Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa

BirdLife South Africa is a firm believer that conservation needs to start with conversation, which is why we started the webinar series ‘Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa’.

Starting in April 2020, BirdLife South Africa hosted a weekly webinar series, which in 2025 is in its sixth season! These webinars have become a permanent feature, bringing some entertainment and education to your households.

Each talk lasts approximately 45 minutes to an hour with a 15-30 minute Q&A session with our presenters afterwards. These sessions will give you a chance to learn about the incredible conservation work taking place across South Africa, the amazing birding destinations you can visit and lots more, while also sharing some of the conservation success stories which BirdLife South Africa has been privileged to drive.

All of our episodes are recorded and you can watch the recordings on YouTube via the links at the bottom of this page.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this initiative and continues to tune in every second Tuesday of the month.

How To Sign Up For A Webinar

We host these talks via Zoom. If you have not yet downloaded the Zoom application for your computer please click here. It is free to use.

The next step is to select the ‘Register for this talk button’ in the list of webinars below. Click this button and enter your name and email address so that we can send you the access link to attend the talk. There is a standard webinar link for all of our talks, which is unique to you. So you will no longer need to register for each talk but will be registered for the full series.

Once you have registered, you will receive an email with the relevant link and password that will allow you to join the presentation. You will also be sent a reminder the day before and 1 hour before each webinar.

Zoom rooms will open 15 minutes before each talk is set to start. There is a limit of 500 participants for these presentations so please be sure to log in early and ensure your spot during the live presentation.

If you miss out on the live presentation, all presentations will be recorded and loaded to BirdLife South Africa’s YouTube channel the following day and you will be able to watch them there and leave your comments.

If you have any questions please email conservations@birdlife.org.za.

Upcoming Webinars

Please be sure to check your spam/junk folders in your email inbox after registering as some inbox filters may send your registration emails astray.

Hooded Grebe Project: 15 years of science-based conservation - Kini Roesler (15 April 2025)

Herding4Health - Nandi Thobela & Ntuthuko Mathe (29 April 2025)

More information about this webinar will be uploaded soon.

Meet your hosts

Christina Hagen

Christina Hagen

Christina Hagen, BirdLife South Africa’s Pamela Isdell Fellow of African Penguin Conservation joined the Conservation Conversations team as a co-host in 2021. She has since taken over as the sole host after orginal hosts Melissa Whitecross and Andrew de Blocq left BirdLife South Africa. She is responsible for the project to establish an African Penguin breeding colony at the De Hoop Nature Reserve. She has worked at BirdLife South Africa since 2010, on various facets of penguin conservation.

Christina loves hiking, board games (Wingspan is a favorite) and exploring the incredible biodiversity of the Western Cape. Christina is also a volunteer fire fighter.

If you have any questions for Christina please email christina.hagen@birdlife.org.za

John Kinghorn

John Kinghorn

John Kinghorn, BirdLife South Africa’s Avitourism Project Manager, is one of the four Conservation Conversations hosts. Qualified in the fields of both law and tourism, John is currently spearheading BirdLife South Africa’s world renown Community Bird Guide Programme with the aim of empowering communities and continuing to enhance South Africa’s status as leaders in avitourism.

John is a passionate birder and loves to spend his free time reading, cycling, playing rugby and sharing his passion for nature, wildlife and conservation across his social media platforms.

If you have any questions for John please email john.kinghorn@birdlife.org.za

Jessica Wilmot

Jessica Wilmot

Jessica is the Flyway and Migrants Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa in the Regional Conservation Programme. She supports regional and global conservation initiatives that align with the strategies of BirdLife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Bird’s East Atlantic Flyway Initiative. Jessica holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management from Central European University.

If you have any questions for Jess please email jessica.wilmot@birdlife.org.za

Kurt Martin

Kurt Martin

Kurt is the Communications Manager at BirdLife South Africa and one of our newest hosts. Kurt is responsible for the organisations communications and marketing strategies, and using various forms of media to highlight conservation success stories and bring attention to the challenges faced by our precious birds. When out of the office, Kurt can reliably be found hiking and rock climbing around the country, always with a pair of binoculars close at hand.

If you have any questions for Kurt please email kurt.martin@birdlife.org.za

Support our webinars

Watch Recordings of Previous Webinars

Watch Season 6 (2025) Here