	March 2015
65	Honeybird	Brown-backed	Occasional visitor
66	Honey-Buzzard	European	Rare visitor	First sighting January 2015
67	Honeyguide	Greater	Rare visitor	Not seen in recent years
68	Honeyguide	Lesser	Usually present
69	Honeyguide	Scaly-throated	Occasional visitor
70	Hoopoe	African	Occasional visitor
71	Hornbill	Crowned	Rare visitor	2015
72	Hornbill	Trumpeter	Rare visitor	2011
73	Ibis	Hadeda	Breeding resident
74	Indigobird	Village	Uncertain as yet	First sighted June 2019
75	Kingfisher	Brown-hooded	Breeding resident
76	Kingfisher	Mangrove	Rare visitor	2011, March 2016, 8 October 2017
77	Kite	Yellow-billed	Breeding migrant
78	Malkoha	Green	Infrequent visitor	2010, 2017-8
79	Mannikin	Bronze	Breeding resident
80	Mannikin	Red-backed	Breeding resident
81	Martin	Rock	Occasional visitor
82	Mousebird	Speckled	Breeding resident
83	Myna	Common	Frequent visitor
84	Nightjar	European	Rare visitor	2013; 18 December 2014
85	Nightjar	Fiery-necked	Occasional visitor
86	Oriole	Black-headed	Breeding resident
87	Owl	Barn	Record from 1979
88	Palm Swift	African	Regularly present
89	Paradise Flycatcher	African	Breeding resident
90	Parakeet	Rose-ringed	Regular visitor
91	Pigeon	Green	Record from 1979
92	Prinia	Tawny-flanked	Breeding resident
93	Puffback	Black-backed	Breeding resident
94	Pygmy-Kingfisher	African	Occasional visitor
95	Quelea	Red-billed	Rare visitor	December 2017
96	Robin	White-starred	Rare visitor	Not seen in recent years
97	Robin-Chat	Red-capped	Breeding resident
98	Robin-Chat	Cape	Occasional visitor	Mainly winter
99	Robin-Chat	Chorister	Occasional visitor	Mainly winter
100	Saw-wing	Black	Regular visitor
101	Scimitarbill	Common	Rare visitor	11 November 2016
102	Scops Owl	Southern white-faced	Rare vagrant	July 2018
103	Scrub-Robin	White-browed	Formerly breeding resident
104	Seedeater	Streaky-headed	Breeding resident
105	Shrike	Red-backed	Infrequent summer visitor	Present Nov 2015
106	Sparrow	Southern grey-headed	Occasional visitor
107	Sparrow	House	Occasional visitor
108	Sparrowhawk	Little	Occasional visitor
109	Sparrowhawk	Black	Breeding resident
110	Spurfowl	Natal	Breeding resident
111	Starling	Black-bellied	Breeding resident
112	Starling	Violet-backed	Occasional summer visitor
113	Starling	Red-winged	Regularly present
114	Starling	Glossy	Breeding resident
115	Stonechat	African	Rare visitor	Not seen in recent years
116	Stork	Woolly-necked	Occasional visitor
117	Sunbird	Grey	Breeding resident
118	Sunbird	Amethyst	Breeding resident
119	Sunbird	Olive	Breeding resident
120	Sunbird	Purple-banded	Regular visitor	Winter
121	Sunbird	Collared	Breeding resident
122	Sunbird	White-bellied	Breeding resident
123	Swallow	Barn	Regular visitor	Summer
124	Swallow	Lesser-striped	Regular visitor
125	Swallow	White-throated	Occasional visitor
126	Swift	Black	Rare visitor
127	Swift	White-rumped	Occasional visitor
128	Swift	Little	Regularly present
129	Swift	Alpine	Rare visitor	Not seen in recent years
130	Tchagra	Southern	Rare visitor	2017, 2018
131	Thrush	Kurrichane	Breeding resident
132	Thrush	Olive	Winter visitor	Present March 2014, 2018
133	Tinkerbird	Red-fronted	Occasional visitor	October 2017, July 2020
134	Tinkerbird	Yellow-rumped	Breeding resident
135	Tit	Southern black	Breeding resident
136	Trogon	Narina	Occasional visitor
137	Turaco	Knysna	Rare visitor	September 1991; 1 October 2017
138	Turaco	Purple-crested	Breeding resident
139	Twinspot	Green	Regular visitor	Breeding record 2014
140	Vulture	Palm-nut	Rare visitor	22 October 2017, May 2020
141	Wagtail	Cape	Occasional visitor
142	Wagtail	Mountain	Rare visitor	Seen once in 1990s, again in 2013
143	Warbler	Barratt's	Infrequent winter visitor	June 2014, 2017
144	Warbler	Garden	Rare visitor	Present winter 2015
145	Warbler	Knysna	Rare visitor	20 August 2017, 2018
146	Warbler	Marsh	Summer visitor	Several 2017-9
147	Warbler	Willow	Rare summer visitor	December 2014
148	Wattle-eye	Black-throated	Rare visitor	2013; present in 2015
149	Waxbill	Common	Regular visitor
150	Waxbill	Grey	Breeding resident
151	Weaver	Yellow	Rare visitor	Winter 2015
152	Weaver	Dark-backed	Breeding resident
153	Weaver	Village	Breeding resident
154	Weaver	Spectacled	Regularly present
155	Weaver	Thick-billed	Breeding resident
156	White-eye	Cape	Breeding resident
157	Wood-hoopoe	Green	Regular visitor
158	Woodland-Warbler	Yellow-throated	Rare visitor, winter	13 August 2016
159	Woodpecker	Golden-tailed	Breeding resident
160	Woodpecker	Cardinal	Breeding resident
161	Woodpecker	Olive	Rare visitor	2009, 2017, 2018, 2019-2020
162	Whydah	Pin-tailed	Irregular visitor	2015, 2017
163	Barbet	Pied	Rare visitor	July 2021

Butterflies

The reserve is excellent for its butterflies, and the total listing is now 92 species. In September 2018 the first pupae of the short-barred sapphire were found on a Celtis mildbraedii tree. The host plant is the Oncocalyx quinquenervius mistletoe, which grows profusely on the tree. Subsequently a red-line sapphire was found at the same spot. The first forest queen was found in 2019.

Plants

A Natal elm, showing its extensive buttressing, Pigeon Valley, May 2013

There are over 110 species of trees occurring in Pigeon Valley, almost all of which are locally indigenous. Pigeon Valley is also notable for large stands of buckweed (Isoglossa woodii), which grow in more open areas under the forest canopy and in forest glades. In recent years there have been a few discoveries of plants not previously identified.

Pigeon Valley is unique in having large numbers of the rare Natal elm, and of Natal forest loquat. A Cryptocarya specimen found adjacent to the main track has so far not been definitively identified; it may be a species seldom found in the area (C. liebertiana) or alternatively a hybrid (C. latifolia and C. woodii).

A spotted ground thrush in this urban reserve, where it is a winter visitor

Public access

The reserve is open from 07:30 to 16:00 daily throughout the year. The entrance is in Princess Alice Avenue, Glenwood, opposite Rhodes Avenue.

Community

An active grouping, Friends of Pigeon Valley, undertakes clearing of invasive alien plants, ensuring that the park is unusually free of alien species. It also liaises with management to ensure the biodiversity of the reserve and the wellbeing of visitors. It also liaises with the municipal managers of the reserve to address relevant issues. The Friends operate a monthly walk open to the public on the second Saturday of each month, at 07h30. There is a Facebook page, Friends of Pigeon Valley, at https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfPigeonValley/.

See also

• Forests of KwaZulu-Natal

Bibliography

• Pooley, T. and Player, I. (1995). KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife Destinations. ISBN 1-86812-487-8.