The 50th Anniversary Conference of the Zoological Society of Southern Africa took place at Natalia, Illovo Beach, KwaZulu-Natal, from 21-25 July 2009. Dieter Oschadleus presented a talk "Ringing effort in South Africa (1950-2009) reveals avian range changes" that included the range expansion of the Thick-billed Weaver.
The 10th Anniversary Conference of the Southern African Society for Systematic Biology took place at Natalia, Illovo Beach, KwaZulu-Natal, from 25-27 July 2009. Dieter Oschadleus presented a talk "Towards a type catalogue of weavers (Ploceidae)".