WITWATERSRAND BIRD CLUB Affiliated to PROGRAMME 01/2021 Birdlife South Africa FORTHCOMING EVENTS IN BRIEF Date Activity Leader Venue January 2021 9 Saturday Outing André Marx Northern Farm Nature Reserve 16-17 CWAC Weekend Barbi Forsyth Nylsvley Nature Reserve 21 Thursday Evening Samantha Ralston-Paton Zoom Online Talk Meeting 22-24 Nylsvley Woodland Bird Friends of Nylsvley Nylsvley Nature Reserve Census 23 East Rand CWAC Werner van Goethem Rolfs Pan, Bullfrog Pan, Parkhaven 23 West Rand CWAC Johan de Jager De Pan, Carletonville 24 East Rand CWAC Awie Coetzee Elandsvlei & Varkfontein Pans 30 East Rand CAR Werner van Goethem Rayton 31 East Rand CWAC Awie Coetzee Marievale, Blesbokspruit February 2021 6 Saturday Outing Matthew Axelrod Faerie Glen Nature Reserve 9&11 Evening Course Lance Robinson Zoom Online Course 15 Monday Outing David Munslow Bryanston Country Club 13 Saturday Afternoon Linda van den Heever Zoom Online Talk Meeting 18-23 Long Weekend Away EcoTraining Guides Makuleke Concession, Kruger Park 21 Sunday Outing Werner van Goethem Devon Grasslands March 2021 6 Saturday Course Alfie Curling Zoom Online Course 10 Wednesday Outing Dave Bentley Marievale 13 Saturday Outing Grant Egen Moeka Wetland 18 Thursday Evening WBC AGM and Rick Nuttall Zoom Online AGM and Talk Meeting 20-23 Long Weekend Away Andy Featherstone Ezemvelo Nature Reserve April 2021 7 Wednesday Outing Karin Wiesler Random Harvest Nursery 11 Sunday Outing Grant Egen Vaalkop Dam Nature Reserve 17 Saturday Afternoon Diana Cowen Zoom Online Talk Meeting 24-27 Long Weekend Away Lance Robinson Sediba Game Lodge May 2021 2 Sunday Outing Allan Weideman Doornspruit Farm 5 Wednesday Outing Grant Egen Pretoria Botanical Gardens 15 Saturday Outing Andy Featherstone Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve 20 Thursday Evening Professor Andrew McKechnie Zoom Online Talk Meeting Page 1 of 12 WITWATERSRAND BIRD CLUB Affiliated to PROGRAMME 01/2021 Birdlife South Africa FORTHCOMING EVENTS IN BRIEF EVENING / AFTERNOON MEETINGS Club Meetings and Courses will be held online using Zoom until further notice Myths and Misconceptions – Wind Thursday 21 January 2021 Samantha Ralston-Paton Energy and Birds The amount of power generated from wind turbines in South Africa is set to increase almost six-fold over the next ten years. What does that mean for our birdlife? Popular media dealing wind energy and its impacts on birds is fraught with conflicting messages. Are more birds killed by cats, cars and windows, or are wind turbines really a threat to our wildlife? BirdLife South Africa’s Birds and Renewable Energy Project Manager, Sam Ralston-Paton, helps unravel fact from fiction and discusses what can be done to make clean energy, greener. Saturday 13 February 2021 Linda van den Heever The Vulture Project – an overview After 15 years in the corporate world, Linda van den Heever resigned to pursue her passion for conservation and the natural world. She joined BirdLife South Africa in 2013 and has been in her current role as Vulture Project Manager since 2018. She represents BirdLife South Africa on the National Vulture Task Force, the National Wildlife Poisoning Prevention Working Group (NWPPWG), the National Lead Task Team (a working sub-group of the NWPPWG) and the Bearded Vulture Task Force. Her main responsibilities focus on the mitigation of lead poisoning in vultures, and the implementation of Vulture Safe Zones. Linda will give an overview of the current plight of our Southern African vultures. 61st Annual General Meeting followed Thursday 18 March 2021 WBC AGM and Rick Nuttall by Birds & Birding in the Memel Area At this meeting, the President and the Committee to hold office for the year 2021 will be elected. Please join us online for the AGM and celebrate with our winners of the annual Diamond Award and Bearded Vulture Award (in honour of the late Steven Piper). This will be followed by a talk on the Birds and Birding in the Memel area by Rick Nuttall. The Memel area combines grasslands with the Drakensberg Escarpment and contains populations of many of our endemic species of birds. Rick was based at the Bloemfontein Museum for a number of years and has extensive knowledge of this area which he will share with us. Birds – Myths and Legends from Saturday 17 April 2021 Diana Cowen around the world. Diana Cowen: Teacher, musician, storyteller and bird lover. Diana has spent most of her professional life in education. She is passionate about enhancing all aspects of life and learning through story. Join Diana for an afternoon of storytelling – sit back, relax and let your imagination do the travelling. Facing the furnace: what does global Professor Andrew Thursday 20 May 2021 heating mean for Southern African McKechnie birds? Andrew McKechnie co-leads the Hot Birds Research Project (HBRP), a team of ornithologists spanning three South African universities, the South African National Biodiversity Institute and a network of overseas collaborators. The focus of the HBRP’s research programme is understanding the ways in which climate change is affecting birds and predicting the future impacts. This talk will provide an overview of the ways in which increasing temperatures are affecting southern Africa’s desert birds, and the changes we expect to see over coming decades. Climate change poses a substantial threat to our birdlife, with arid regions like the southern Kalahari likely to see substantial losses of avian biodiversity unless the current rapid pace of global heating is slowed. Page 2 of 12 DAY / WEEKEND OUTINGS AND COURSES Target Bird Challenge Target birds are not necessarily the most elusive, prettiest or rarest birds to be found. We encourage you to read up beforehand and get to grips with our nominated target birds; share your newly acquired knowledge with your fellow members and in this way, we all learn something new. Please note that the overall objective is to learn more and to have fun, therefore no prizes will be awarded for spotting the target bird on the day. 9 JANUARY 2021 / SATURDAY OUTING NORTHERN FARM NATURE RESERVE Northern Farm has a wide range of habitats with a number of dams and large expanses of grassland. The reserve is particularly good for raptors with Black Sparrowhawk, African Fish-Eagle and Long-crested Eagle regularly seen. Northern Farm is also an excellent area for Orange-breasted Waxbill as well as the many waterfowl that frequent the dams. Route: From Randburg take the R512 Malibongwe Drive past Cosmo City and Cosmo City shopping centre. At the traffic lights at the top of the hill, turn right onto the R114 towards Diepsloot. After 9km, the entrance is a white gateway on the left with a “City of Johannesburg Northern Farm” sign. Once through the gate meet at the parking area. Book: [email protected] GPS: S25°56'15.41", E27°59’19.74" Meet: 07h00 at the parking area Cost: There is an entrance fee payable, details to be confirmed Leader: André Marx SABAP2: Pentad 2555_2755 Target Bird: Black Sparrowhawk 16-17 JANUARY 2021 / CWAC WEEKEND NYLSVLEY NATURE RESERVE Nylsvley floodplain is spectacular when it is in flood. This 16 000 hectare floodplain, which floods every 3 to 4 years, has been registered as a RAMSAR site due to the importance it has for waterfowl in South Africa. Of the 365 bird species recorded in the Nylsvley area, 104 are water birds and, of those, 87 breed here in the wet years. Specials to look out for include Little; Dwarf and Eurasian Bittern, 15 species of duck and goose, Allen’s Gallinule, Lesser Moorhen as well as seven species of Crake and Rail, to mention a few. Besides the water birds, the bushveld surrounding Nylsvley also offers great birding, with 8 species of Owl being recorded and a chance of seeing the spectacular Orange-breasted Bushshrike and Crimson-breasted Shrike amongst the 200 other bushveld species found here. Route: Travel on the N1 and take the Mookopong / Naboomspruit turnoff. Turn left and follow the road until meeting up with the old road. Turn left towards Nylstroom and proceed about 10km southwards until Boekenhout station turnoff. THEN Continue on the dirt road over the N1 and then the railway line. Continue straight for about 2km. Nylsvley is well sign posted and the gate is on your left. OR Travel on the N1 North. At the Kranskop Toll Plaza, take the R33 Nylstroom exit. Travel into Nylstroom. At the crossing with R101, turn right in the direction of N1 - Pietersburg and Naboomspruit. Near Middelfontein, turn left towards Naboomspruit. Take the R101 and turn right to the Boekenhout station. Book: [email protected] GPS: main gate S24°38’50.8”, E28°39’49.0” Meet: 07h00 on Saturday Leader: Barbi Forsyth SABAP2: Pentad 2435_2840 Page 3 of 12 22-24 JANUARY 2021 / WEEKEND AWAY WOODLAND BIRD CENSUS AT NYLSVLEY NATURE RESERVE Venue: Nylsvley Nature Reserve Friday 22 – Sunday 24 January 2021 Programme: Friday: 15h00 Team route allocation; 18h00 supper & training Friday 18h00 – Saturday 18h00: 24-hour biodiversity bash Saturday 06h00- 08h00 22nd Woodland Bird Census Saturday night: Bird-themed Pub Quiz with prizes. Route: Travel on the N1 and take the Mookopong / Naboomspruit turnoff. Turn left and follow the road until meeting up with the old road. Turn left towards Nylstroom and proceed about 10km southwards until Boekenhout station turnoff. THEN Continue on the dirt road over the N1 and then the railway line. Continue straight for about 2km. Nylsvley is well sign posted and the gate is on your left. OR Travel on the N1 North. At the Kranskop Toll Plaza, take the R33 Nylstroom exit. Travel into Nylstroom. At the crossing with R101, turn right in the direction of N1 - Pietersburg and Naboomspruit. Near Middelfontein, turn left towards Naboomspruit. Take the R101 and turn right to the Boekenhout station.