The main focus of the weekend was of course frogs, but as we are wildlife enthusiasts and there were so many participants just as passionate about all things wild and wonderful, the Frogging Experience turned out to be an enormous bio-bash. We managed to see, photograph and document far more than we could have had…
Sustainability may start at home, but many environmental challenges require the cooperation of multiple countries – and international agreements help to create a framework for such collaboration. For example, diverse nations, sometimes at opposite ends of the globe, share a responsibility to care for and protect migratory species and their habitats. The Convention on the…
Flock At Sea Again! in April 2017 will have some special guests. The team from the Ocean View Association for People with Disabilities (OVAPD) centre that makes our bird-scaring lines will be joining us on board, thanks to holding albithe generous sponsorship of Rand Merchant Bank. The OVAPD centre runs the Tori Line project as…
Through a series of workshops, the Common Oceans Tuna Project aims to reduce the impacts of pelagic (tuna) longline fisheries on albatross and petrel populations and ensure that the implementation of best-practice seabird by-catch measures is accelerated. Read about the latest National Awareness Workshop in October, which was aimed at government officials, fishing industry representatives…
The Seychelles is a tropical island paradise with a swathe of endemic species and stunning landscapes. Ross Wanless reports on his tuna commission meeting and finding endemic frogs, visiting a seabird island and seeing most of those endemic birds… Although I have visited the Seychelles several times while at BirdLife South Africa, always as part…
The Wilge River runs through the grasslands of the beautiful eastern Free State, an area that contains many threatened bird species and is an important water catchment. Its formal protection is a matter of urgency, which is why BirdLife South Africa and partners are undertaking the Wilge Stewardship Project. Grasslands are not universally appreciated, especially…
The Kruger Bird & Wildlife ChallengeIn support of the White-winged Flufftail 6th to 15th February 2019 (10 days) We are thrilled to launch an epic birding and wildlife event that promises to provide: first class birding in one of the world’s great untouched wildernesses; South Africa’s jewel, the Kruger National Park, which we will explore…
It took two and a half weeks to crank through the staggering number of things to be done on my trip to the UK in July. The first stop was Cambridge for a series of meetings and events about the plans to eradicate mice from Gough and Marion islands. That process continued later in the…
I’d been to Cape Verde before but never to do field work, so when another trip was cancelled and there was an opening for me to go to this amazing archipelago, I greeted it with much anticipation. I was going there to assist the dynamic and pretty amazing NGO Biosfera with its efforts to conserve…
When the members of the Ocean View Association for Persons with Disabilities (OVAPD) boarded the MSC Sinfonia, the joy and excitement on their faces was heart-warming. Until now the closest they had got to an albatross was the stuffed Wandering Albatross that the Albatross Task Force keeps for educational purposes. Not only was this the…
It seems so long ago that it all began. In November 2016, 12 lucky learners from the Ekurhuleni municipality were selected to attend a BirdLife South Africa guide training course – a dream come true. Some had a little experience of being involved with eco-based concerns within their communities while others just had an interest…
After the great success that was Flock at Sea AGAIN! 2017, the BirdLife South Africa staff have returned to shore and planning is well under way for next year’s Flock on the West Coast. Featuring the bi-annual Learn About Birds (LAB) symposium, the event will take place from 7 to 11 March 2018 and will…
The BirdLife South Africa staff meeting, held from 23 to 25 May 2017, had a change of venue this year and took place at the picturesque Sea Villa Glen Craig Conference Venue in Pringle Bay, Western Cape. This annual meeting gives the 38 BirdLife South Africa staff and interns a chance to discuss the progress…
In early April my colleague Bronwyn Maree and I headed to Hoi An in Vietnam to run the second regional workshop on seabird bycatch. We’re trying to build consensus among the key nations that catch lots of seabirds in tuna longline operations that a global review should be undertaken. And then we need to figure…
Steve’s poem: Out on the limitless ocean Nothing to see but the waves: Ever changing, peaking, subsiding, All the same but each detail different. Cairns upon hills upon mountains, Rolling, swirling, constantly in motion. Now smooth, now rough, Now blue, now white, Wind whipping the spray along. Then, from far off comes serenity, A Wandering…
Tuesday, 25 April 2017 was a day that few people on Flock at Sea AGAIN! will ever forget. By now it is probably also etched in many bird books, notebooks, spreadsheets and apps as the day a lucky few (hundred) got to tick off lifer after lifer after lifer. ‘GREY PETREL! SHY ALBATROSS! WHITE-HEADED PETREL!…
The workshop was part of our Common Oceans project, and the main element that Bronwyn Maree is running (as well as overseeing the delivery of the whole shebang). We were gathered to discuss the way forward for conducting the first ever evaluation of total seabird bycatch from tuna longliners in the Southern Ocean. Several experts…
The ambitious plan to establish new African Penguin colonies requires a lot of planning to ensure that we have the best chance of success. One component of the planning is monitoring the chosen site to see what predators are found there that might prey on the penguins. This will enable us to tailor the predator…
2016 was a very busy year for the Avitourism & Special Projects Programme, which has been involved in the East Atlantic Flyway Initiative, partner development work in southern Africa and the State of South Africa’s Birds Report and regional Red List publications, as well as the revived BirdLife South Africa Bird Guide Training Project. We…
For the Seabird Conservation Programme, 2016 has been a year of steady progress on existing work and expansion into new areas. Our staff also grew to 11 in Cape Town, with two others in West Africa – a great boost to productivity. At the Seabird Conservation Programme we were fortunate to have our major donors…
The Events Programme over the past 12 months was as versatile as ever and new twists to familiar themes proved to be very popular. On behalf of everyone at BirdLife South Africa, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported our Events Programme for making this year a great one. With…
Media representatives and project funders (WWF Nedbank Green Trust) visited the Verlorenvlei Protected Areas Project in the Western Cape to see progress and speak to landowners. Credit BirdLife South Africa The IBA Programme contributed to the declaration of 17 000 hectares of priority grassland and wetland protected in the Grasslands IBA. We have another 120…
It’s been a year of change and progress at the Wakkerstroom Tourism and Education Centre, a year in which we’ve all grown a little more and learnt new things along the way. Albert Einstein said, ‘Life is like a bicycle: to keep your balance, you must keep moving.’ So why don’t you move towards Wakkerstroom…
2016 seems to have been an eventful year for everyone with whom I have chatted and it’s been no different for the Policy and Advocacy Programme. We provided extensive support to our partners through the IUCN, worked with BirdLife International and the World Parrot Trust to advocate for the uplisting of African Grey Parrots at…
2016 was a very busy year for the Avitourism & Special Projects Programme, which has been involved in the East Atlantic Flyway Initiative, partner development work in southern Africa and the State of South Africa’s Birds Report and regional Red List publications, as well as the revived BirdLife South Africa Bird Guide Training Project. We…
It’s time to go to Senegal again? This month’s travel insert sees Ross Wanless heading off to Dakar, where a cancelled meeting gave him a one-day window for some birding… It was my second trip to Dakar this year, and in fact I’ll be back there in three weeks’ time for another meeting. The October…
The Ocean View Association for People with Disabilities (OVAPD) centre has been given a boost in the form of a much-needed desktop computer. The centre runs the Tori Line project, which produces the bird-scaring lines used on fishing vessels to prevent seabirds from being killed. After years of working on an old computer that was…
African Penguin conservation and management can be a controversial issue, especially when it comes to interactions with people. Over the last few months, there has been significant interest regarding the fence at the Stony Point African Penguin colony at Betty’s Bay often representing an unscientific, anthropomorphic and simplified perspective of the larger and deeply complex…
Over the past month, 10 students from KZN have been studying really hard on a bird specialist course. The course is endorsed by FGASA and skill, dedication and hard work are needed to get the desired results. Congratulations to Lethukuthula Nxele, Bongiwe Nxumalo and Simphiwe Gumede, who have made the grade. Although further assessments are…
BirdLife South Africa hosted the annual Owl Awards on 6 October at Beechwood Gardens, Johannesburg. We would like to congratulate the award recipients, who were all very deserving of an award for their outstanding contributions to the conservation of our country’s birds and their habitats. Front row, from left to right: James Wade Lee (Owlet),…
BirdLife South Africa was privileged to spend some time at Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants in the Northern Cape recently. These futuristic looking facilities are the face of modern, clean energy; they can store power and release it into the grid when we need it the most (which is often when the sun is not…
Not a replacement, but merely a bigger brother Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are set to become the new global currency for site based conservation. Sites that are significantly important for conserving threatened species, fauna and flora, will now be known as KBAs. At the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature…
To provide much needed support to our National Parks, the SANParks Honorary Rangers of the West Rand Region have initiated various birding events in Kruger National Park. They have supported BirdLife South Africa through fundraisers linked to their popular annual summer birding weekends, which take place each year during the months of January and February.…
Most birders and nature enthusiasts may already be familiar with South Africa’s wonderful birdlife, consisting of over 800 different birds! What they might not be familiar with are our countries 112 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas or IBAs. These are sites such as Nature Reserves, National Parks or larger conservation areas that have been identified…
In early August 2015, BirdLife South Africa’s staff moved into Isdell House, our new head office in Dunkeld West, Johannesburg. For some time it had been our intention to move into more suitable headquarters. The previous office, Lewis House, in Randburg, no longer suited the organisation’s needs, mainly because of office space and parking constraints.…
BirdLife South Africa, Rand Water (Water Wise) and Eskom hosted the annual Flufftail Festival at Cresta Shopping Centre from 2-8 February 2016. The Flufftail Festival is linked to World Wetlands Day, a global event celebrating wetlands worldwide on 2 February. The aim of the Flufftail Festival was to raise awareness about a critical resource (water), threatened habitat (wetlands) and endangered birds (especially the White-winged Flufftail). With the drought gripping our country in 2016, there was no better time to be raising awareness about water.
The biennial LAB, co-hosted by BirdLife South Africa and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute for African Ornithology, held at Skukuza, Kruger National Park (9 – 11 March 2016), offered a full programme. Presentations covered a variety of scientific and conservation-related topics, including summaries of research and report-backs on ongoing studies. Two workshops began proceedings on the…
The Sani2c is one of South Africa’s premier mountain biking races. But did you know that the race route passes through three Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) as well as a number of habitats and threatened ecosystems? IBAs are globally recognised due to their conservation value for birds, and birds are good indicators ofother forms of biodiversity, so it is no wonder that these areas are home to endangered orchids, frogs and mammals. This year’s Sani2c race takes place from 10-14 May, so in preparation, here is a bird’s-eye view of the race.
