|
|
|
|
CAPE BIRD CLUB NEWSLETTER January 2017
Wishing all our members a very Happy New Year, with plenty of exciting birding opportunities
Contents:
Promereops Ad
CBC Website
Flufftail Festival
Club Activities
Bird Counts and Hacks
Kirstenbosch Bird Walks
News from BirdLife SA: Updated IUCN Red List of Threatened Bird Species released
Thank you to everyone who contributed items for the newsletter.
|
|
BREAKING NEWS!!
The Cape Bird Club's new website will GO LIVE on 7 January 2017!
The website address will still be www.capebirdclub.org.za, but we hope you will enjoy the new layout.
Please visit the website on 7 January to see the new version.
CBC members are encouraged to create a website account which will allow you to post in the Forum (under "News" in the dashboard). Please use your name as your user ID.
Some of the sections on the website will be available to members only - another good reason to join the CBC as a member!
The website is a "work in progress". Much of the historical information may not have been copied across to the new website but it will still be available for some time should anyone need to access it.
|
|
|
|
Please save the date for an exciting new event, the Dullstroom Flufftail Festival to take place 24 to 26 February 2017.
The announcement of the programme of events as well as registration details will follow soon.
|
|
CLUB ACTIVITIES
Saturday 7 January
Outing to Rondevlei Nature Reserve
Leader: Helga Hill (083 312 4999) and Des Lazar (084 417 4892)
Meet at 08h00. These regular monthly outings are for all Rondevlei enthusiasts and beginners are especially welcome. Duration 2½ hrs.
Remember to bring a warm jacket or anorak - it can be freezing in the hides, even on the hottest days!
Directions: Travel down the M5 (Prince George Drive) towards Grassy Park and look out for Nando’s at the 5th Avenue traffic light. Turn left here into 5th Avenue and at the first set of traffic lights turn right into Perth Road and continue to Rondevlei at the end of the road.
Tuesday 10 January
Weekday Outing to Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden
Leader: Margaret Maciver ☎ 082 459 8843 or email maciver@xis.co.za
Meet at 09h00 at Top Gate 2 next to the Garden Centre and plant sales.
A leisurely walk through the various habitats of Kirstenbosch will take us to areas where we hope to see some of the common and less common birds in these magnificent gardens. As a very frequent visitor, Margaret knows the gardens well so you are assured of an excellent morning’s birding. Some of the specials we hope to see are Lemon Dove, Cape Batis, Swee Waxbill, Forest Canaries and many more. We may find European Honey Buzzard, Booted Eagle and Black Saw-wing. For non-BotSoc members, the normal entrance fee will apply, however on Tuesdays, pensioners get free entry.
Thursday 12 January
Evening Meeting: Mitigating a human-wildlife conflict: Egyptian Geese on golf courses
Speaker: Alex Atkins
Meet at 20h00. Born in Malawi and brought up in Ethiopia and the UK, Alex has a deep affection for Africa and its natural habitats. He enjoys working with people and the environment, and is passionate about wildlife. He studied environmental science at the University of Sussex. In 2014, Alex joined the FitzPatrick Institute to study for a master’s degree in Conservation Biology and graduated in June 2015. His thesis, entitled “An experimental assessment of the efficacy of falconry to mitigate a human-wildlife conflict: Egyptian Geese (Alpochen aegyptiaca) on golf courses”, provides the topic of his talk tonight.
We meet at the Nassau Centre, Groote Schuur High School, Palmyra Road, Newlands.
Tea and biscuits are served after the meeting at a cost of R5.00.
Visitors are welcome - there is a charge of R10.00 for visitors and non-members.
Sunday 15 January
Sunday Outing to Zandvlei Nature Reserve
Leader: Graham Pringle ☎ 083 707 1339 or email gdpringle@mweb.co.za
Meet at 08h00. This reserve near Muizenberg is normally closed on weekends, but Graham has arranged for the Club to have access. It includes wetlands, a river system, and an estuary.
Directions: From Main Road in Retreat turn into Military Road at the “Lavender Hill” sign. Continue over the level crossing. At the first set of traffic lights turn right into Coniston Road. After about 200 metres turn right onto a dirt road at the Zandvlei sign. Continue until you reach a Municipal Depot. Drive through the smaller of the two gates, over a cattle grid and past the buildings to the parking area where we will meet.
|
|
BIRD COUNTS AND HACKS
Sunday 1 January: Kirstenbosch BIRP Count.
Meet at 08h00
Leader: John Magner (082 881 3845)
Sunday 8 January: Strandfontein Count
Meet at 08h00
Leader: Dick Barnes (021 689 1106)
Thursday 12 January: Wildevoelvlei Count
Meet at 08h30
Leader: Eric Barnes (021 782 5429)
Saturday 14 January: Zandvlei Hack
Meet at 14h00
Leader: Gavin Lawson (021 705 5224)
Thursday 19 January: Athlone WWTW Count
Meet at 13h00
Leader: Dick Bos (021 423 2546)
These counts will take place weather permitting
Friday 20 January: Rietvlei/Table Bay NR Quarterly Count
Meet at 09h00
Leader: Koos Retief (021 444 0315 (w)
Saturday 21 January: Zandvlei NR Quarterly Count
Meet at 08h00
Leader: Gavin Lawson (021 705 5224)
Saturday 21 January: Paarl Bird Sanctuary CWAC
Meet at 09h00
Leader: Yvonne Weiss (021 872 4972)
Saturday 28 January: All day CAR count
CWAC Counts at Radyn Dam (Malmesbury) and Wellington WWTW will take place on separate weekdays in January or February.
For details, contact Otto Schmidt (Radyn Dam) at 021 674 2381 or John Fincham (Wellington) at 021 919 4069.
The Project Coordinator for the CAR Count is Amour McCarthy: email amour.mccarthy@gmail.com
|
|
KIRSTENBOSCH BIRD WALKS
There will be two bird walks this month
Tuesday 3rd January
Led by Linda Hibbin
Meet at 8.30 am
Wednesday 18 January
Led by Felicity Ellmore
Meet at 4.00pm
These bird walks led by members of the Cape and Tygerberg Bird Clubs have been so popular that it has been decided to continue them into 2017.
Anyone who is interested in learning more about our Kirstenbosch birds is welcome to join the walks.
The walks are free of charge but the entrance fee for Kirstenbosch is payable if you do not have a BotSoc Card.
The walk usually lasts around 2 hours, please wear suitable clothing for the weather.
Meet at at the Information Desk at Gate One.
Please contact Linda Hibbin on 021 788 1528, or e-mail hibbins@telkomsa.net if you have any questions
|
|
News from BirdLife SA
Updated IUCN Red List of Threatened Bird Species released
Johannesburg, 10 December 2016: The IUCN has released an update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species at the 13th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP13) in Cancun, Mexico, including a reassessment of all 11 121 bird species occurring on the globe.
This update of birds for the IUCN Red List, undertaken by BirdLife International, reflects the second of a two-part comprehensive taxonomic review of birds; the revision focused on Passerine birds – 'perching birds' such as flycatchers, thrushes, crows and finches – and has led to the recognition of 742 new species, many of which were previously treated as subsspecies of other species. BirdLife International now applies a single, consistent taxonomic approach worldwide, across all species.
Sadly, 11% of these newly recognised species are threatened with extinction with 13 species making their debut on the IUCN Red List in the category of Extinct, with several of these having been lost in the past 50 years. According to IUCN Director, General Inger Andersen, many species are slipping away before we can describe them with the scale of the global extinction crisis occurring on a scale greater than previously thought. For instance, species such as the Pagan Red Warbler (Acrocephalus yamashinae), O’ahu akepa (Loxops wolstenholmei) and Laysan Honeycreeper (Himatione fraithii), all exited our world forever without having being formally included on the IUCN Red List. The majority of these species were restricted to islands, a group notoriously vulnerable to extinction (think of the Dodo), and more than likely wiped out by invasive species.
“Unfortunately, recognising more than 700 ‘new’ species does not mean that the world’s birds are faring better,” says Dr Ian Burfield, BirdLife International’s Global Science Coordinator. “As our knowledge deepens, so our concerns are confirmed: unsustainable agriculture, logging, invasive species and other threats-such as the illegal trade in species, are still driving many species towards extinction.”
The revision also revealed that some of the world's most popular birds may soon disappear in the wild if appropriate action isn't taken. Iconic species, such as the African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus), a prized pet with the ability to mimic human speech, are facing extinction in the wild due to unsustainable trapping and habitat loss. Native to central Africa, the parrot has seen its conservation status deteriorate from Vulnerable to Endangered. A study led by
BirdLife International discovered that in some parts of the continent, numbers of African Grey Parrots have declined by as much as 99%.
The impacts of illegal trade is most pressing in Asia, with the Rufous-fronted Laughing Thrush (Garrulax rufifrons), Scarlet-breasted Lorikeet (Trichoglossus forsteni) and Straw-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) among a suite of species being uplisted to higher threat categories as a result of the impacts of illegal wildlife trade. There is now evidence that unsustainable levels of capture for the cagebird trade, largely centred on Java, are driving the deteriorating status of many species.
Illegal wildlife trade is not the only threat to the world’s bird species. Closer to home In South Africa, three species of vulture are now listed as globally Critically Endangered with a further two being assessed as Endangered, primarily due to intentional and inadvertent poisoning incidents. Seabirds, as a group, remain highly threatened mainly due to mortalities sustained through interaction with fishing vessels and the invasion of their breeding colonies by invasive
alien species. The White-winged Flufftail, one of South Africa’s globally Critically Endangered species, is threatened by the loss of its high altitude wetlands. In total, South Africa (including the Prince Edward Islands) hosts 102 or 6.9% of the world’s 1460 threatened bird species.
Despite the depressing news that the global conservation community now has almost 100 more threatened species to conserve, there has been some good news for some of the rarest and most vulnerable birds on our planet. The Azores Bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina), St Helena Plover (Charadrius sanctaehelenae) and Seychelles White-eye (Zosterops modestus) are among the island endemic species to move to lower categories in this IUCN Red List update, as their populations recover from the brink of extinction thanks to tireless conservation efforts.
On a local scale, BirdLife South Africa, as the country partner of BirdLife International, will continue to work towards lessening the extinction risk of threatened bird species in the region. In the past decade the organisation has had notable successes particularly in reducing the number of seabird mortalities in the longline and pelagic trawl fisheries as well as conserving some of South Africa’s endemic grassland species through its Important Bird and Biodiversity
Areas Programme. BirdLife South Africa will continue with this work as well as focusing on new challenges facing our country’s avifauna, aiming to reduce the threats facing globally threatened species occurring in South Africa.
About BirdLife South Africa
BirdLife South Africa is the local country partner of BirdLife International. BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation Partnership with more than 120 BirdLife Partners worldwide and almost 11 million supporters. BirdLife South Africa is the largest non-profit bird conservation organization in the country. It relies on donor funding and financial support from the public to carry out its critical conservation work. For more information, visit www.birdlife.org.za
|
|
Membership of the Cape Bird Club
Please note that receipt of this newsletter or membership of the Facebook page does not imply that you are a member of the Cape Bird Club.
If you would like to become a member of the Cape Bird Club, please go to our website to download the application form or contact Joan Ackroyd on ackroyd.joan@broadwalk-mews.co.za or call 021 530 4435 for more information
|
|
|
Contributions for the Newsletter
Please send any contributions for the newsletter (interesting sightings, photographs or any interesting news items) to Cheryl Leslie at cdleslie@kingsley.co.za.
Photographs should not exceed 1MB in size.
Postal and Email addresses
Please ensure that we have your correct postal and email address, otherwise you may not receive the Bird Club newsletter or reminders.
Address changes: Please notify BirdLife promptly by post at Private Bag X5000 Parklands 2121, fax to 011 789 5188 or email to membership@birdlife.org.za of any change in address to ensure that you continue receiving Promerops.
Email changes: Please contact BirdLife at membership@birdlife.org.za if you change your email address with a copy to ackroyd.joan@broadwalk-mews.co.za
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
