Photo: Carmine Bee-eater on a Kori Bustard, David Russell/Audubon Photography Awards
When: Wednesday, January 31, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Where: Virtual
Fee: FREE, but registration is required
Imagine waking up tomorrow in South Africa - you look outside your window and you see a completely foreign bird - mainly green plumage, with metallic, purple-blue back, upper wings and upper tail, and crimson primaries visible in flight. It has a prominent, white-tipped crest, white markings around the eyes, red eye rings, and a short, red bill. You would be seeing the Knysna Loerie!
Bring your lunch and join us for a virtual trip to South Africa, where you can immerse yourself into the splendor and beauty of birds of South Africa! Our speaker, Andrew de Blocq, will be speaking to us live from South Africa to cover some of the area’s species, taking special note of some of the more sought-after birds to get excited for! These include some spectacular and charismatic species like the Secretarybird, Knysna Turaco, Kori Bustard, Cape Vulture, Southern Ground-hornbill, Lilac-breasted Roller, African Jacana, and the national bird of South Africa, the Blue Crane. Andrew also will talk about BirdLife South Africa and its conservation work.
This introduction to South Africa’s birds may whet your appetite for ASNV’s trip to South Africa this fall, October 29-November 10, 2024, arranged by Holbrook Travel. The itinerary for the trip includes some of the best birding areas in South Africa and a diversity of habitats. We will start out in high elevation grassland, move down the forested escarpment and then on to the bushveld, before returning back up to the plateau for some more grassland and wetland birding. The trip will quite literally take you from the South African ‘Highveld’ to the ‘Lowveld’, spanning habitats between 5,300 and 800 feet above sea level. Click here for more information and pricing, and you can email Gerry Abbott with questions. Registration is open through March 1, 2024. A portion of the proceeds benefit ASNV.
Andrew de Blocq is the Avitourism Project Manager for BirdLife South Africa, the country partner of BirdLife International (similar to Audubon in the United States). BirdLife South Africa is based in Johannesburg and focuses on the conservation of birds and their habitats. The Avitourism Project promotes birding, both national and international, for the benefit of local communities and landscapes. Andrew established the GoBirding website (www.gobirding.co.za) for this purpose which is a freely available resource for birders traveling around South Africa.