April 2024 Newsletter

European Rollers – where do they go?

BirdLife South Africa is protecting migratory birds one solar-powered satellite tag at a time. And its species of choice? The European Roller.

This captivating migratory bird, a flagship species for the East Atlantic Flyway Initiative, is also a crucial indicator of ecosystem health. Individual populations have shown severe declines and their status has become precarious in many countries. Studies have found that some populations have plummeted by more than 30% in just three generations, and in Europe some have gone extinct. Major threats are habitat loss due to intensive agriculture, lack of nesting sites, the use of pesticides, and illegal hunting along migration routes. A Species Action Plan has been developed to help conserve the species and South Africa has been identified as a priority country on the migration route.

Southern Africa hosts two European Roller subspecies: the Western Palearctic Coracias garrulus garrulus and the more common Western and Central Asian C. g. semenowi. We are waiting for blood sample results to confirm the subspecies and sex of the birds we’ve tagged, but their migration paths might offer some clues.

By tracking these birds and mapping their migration routes, we can pinpoint crucial stopover sites, like the one Hera has been using in Somalia for several days (see map). These staging posts are essential for the birds to rest and refuel before the next leg of their journey, and identifying and safeguarding them is vital for the rollers’ survival. The data generated by the satellite tags are particularly valuable because most research focuses on European breeding grounds. Tracking in South Africa provides a missing link: by understanding the rollers’ migration routes and habitat preferences here we can identify potential threats along the way.

Knowing the rollers’ migration patterns and the threats the birds face will be a game-changer for conservation efforts. With this knowledge, we can target our resources and collaborate with partners across Africa and Europe to create a safe haven for these magnificent birds throughout their migratory journey.

By unravelling this migration mystery, one tagged bird at a time, BirdLife South Africa is taking a vital step towards securing a future for European Rollers. To find out more, go here.

JESSICA WILMOT, FLYWAY AND MIGRANTS PROJECT MANAGER

Atlas bash in Zululand

Would you like to take your birding to the next level and contribute to bird research and conservation while visiting one of the remotest parts of KwaZulu-Natal? SABAP’s KwaZulu-Natal Regional Atlas Committee is planning an atlas bash in northern Zululand for a weekend in November 2024. The bash will be based at Sodwana and will target many parts of the province that have so far received little attention from atlasers.

KwaZulu-Natal, and especially northern Zululand, is well known for its diverse landscapes and many bird species. Despite this rich diversity, more than 60 pentads still need to be atlased. So we’ll be looking for the likes of Pink-throated Twinspot, Green Malkoha, African Pygmy Goose and the mighty Pel’s Fishing Owl…

If you would like to support or participate in this bash, please contact me at cassie.carstens@birdlife.org.za. Spaces are limited and atlasers need to pay their own way and be self-supporting with regard to travel; vehicles with off-road capabilities are recommended.

CASSIE CARSTENS, KZN RAC COORDINATOR

2024 AGM in Durban

BirdLife South Africa will hold its 95th AGM on 18 May 2024 at 11h00 online via Zoom and in person at Mount Edgecombe Country Club in Durban. As part of the proceedings, members will be asked to vote for a new Members’ Director. The organisation’s staff will give presentations about some of the important conservation work they are doing and there will be opportunities for those attending in person to network and socialise, as well as enjoy a post-AGM lunch (booking is required for the lunch, at R260 per person).

To book your place for the lunch, click here.

If you would like to view the minutes of the 2023 AGM, or if you have any questions, please e-mail isabel.human@birdlife.org.za

Farewell from Andrew de Blocq

I joined BirdLife South Africa in January 2018. It feels like a lifetime ago, and that fresh-faced recent Master’s graduate who attempted to make up for his little to no work experience with an overabundance of enthusiasm feels like a completely different person. And in many senses, it was a very different world back then. I have grown over the past six years into a very different person, now with some wisdom and experience to complement the energy.

BirdLife South Africa has been a welcoming and rewarding professional home for me and it is therefore very difficult to break the news that I will be ‘leaving the nest’ at the end of April. I feel it is important for me to stress that there is no push factor or sense of unhappiness that I am trying to escape; in fact, my very happy years here make it almost unbearable to leave. I have given this decision a great deal of thought, but ultimately the new opportunity is too great to pass up.

I will, after the national election on 29 May, be taking up a seat as a Member of Parliament with the DA (Democratic Alliance). I must also emphasise here that BirdLife South Africa is, and will remain, an apolitical entity and my personal alignment does not represent that of the organisation. The new position and career will no doubt challenge me in ways I have never been tested before, but I am looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to the cause of uplifting both nature and people in a very different forum and at a completely different scale. I am equal parts terrified and excited, and feel like the dog that has caught the bus and is unsure what to do with it.

In many ways, my career at BirdLife South Africa has prepared me uniquely for this change. Working for a small NGO has its challenges, but it also allows you to develop much more broadly than in a pigeonholed corporate job. I have been required and encouraged to develop wide-ranging skills, including public speaking, fundraising, marketing, communications, writing, event organising, strategy, legal drafting, leadership, project management and many others that I will draw on in my new career. I have also been empowered to contribute at a high level of the organisation, for example through the Marketing Committee and the organising committees for events such as the African Bird Fair and Flock to Marion. These engagements have increased my confidence in my ability to add value, work in teams and collaborate effectively with the full scope of the organisation, from the intern to the CEO.

It has been an incredibly rich and rewarding journey and I know that I am not divorcing the organisation but rather repositioning myself in relation to it. I have already committed to becoming a Conservation League Donor and I am sure that I will continue to work with the team and champion their values and objectives in my new capacity. I want to express my absolute gratitude to everyone I have worked with, whether they are colleagues, funders, collaborators or supporters. The quality of people that BirdLife South Africa attracts is a testament to the culture and environment that it fosters, and I have reaped the benefits of working with some fantastic and diverse people over the years. To name them all would take too much space and I would hate to have to leave somebody off, so I will do my acknowledgements personally.

I do want to share some of my highlights, though, for my own indulgence as well as to showcase some of the amazing work that I have been privileged to contribute to at BirdLife South Africa.

Perhaps the most rewarding but also most challenging project that I was involved with is the Community Bird Guide Project. I joined BirdLife South Africa in 2018 in the Seabird Conservation Programme and only later transitioned into the tourism role – a mere three weeks after Level 5 lockdown was declared in South Africa. Those who lived through it will know that South Africa’s Covid-19 restrictions were some of the most rigid. To take a job in tourism at that time appeared completely senseless, but I knew that the funding for my position was secure and that there was urgent work to be done. It was eminently clear that lockdown was an indeterminate death knell to much of the tourism industry that relied on travel and visitors.

From BirdLife South Africa’s perspective, it was especially concerning that our network of about 50 guides was suddenly left without prospects of an income. The organisation has trained members of local communities to become professional bird guides for more than 25 years and they have since become some of the most formidable and loved members of the birding community. However, they often provide for extended families and communities and subsist on a relatively lean budget, and this hurdle was going to prove too much for many of them. My first task then as the new Avitourism Project Manager was to devise a plan to help our guides. With the assistance of senior management and the Board, we were able to establish a Community Bird Guide Relief Fund and appealed to the birding community to support the guides. We raised close to R1-million in a few months and were able to sustain the guides until local travel opened some six months later. This outpouring of charity and love at such a dark time for the tourism industry was a warm light that reached all corners of the country.

Once some of the pandemic restrictions had eased, I was able to convene my first guide training course. In my three years at the helm, we successfully held three courses and graduated 23 guides. Receiving the guides’ expressions of gratitude upon graduation is a feeling I will carry with me for a long time, and the opportunity to play a life-changing role in the career of someone else is something I will never take for granted. Although managing the network of guides, identifying avenues for support and training, and coordinating training courses was at times a monumental challenge, it was by far outstripped by the reward at the end.

When I took on the position I inherited a lot of smaller projects alongside the Community Bird Guides. There were the Birder Friendly Establishments and Tour Operators (as they were then called), the birding routes launched some 10 years previously and then left to stagnate, and the various other birding-related bits and pieces. While managing projects is all well and good, it is just that much more motivating for me to start something I could call my own and see it through. At the start of my tenure as Avitourism Project Manager, it was suggested that I convene a stakeholder meeting to discuss the strategy and direction of this new project with some experts. It was the middle of the pandemic, so people had time to spare and were still awed by the new virtual meeting technology ‘Zoom’, and they were more than willing to contribute.

During the day-long engagement, I casually mentioned that I thought the various elements of this project would work best if they were all tied together into some kind of digital map that brought the guides, accommodation, tour operators and other services together. But, I added, it would take an immense amount of work and a considerable budget to build such a thing. Oom Dawie Chamberlain, a long-time supporter and Board member of BirdLife South Africa, unmuted himself for the first time that day and said ‘Neef, I agree with you and I’ll fund it.’ That was the day the GoBirding website was born (gobirding.co.za). We devised a plan to contract out-of-work professional guides to review and improve our birding routes, bringing the information up to an impeccable level of quality and detail. We then designed the page and populated more than 600 individual web pages of information relating to birding in South Africa. This resulted in a world-class repository and portal of information that is freely available to the public and will catalyse avitourism in unquantifiable ways. I am particularly proud of this legacy that I can leave to the birding community.

Another Covid-19 challenge was presented to us in the form of the African Bird Fair. Traditionally held at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens, this popular event was now on the ropes. Julie Bayley, then our Events Manager, and I had not been involved in a bird fair before, but we convinced the organising committee to let us run with the idea of a virtual fair. The technology was still in its infancy and neither of us fully grasped the enormity of the task we had put our hands up for, but we managed to pull together a passable virtual event in just a couple of months on the back of an inexhaustible supply of coffee and a sequence of all-nighters. The Virtual African Bird Fair (‘virtually the best bird fair in Africa’) became a workable model for three years before we moved back to a physical location again (but with a hybrid element). These fairs have been an annual highlight for me to work on and I’m grateful for the support and collaboration provided by all the committees over the years.

The Conservation Conversations webinar series was yet another pandemic product. Our staff are very popular on the bird club talk circuit, but lockdown put paid to that. Melissa Whitecross, a dear friend and past colleague, came up with the idea of launching a virtual talk series so that we could connect with the bird clubs remotely. This weekly and then bi-weekly series roared into life like a parched grassland set aflame. Within one or two weeks we had an audience of several hundred people, sometimes pushing past our 500-viewer licence cap. I was brought on as a co-host and then Christina Hagen was added as a third host. The series is still going some five years and 160 episodes later.

As I mentioned earlier, I moved into the tourism role after starting in the Seabird Conservation Programme. My first job title was Coastal Seabird Conservation Project Officer, which then got upgraded to Project Manager. My chief responsibility was collecting data for the non-breeding African Penguin tracking project. Penguins need to replace their feathers, as do all birds. The twist for penguins is that losing feathers compromises their waterproofing and exposes them to hypothermia, so they counteract this with what is known, rather dramatically, as ‘catastrophic moult’: they lose all their feathers simultaneously rather than sequentially. They come ashore for three weeks to complete their moult, looking rather ragged and forlorn. During this time they are unable to go to sea, which means they must take on sufficient fluids and fuel to last them the full moult period. To this end, about six weeks pre-moult they attempt to pack on as many pounds as possible. Then they lose half their weight while replacing their feathers and must refuel quickly. When food is not so easy to come by, which with the pressure on pelagic fish stocks and the climate change-associated shifts in prey base is often the case, the penguins are at real risk of not surviving their moult.

My job was to fit GPS trackers on birds in the pre- and post-moult stages to ascertain where their most important foraging areas are and then to translate that data into advocacy for fishing closures through the relevant government working groups. I enjoyed the data collection immensely, especially the trips to Dassen Island off the west coast. This island has one permanent inhabitant, its manager, but is otherwise a nature reserve. It’s a fascinating and sometimes eerie place, especially when my field work required me to be out retrieving devices in the early hours of the morning when penguins were on their nests. The call of Leach’s Storm Petrels will forever give me chills (the island is the last breeding outpost and nocturnal roost for this species in South Africa). Being able to explore and work on the island was a true privilege. As productive as I was with data collection, the hard scientific analysis skills were beyond me and I am grateful to colleagues who have taken up that role and are translating the data into meaningful conservation. At the time of writing, BirdLife South Africa and SANCCOB are suing the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment for not acting strongly enough to protect penguins. I am proud that the data I collected have contributed to the evidence base being used to argue for protecting our natural heritage.

Penguins took me all over the Western Cape, but also to a couple of rather unexpected places as well. Two stick out in my memory. The first was the Seventh Session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA, which is a mouthful on its own before you even spell out the rather odd acronym for the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Agreement. This international conference took place in Durban and I was able to travel with a number of colleagues who became firm friends afterwards. I was rather daunted by the United Nations-styled plenaries and sessions, and was required to convene a side event on the conservation of the Benguela ecosystem’s seabirds featured in the Agreement. I managed to hide my nerves well enough to pull off the event and this kick-started an opportunity to convene a working group to draft an International Multi-Species Action Plan (or IMSAP, if you want the alphabet soup version). The working group meeting eventually happened after I had moved to Johannesburg, but that early exposure to international conferencing was an eye-opener and confidence booster, as well as a very enjoyable event.

The second trip that will go down as a lifetime highlight was the opportunity to participate in the International Penguin Conference in Dunedin, New Zealand. Despite the name, the meeting is not for penguins but rather for researchers, advocates and conservationists working on the 20 or so penguin species worldwide. My aforementioned webinar co-host and fellow penguinologist, Christina Hagen, and I decided to travel early to explore some of New Zealand’s South Island. Some highlights were watching Yellow-eyed Penguins come back from a sea trip and bumble around the atypical forest habitat, gawking at various albatross species at arm’s length in Kaikoura, and braving the frigid conditions of Lake Pukaki to see one of the world’s most endangered birds, the Black Stilt. The conference itself was a fantastic gathering of like-minded individuals, and the assortment of South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders and Chileans got on like a house on fire with the inspiration of a few Speight’s and DBs.

After the conference, we travelled with fellow delegates to the stunning Milford Sound on the west coast and finally to Rakiura, or Stewart Island, in the extreme south. Rakiura is arguably the best place to find kiwis, and it was with great intent that I set out one evening with my head torch to look for one. Unfortunately, as is the case on most New Zealand evenings, the heavens opened and my little camping torch was lighting up no further than my feet through the driving rain. It was about midnight when someone drove past this drenched and muddy South African plodding through the deserted streets and took pity on me. In fact, it was the single policeman for the island on his evening patrol. He passed me, then slowed and reversed, winding down his window to ask in his thick accent and with a knowing glance, ‘You looking for kiwis?’ He allowed me to ride shotgun and we spent the next hour searching in the car headlights. I think we saw six or seven kiwis in that time. I saw him the next day in the local pub and it’s safe to say he didn’t pay for a drink that night.

I also had the chance to travel for other people’s work at times. My travel partner was often Melissa Whitecross or Linda van den Heever, or sometimes both. Some of the most memorable trips were those into broader southern Africa. Two took us into Mozambique for the Vulture Safe Zones Project: to the incredible Maputo National Park and to the Zinave and Karingani reserves. Between excessively long days on the road and over-enthusiastic speed cops, there were also incredible experiences with birds (Pel’s Fishing Owl and Black Coucal stand out) and landscapes (the spinetail-infested baobabs of the north and the sand forest of the south, to highlight just two). And I couldn’t have asked for better company. Another standout trip was the Black Stork survey in northern Kruger National Park. Playing bird-themed board games in Punda Maria by head torch and wading through the shallow (but still crocodile-rich) water of the steep-sided Lanner Gorge are seared into my brain as times when all was at peace in the world.

Perhaps the pinnacle of my travel experiences while at BirdLife South Africa was the Flock to Marion voyage. When I tell people that a small conservation organisation chartered a cruise ship I am greeted with incredulity. When I go on to explain that it has now been done three times and once halfway to Antarctica, the incredulity turns to blank disbelief. Being a part of the organising committee for this cruise was an intensely testing experience, especially given the crunched timelines and extra complications brought about by Covid-19. I was in charge of the expert seabird guide contingent, which some may describe as trying to herd 50 extremely intelligent but perennially distracted cats through a multi-storied steel maze. I averaged about three hours of sleep a night on the voyage itself and endured some stressful days and weeks leading up to it, but it was all worth it when 1496 birders were gawping open-mouthed at thousands of albatrosses encompassing the vessel with the Prince Edward Islands in silhouette on the horizon. I sincerely hope to be aboard again for the second Flock to Marion in January 2025. I hope I will see you there.

Latterly, the Pan African Ornithological Congress in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, at the back end of 2023 was a highlight. Africa’s top ornithologists gathered there, some compatriots of mine from my days at the FitzPatrick Institute and others who I had only corresponded with or knew by reputation. I presented the pioneering work of the South African Names for South African Birds project, an effort to consolidate lists of South Africa’s birds in its official languages through consultative compilation of existing names and the creation of new names where needed. This is another transformative project that I am very proud to have had a hand in. For the first time, there are now lists of birds in languages other than English and Afrikaans. Zulu was tackled first, and now multiple other languages are receiving attention. Most importantly, a contract was secured to translate a major bird field guide mobile app into Zulu, which will be a first of its kind worldwide and a freely available tool for Zulu-speaking birders. Although creating lists of bird names is a small achievement (but a huge amount of legwork), it is a necessary foundational step towards tearing down the barriers that keep birding entrenched as the pursuit of the privileged few in South Africa.

I cannot say enough about the quality of BirdLife South Africa. For a relatively small group of people, its achievements are entirely outsized. South Africa’s natural environment would be much worse off without its hard work. The conservation of birds in this country’s context is an extremely heavy burden in terms of the complexity of government, communities, socio-economic challenges, data scarcity and an ever-dwindling dearth of funding opportunities. Yet the quality and dedication of this team enable it to fight several levels above where it would reasonably be expected to. Its output, coupled with impeccable, industry-leading governance and financial administration, has placed it at the pinnacle of conservation organisations on the continent.

If you are in any way able to support BirdLife South Africa, whether by becoming a regular member, a regular donor, a Conservation League Donor, a Golden Bird Patron, a volunteer, by leaving it a legacy in your will, or any other kind of contribution, I implore you to consider doing so. From somebody who has been on the inside and been privy to how the organisation functions, I can assure you that your investment will be repaid many times over through its work.

And so, I bid farewell to the organisation and a chapter of my life that I will look back fondly on. I am by no means lost to the birding and conservation communities, however, and intend to use future opportunities to continue to make a positive contribution to this wonderful country and our natural environment. Should you wish to contact me, please do so at adeblocq@gmail.com or via social media. I will always be happy to talk birds and birding!

ANDREW DE BLOCQ, AVITOURISM PROJECT MANAGER

Eavesdrop on the wild

Sound in the wild is an extraordinary and complex affair – and it can tell us much about animals’ and birds’ lifestyles and relationships. Dominance and display, courtship and communication, selection and survival all play out audibly.

Now you can eavesdrop on what is going on. Sound Safari is for blind, visually impaired and fully sighted guests and is based at Kwalata Game Lodge in Dinokeng Nature Reserve, Gauteng. The game-drive vehicle is fitted with a sensitive stereo microphone that is connected via a listening box to individual guests’ headphones, enabling them to listen to the amplified sounds of nature’s orchestra. Whether it is the whoop of a hyena, the alarm call of an impala or the song of a bird, animals use sound to find a mate, look after offspring, defend a territory, deal with competition, locate food sources, warn of danger and more. And as a first for non-scientists, on an afternoon boat cruise we will listen in to the underwater sounds through a hydrophone, hoping to hear fish, aquatic insects and hippos.

As home to a wide variety of mammals and an impressive array of birds, Dinokeng Reserve offers many diverse listening opportunities. Accommodation at Kwalata Game Lodge is in charming en-suite chalets and the friendly South African hospitality is second to none.

The reserve is in a malaria-free area and lies 40 minutes from Pretoria and an hour north of Johannesburg.

Dates in June 2024:

• 14–15 June
• 16–17 June

Cost: R12 530 per person sharing, including two nights’ accommodation, all meals, sound presentation, three sound game drives, a sound boat cruise, conservation levies. Transport to Dinokeng and drinks are excluded.

Contact: WhatsApp 076 800 7408; sounds@dereksolomon.com; www.dereksolomon.com

The Rietbron Karoo bash 

In the heart of the Eastern Cape’s last western frontier, the town of Rietbron hosted the March 2024 Karoo Atlas Bash. Although its ecological footprint may be modest, its Karoo hospitality is anything but, thanks to Karien van Vuuren at Ouma Rika and affiliated guesthouses who provided a welcoming stay with excellent catering.

The atlas gathering brought together a diverse group of enthusiasts, from veterans like Kevin Lavery and Cobus Elstadt to newcomers eager to explore the birding riches of the Aberdeen plains. The quality of engagement and shared enthusiasm made the bash a unique and memorable event.

Participants enjoyed several days of birding, navigating the challenges of large fences and private land thanks to the efforts of Stefan Theron and Karien, who secured access through connections with local landowners. The weather provided ideal conditions for notable sightings, including a drinking site for Sclater’s Lark discovered by Jo and Cait.

A personal highlight was spending time with Susan Wishart from the Wild Bird Trust, learning about the Cape Parrot Trust’s initiatives while exploring under-birded areas along the N9 south of Aberdeen. The dry conditions of the past summer highlighted the importance of water sources for birds, with White-fronted Bee-eaters at Beervlei Dam being a standout sighting for me. The success of the bash was quantifiable: more than 42 Full Protocol cards were filled, there were additional ad-hoc cards, and 1800 records were logged on BirdLasser.

This event underscores the value of atlasing as a purposeful birding activity that not only fosters exploration and discovery, but also significantly contributes to conservation science. To become part of this enriching experience and contribute to our understanding of South Africa’s avian diversity, visit sabap2.birdmap.africa. Your participation can make a significant difference in bird conservation.

Our thanks go to all, but especially to Renier Balt and Ubumbano for their generous donation that supported the event, as well as to every participant and every landowner who opened their gates and hearts to this endeavour. Let’s continue to discover, document and conserve the avian wonders of our region.

As always, none of this would be possible without the generous support of my sponsors, Italtile and Ceramic Foundation, AFRIT and Eskom. Their conservation commitment enables us not only to venture into these magnificent landscapes, but also to bring back invaluable data and insights. Thanks also to those who live through these adventures by making a contribution to the SABAP2 project at BirdLife South Africa.

DR ALAN LEE, SCIENCE AND INNOVATION PROGRAMME MANAGER

Book now for Flock to Marion AGAIN!

After a three-week period during which Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 bookings were open exclusively to BirdLife South Africa’s donors and members, reservations can now be made by the general public.

Where else in the world can you find yourself watching Wandering Albatrosses soar past an arm’s length away at sunrise, tucking into an all-you-can-eat buffet at breakfast, making new friends with like-minded nature-lovers over sundowners, and enjoying the immense privilege of listening to Peter Harrison MBE talk about his life at sea that evening – all in one day?

So be sure to secure your berth on this fantastic and popular voyage aboard the MSC Musica by either contacting the MSC Cruises call centre on +27 11 844 6073 or visiting https://tinyurl.com/Book4Flock.

Don’t delay, as spaces are filling up quickly!

ANDY WASSUNG, FLOCK TO MARION AGAIN! 2025 ORGANISING COMMITTEE

The Bird Fair is back!

Remember the date: Saturday, 24 August 2024. Join us then at the Country Club Johannesburg (Woodmead), or online via Zoom, for another jam-packed South African Bird Fair programme that promises to keep you entertained and enthralled. We’ll have everything you can think of, including workshops to increase your knowledge, gift ideas, film screenings, interesting talks and, of course, morning walks in the beautiful country club’s grounds.

Tickets will go on sale soon, so watch this space (and our social media pages) for more information!

CLARE NEALL AND ANDY WASSUNG, SOUTH AFRICAN BIRD FAIR ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Luxury birding with Rovos Rail

Ever tried birding by train? What about birding by luxury train?

BirdLife South Africa is offering you the unique opportunity to spend five nights aboard an exclusive Rovos Rail birding safari. The train will leave Pretoria on Friday, 29 November 2024 and will visit Dullstroom, Mbombela (Nelspruit), Hoedspruit and Tzaneen, returning to Pretoria via Polokwane on Wednesday, 4 December. Expect a world-class travel experience combined with five mornings of exceptional birding in some of South Africa’s most beautiful habitats, including the northern escarpment, golden grassland, lush forest, mopane woodland and acacia thornveld, as we search for the region’s most desired birds.

To book your place, please visit birdlife.org.za/support-us/events/rovos-rail or contact me at 011 789 1122 or clare.neall@birdlife.org.za

CLARE NEALL, EVENTS MANAGER

We are hiring!

BirdLife South Africa is recruiting a qualified and experienced person to fill the position of Regional Conservation Programme Manager/National Red List Programme Officer. The incumbent will report to BirdLife South Africa and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). BirdLife South Africa is partnering with SANBI to support other southern African countries to carry out National Red List assessments and identify national Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs).

The primary responsibilities of the Regional Conservation Programme Manager/National Red List Programme Officer will include, but not be limited to: promoting national Red Listing of species by training biologists in South Africa, Malawi, Namibia and Mozambique, and ensuring that species assessments are of good enough quality to be included on the IUCN Red List; supporting the work of the Spatial Biodiversity Assessment Planning and Prioritisation Project taking place in South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia to develop tools to support National Red Listing and ensure lessons between countries working on National Red Listing are shared; and using data from IUCN-published Red List assessments to facilitate the identification of KBAs in target countries.

Inherent requirements for the position are: an MSc or PhD degree in Conservation Biology/Environmental Science; a minimum of three to five years’ work experience in the conservation sector that includes project management; fluency in written and spoken English (French and/or Portuguese will be an advantage); a valid driver’s licence; and willingness to travel nationally, regionally and internationally.

For the full scope of this position, visit the Birdlife South Africa vacancy site at birdlife.org.za/who-we-are/vacancies/