BeKZN Sit-In – Durban Botanical Gardens hosted by Jenny Norman

Thursday 5 December @ 07h30 (Easy terrain)

The botanical gardens in the middle of suburbia! Palmnut Vulture has been seen there many times along with breeding Black Sparrowhawks. We’ve also records Brown-backed Honeybird there and quite a few people have seen Buff-spotted Flufftail at the top of the gardens.  We will sit next to the lake and observe the breeding herons and pelicans.

Register for this activity by joining the WhatsApp group when it is created – it will have a green tick. EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

BirdLife South Africa’s 40^th Birding Big Day.

Saturday 7 December (all day)

Look at https://www.birdlife.org.za/support-us/events/birding-big-day-2024/ for more information.

A popular venue in the Westville area alongside the Palmiet River. The sit in will set up near the small dam and keep an eye out for what birds are in the trees around us. Previously we have had Ashy Flycatcher, Half-collared Kingfisher, Mountain Wagtail and Narina Trogan is a possibility.

A grassland with a mosaic of bush and a small riverine forest. Good for Rufous-naped Lark and Yellow-throated Longclaws. Spotted Eagle-Owl has been recorded during past activities.

Degree of difficulty | We will be driving around the pentad and stopping at different places to log birds.

Help towards bird information by being a citizen scientist. Join Dave in atlassing a pentad or two off the beaten track and find new places to bird while giving back to the birds and having fun. Exciting birds have been found on these outings such as Orange-breasted Waxbill and Shelley’s Francolin. Register for this activity by joining the WhatsApp group when it is created – it will have a green tick. EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

LEARN ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT, ON-THE-GROUND, MAKING- A-DIFFERENCE PROJECT

Initiated in 2017, The Litterboom Project has taken a different approach to tackling plastic pollution through an upstream model.  With 80% of ocean plastic pollution originating up-river, we believe that using the rivers is far more effective for interception measures than coastal clean-ups and has been vital in understanding why this is happening in the first place.​

​Over the past few years, we have successfully been able to prevent over 1 000 000 kgs of plastic from reaching the ocean through the hard work of only a few strategically placed teams. TLP is currently active in 10 Rivers around South Africa – 8 in KZN and 2 in the Western Cape. ​Not only do we believe in Litterbooms- as our last line of defense- but we believe in a source to sea approach, which includes land based interception, education and innovation.

A popular venue with very good birding. It has coastal forest alongside a couple of dams with a few hides.  In 2023 the BeKZN walk alerted South Africa to the presence of a rare vagrant, a Thrush Nightingale which was a 1^st for KZN. The previous year a Rufous-bellied Heron was there for quite a few months (and it was seen again in October 2024).  This reserve has a good mix of waterbird, wetland, grassland, and forest.  Striated Heron is also seen there along with Narina Trogon and Green Malkoha.

Learn how to count birds and conduct bird surveys at Van Riebeek Wetland Park

A small wetland reserve on the Bluff which is being restored as part of an offset project and is monitored by BirdLife eThekwini KZN to assist the municipality. Join this walk to see the changes and improvements that come with time. Some amazing birds have been recorded in the past from Southern Grey-crowned Crane, African Rail and Rufous-winged Cisticola. This is an important conservation input that the club provides so please give it some support.

Have your themed wine ready and join in to listen to and pick up recommendations for some fascinating books covering personal birding journeys. Share the passions of birds and birding and the story behind some of the journeys. Often with captivating blends of adventure and natural history these books will inspire you to be different birders. We will have the ‘traditional’ lucky draw for the people that are present.

Degree of Difficulty | Medium terrain)

A new venue for our club diary – a new place to explore

This is a privately owned farm where the farmer has catered for the visitor with a picnic area with ablutions. There are three different nice walks there which cover a wetland, open grass area, dams and forests. We should meet at the Spar at Shakas Rock centre at 6:30am, the farmer will put up white wooden arrows to show people how to get to the picnic spot once they enter the farm for late comers.  EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

Let’s Spend the afternoon with a Wine Tasting, learning about a
good book and feathers.

A wine tasting with bottles matched to the evening’s theme,  Prof Anthony Forbes will provide a presentation on a book of relevance,  Dr Andrew Mather will show us the extraordinary skill of fly-tying

Back by popular demand – a good place to find Magpie Mannikin, all three mannikin species can be seen here.  We sit where wetland, forest and open terrain species can be seen. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn bird calls.

Vernon Head is an award-winning environmental writer, bestselling and award-winning novelist, a poet and an architect. He is also a crazy birdwatcher who dreams of seeing as many of the world’s 11 000-odd bird species as possible; he is almost halfway there, despite being shot at, getting arrested and regularly getting lost!  Such adventures over the past thirty years have influenced his writings, resulting in five books (novels, non-fiction narratives, poetry), reshaping his understanding of the natural world, and our place as designers inside the cities at its edge.  He will talk to us about navigating an architect-birder-writer career, and how he survived it! On top of that he will unpack the importance of the liminal, the in-between and the beautiful within creative thinking, subjects close to his heart, forming part of his doctoral research. 

The Search for the Rarest Bird in the World, was long-listed for the 2015 Sunday Times Alan Paton Literature Prize and has been translated into several languages. A Tree for the Birds, was long-listed for the Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize and short-listed for the National Institute of Humanities & Social Sciences 2020 Fiction Prize. His latest novel,

On That Wave of Gulls, won the national Cultural & Creative Industries Award for ‘Outstanding Fiction Book 2024’, and was described by the judges as a ‘raging, raving masterpiece’ and by Prof. Bert Almon of Alberta University as
‘Faulknerian in scope’.

His poetry has been long-listed for the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Prize in 2014, 2017, and again in 2019. He has an MA in Creative Writing (2022, UCT) and a B Arch (1991, UCT) and has practiced as an architect since 1992.

Degree of difficulty | We will be driving around the pentad and stopping at different places to log birds.

Help towards bird information by being a citizen scientist. Join Dave in atlassing a pentad or two off the beaten track and find new places to bird while giving back to the birds and having fun. Exciting birds have been found on these outings such as Orange-breasted Waxbill and Shelley’s Francolin. Register for this activity by joining the WhatsApp group when it is created – it will have a green tick. EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

Degree of Difficulty | Medium terrain)

A wonderful reserve with grassland and forest. Will bird by moving from area to area and then walk. Good for difficult cisticolas, Short-tailed Pipit and Broad-tailed Grassbird, Martial Eagle has been seen recently.  In the forest look out for the shy Green Twinspot and Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler as well as Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher. Register for this activity by joining the WhatsApp group when it is created – it will have a green tick. EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

BeKZN Talks!
Thursday 12 September @ 18h00
Birds and Agrochemicals: A South African Summary BY Lorinda Hart

Dr Lorinda Hart is the Birds and Agrochemicals Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa. She has extensive experience in avian research, with a special interest in the fields of ecotoxicology, ecophysiology, and urban and invasive ecology. Lorinda will oversee pioneering research on the impact of agrochemicals on South Africa’s agricultural bird species, which will inform effective and long-term mitigation strategies. The project, the first of its kind South Africa, will once again place BirdLife South Africa at the forefront of research with real-life conservation application. This is a highly relevant topic for all members to be informed about.

Join other KZN birders for the forum. Six birding routes, the specials of Sani Pass, great scenery, mountain air and atlassing, photography and other activities on the programme. Download for more details below. If you wish to register to receive the more detailed programme with links to the activities and all the birding routes please use the link in the document and follow instruction on page 2 & 3.

Umbilo Ponds, situated in Umbilo Park in Durban’s Southern Suburbs, offers an abundance of water birds.  Sightings on previous visits have been Black- Crowned Night Herons, Sacred Ibis, Western Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets, Green-backed Heron, African Darters, Reed and White-breasted Cormorant, Pied Kingfishers, Yellow-Billed Ducks, Black Heron, and Malachite Kingfishers to mention a few. 

Degree of difficulty | Medium terrain

A popular venue in Hillcrest which has beautiful spring flowers. It has grassland and a small river running through it. Look out for Holub’s Golden Weaver and Broad-tailed Grassbird near the river and Red-throated Wryneck in the large trees by the grassland. Register for this activity by joining the WhatsApp group when it is created – it will have a green tick. EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

IT’S A DOUBLE BILL!!

A walk and a sit-in at the same venue!!

Walk difficulty – DEPENDING ON TRAIL CHOSEN – FROM EASY TO DIFFICULT

The 210ha uMdoni Park Nature Reserve in Pennington is home to a myriad of unique flora and fauna and is a true gem of the upper south coast.  It derives its name from the water-loving uMdoni trees scattered throughout the reserve. An excellent reserve set in and adjacent to coastal golf course. Coastal forest and edge habitats, and an environmental centre. Winter provides a chance of us seeing Spotted Ground Thrush, Brown Scrub Robin, along with Trumpeter Hornbill, Knysna Turaco, and Green Malkoha.

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For people who would like to come down to join the group but would like to sit in one place to connect with forest birds and learn calls, this is a second activity at the same venue run as a separate sit-in.

Help towards bird information by being a citizen scientist. Join Dave in atlassing a pentad or two off the beaten track and find new places to bird while giving back to the birds and having fun.

A little gem of a Nature Reserve in Pinetown, with quality forest and riverine birding.  Mountain Wagtails are some of the special species we can expect to see.  Over the years Crowned Eagles have nested here. There is a small entrance fee with pensioners’ rates. 

BeKZN Talks!
Thursday 22 August @ 18h00
Topic: These Fabulous feathered Flying Machines
Speaker : Prof Ticky Forbes

Join the Prof and learn about the magic of flight. How and why is a bird able to fly? Learn how flight developed through the evolutionary history…

Difficulty | Medium terrain

This 214 ha. reserve contains the largest area of climax forest remaining in the vicinity of Durban and areas of open grassland, woodland, scrub and riverine vegetation along the uMhlatuzana River.  Over 200 species of birds occur in this reserve.  

The uMkhomazi Valley Birding day will allow us to explore the best spots that the area has for birding. With forests, rivers, water treatment works, grasslands, beaches, and even a scan of the sea for pelagic species. Around 280 species have been recorded in the pentad that covers the area, so the area promises some fantastic birding. We will explore the area in our own cars (please share transport where possible), stopping at various points to allow us to bird the area. Species that could be seen include Spotted-ground Thrush, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Half-collared Kingfisher, Magpie Mannikin, Wood Owl, Red-billed Quelea, and African Black Oystercatcher. Register for this activity by joining the WhatsApp group when it is created – it will have a green tick. EACH person attending MUST register using the WhatsApp sub-group for this activity.

The Winter CWAC count will start at the Umgeni Estuary and then move to count waterbirds at Bayhead. Even if you only know three birds, you can count them and help with conservation. Come along and learn from the best!

This sit-in will start off in the hide and then later move to the picnic area to cover as many habitats as possible. Black-throated Wattle-eye has been recorded here in the past and on our last visit we had Red-headed Queleas in the reeds near the hide.  This is a great way to learn the finer points of identification from one of our top KZN birders and also start becoming familiar with bird calls.