ADU Roadshow, 6 - 20 September 2002

"From volunteers to conservation - projects of the ADU"

Dieter Oschadleus and Doug Harebottle

On 6 September 2002 we (Dieter Oschadleus and Doug Harebottle) left Cape Town to visit bird clubs in the Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo Province, Northwest Province, Northern Cape and the Western Cape. The usual program was to travel in the afternoon to the next town on the list, talk to the bird club in the evening, and the next morning do a demonstration of bird ringing at a local site. We gave the same talk at each meeting - Doug gave an overview of the ADU and then covered the different projects (Frog atlas, BIRP, NERC, CWAC) and Dieter spoke about bird ringing. We were impressed by the wonderful hospitality we experienced everywhere - thanks to our hosts! The theme of the trip was "From volunteers to conservation" as we wanted to emphasize the importance that birders were playing in contributing data to the various ADU projects. For ringing totals see the link at the bottom of this page.

Summary of program - see below

Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On the long drive from Cape Town to Bloemfontein on 6 Sept (and some subsequent days) we decided to prevent boredom by doing a census of road-kills. Road-kills are a sad cause of mortality in birds and other animals. We will publish our results in Bird Numbers - hopefully birders will start to become aware of road-kills and inform the general public to reduce this unnecessary mortality. This Barn Owl was found on the road to Deneysville. On arrival we heard that many owls (especially Marsh) were killed on this road.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Our first talk was to the Free State Bird Club in Bloemfontein. Our hosts, Jeanette and Fanie Buys, are on the left, followed by ringers Johan Kok, Doug, and Rick Nuttall. Johan coordinates ringing in Bloemfontein.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Our ringing session on 7 Sept was on Mimosa Farm outside Bloemfontein. The Bloemfontein ringers, Rick Nuttall, Dawie de Swardt and Johan Kok, put up their nets and let us help ring their birds.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	23 birds were ringed and 2 recaptures handled. While this was a low number due to the cold weather, several special birds were captured, including a Redbilled Woodhoopoe (a bird not often seen in the area), a Wattled Starling and 3 Violeteared Waxbills (the stunning male is shown here).
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Our next stop was the new bird club BirdLife Vaal Dam in Deneysville on the edge of the Vaal Dam. Our host was Rosemary (second from the left) who has a B'nB called Rose Lodge. The chairman of the club is Tony Jones (far right).
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Ringing the following morning was in Mary's garden. Mary (far left) invited all the bird club members to breakfast while watching the ringing! Mary has been feeding birds in her garden and this provided us with the most new birds ringed on the trip (total 75, no recaptures).
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Masked Weavers were the most trapped birds. This Blackchested Prinia was still in winter plumage without the distinct breast band. The interesting feature here is that the bird has started primary moult (the pin is visible in the underwing). While most passerine birds moult their primaries in late summer to early autumn, these prinias have an unusual pattern of moulting their primaries in spring as well.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On Sunday 8 Sept we had a break from speaking at a bird club. A ringer, Joanne Buttress, kindly hosted us on our evening off. On the next morning we went ringing with Peter Thornton and Joanne at Kloofendal Nature Reserve in Johannesburg. Peter and Joanne kindly insisted that we ring all the birds! A total of 52 were ringed and 3 recaptured.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Most of the birds were Masked Weavers. The most interesting bird was a recaptured Redthroated Wryneck.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 9 Sept was our one free day on the trip and we stayed with Doug's family in Johannesburg. Doug managed to catch a few birds in the garden! On 10 Sept the Wits Bird Club held their meeting at Delta Environmental Centre and invited the other Johannesburg bird clubs to attend, resulting in the largest audience on our roadshow. Shown here are the Johannesburg ringers and bird club members involved in ADU projects.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Our ringing the next morning was held at Melville Koppies. It was a bitterly cold morning, and yet several ringers and interested people came along. On the left is Malcolm Wilson, a British trained ringer who has recently moved to South Africa from Uganda. In the centre is Murrie Slotar, a ringer and chairperson of the Wits Bird Club. After the nets were put up we needed some coffee to warm us up. Unfortunately only 14 birds were ringed and one recapture handled.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Masked Weaver male in full breeding plumage, but with new and old median upper wing coverts.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 11 Sept we were at the Pretoria Bird Club - Shown here are some of the Pretoria ringers and bird club members involved in ADU projects. Rihann Geyser and Andre Marx are holding the bird club's 50th anniversary wine bottles. Our host was Pieter who is developing electronic forms for the Pretoria birders to send data to the ADU.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The next morning we ringed at one of the Pretoria ringers sites, Buffelsdrif. Here Doug is checking the nets set up along a farm road. The weather was still very cold and we only ringed 17 birds but had a high number of recaptures (6 birds).
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Threestreaked Tchagra - two birds of this species were ringed.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	We stopped at Rooiwal sewage works before proceeding to Naboomspruit. Pieter spotted Blacksmith Plovers with 2 chicks which we promptly ringed. Rooiwal had a large number of Whitefaced Duck - we counted about 300.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 12 Sept we addressed the Naboomspruit Bird Club. We were hosted by Charles Field (far left), who started the bird club a few years ago.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The next morning we ringed the lovely garden on Weltevreden farm, outside Naboomspruit. We ringed 64 birds of which 18 were Redbilled Firefinches. Afterwards we had a braai for lunch. Charles handed a home-made bird feeder to Doug.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The most stunning birds caught here were Marico Sunbirds of which 4 were ringed. Here is a male.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 13 Sept we spoke to the Pietersburg Bird Club in Polokwane. Chris Campbell of the bird club organised our stay in a chalet in the Pietersburg Nature Reserve.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The following morning we ringed at the waterhole in the Pietersburg Nature Reserve. Carel Kilian, a ringer from Louis Trichardt, putting up mistnets at the waterhole.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The dangers of ringing in a reserve - 3 White Rhino nearly walked through our nets to get to the waterhole, but were gently chased away by Carel!
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Here we had our greatest catch since this was the only water for the birds. We ringed 72 birds and handled 19 recaptures (birds ringed here on previous expeditions by Carel and David Pretorius). 20 Melba Finches were ringed - this is the male.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On our way out we stopped at Pietersburg Bird Sanctuary, where we found large concentrations of Wood Sandpipers. These were probably migrants arriving at their first stop-over site in South Africa.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 14 Sept we spoke at the Ellisras Bird Club. Our host was Mike Drury, who lives on Baviaanshoek farm, 30 km outside Ellisras.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	In the garden on Baviaanshoek farm we ringed 25 birds.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	A tame Barn Owl, that had been hand-raised and previously ringed was checked for growth since its last handling.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 15 Sept we went to overnight at D'Nyala Nature Reserve, outside Ellisras. The next morning we wanted to ring hornbills. Joseph Heynmans puts fat bait along the bottom of his mistnets to attract the hornbills. We ringed two and also 7 other birds in addition to handling 4 retraps.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Redbilled Hornbill male, with black in bill (in the female the bill is red all over).
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Our next stop was at the BirdLife Feathered Friends bird club meeting which was held at Tweeoewers farm, Brits district. This club does not have a fixed meeting venue and we met at a holiday house overlooking Roodekoppjes Dam. There was no projection screen, nor white wall, nor white linen sheets, so we gave our talk on the stoep without showing slides. This was actually a welcome change from giving our routine presentation! We had the holiday house to ourselves, courtesy of Elsa Lourens.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	At dawn we put up our nets in the bushveld strip between the house and Roodekoppies Dam. This dam is a potential CWAC site and hopefully the Brits Bird Club will take up the challenge.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	We ringed 70 birds and recaptured 6. Some specials included Sabota Lark, Burntnecked Eremomela, Goldenbreasted Bunting, as well as 2 Crimsonbreasted Shrikes, a prize as we had missed catching these earlier in the trip.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 18 Sept we spoke at BirdLife Wesvaal in Potchefstroom. We were hosted by Rudi Erasmus (far left in front row). To Rudi's right is Sampie van der Merwe from Barberspan.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The next morning we ringed at the Prozesky Nature Reserve in Potchefstroom. It seems to have been neglected a little and has recently been burnt, yet we were surprised to ring 66 birds and recapture one. Among other species, we caught a Fairy Flycatcher, 21 Redbilled Quelea as well as this Stonechat male.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 18 Sept we spoke to the Wildlife & Environment Society of SA (WESA) branch in Kimberley. There is no bird club in Kimberley, in spite of there being well known ornithologists like Mark Anderson (front row) and Richard Liversidge living in Kimberley. Mark hosted us.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The next morning we visited Benfontein farm outside Kimberley. We put up 2 nets in the garden but actually wanted to catch up computerising our ringing data from the last 2 weeks! A Hoopoe was retrapped and 3 Redeyed Bulbuls ringed.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Away from the farm house is grassland and savanna, where Ostrich roam. The savanna has colonies of Sociable Weavers that have been intensively studied.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	On 19 Sept we gave our final talk, this time to the William Quintin Karoo Wild Bird Society in Beaufort West. Unfortunately many members left Beaufort West in recent months and the club is barely surviving. Maria Andela (seated on the far right) hosted us.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	The following morning we decided to sleep late after our intense schedule, and do some birding. Our first stop was the Beaufort West sewage works, a CWAC site. Greyheaded Gulls and a variety of waterbirds were present.
Photo H.D. Oschadleus	Our final stop was in the Karoo National Park, outside Beaufort West. We completed a BIRP list and on the way out encountered this Puffadder in the road. We arrived back in Cape Town exhausted but grateful for a worthwhile trip! In addition to ringing 492+ birds and recapturing 43, we gave valuable feedback to the bird clubs we visited.
	Map of ringing sites: Bloemfontein, Deneysville, Johannesburg (Kloofendal, Kempton Park garden, Melville Koppies), Preroria (Buffelsdrif, Rooiwal), Naboomspruit, Pietersburg, Ellisras (Tweeoewers farm, D'Nyala), Brits, Potchefstroom, Kimberley. We also visited Beaufort West but did not ring there.

The most ringed bird was Masked Weaver, 109 ringed at 9 sites (of 14). Next in line for totals ringed are Cape White-eye and Blue Waxbill with 30 each, but Laughing Dove was ringed at more sites (8). Click here to see Ringing totals per site in excel file.

Summary of program

Doug Harebottle (CWAC, BIRP and NERCS coordinator) and Dieter Oschadleus (SAFRING coordinator) will be undertaking a two week ADU roadshow and will be meeting with the following clubs/organisations during their travels. They will promote and provide valuable feedback about ADU projects with a large focus of the roadshow being dedicated to bird-ringing. To enable this activity to be promoted more widely amongst birders and bird clubs, a bird ringing demonstration will be conducted at a local site the morning after the club meeting. Details about the ringing venue and starting times will be announced at the club meeting.

All ADU project participants and interested persons are invited to attend the evening presentations and/or bird ringing demonstrations. For more information you can contact the relevant contact person below.

Date	Club or organisation	Time and Venue	Contact information
Friday, 6th	Depart Cape Town, 06h00
Friday, 6th	Free State Bird Club	19h00 National Archives, Groenewoud Street, Bloemfontein	Herman Kleynhans 082 335 9436
Saturday, 7th	BirdLife Vaal Dam	19h00 Denysville Library	Tony Jones (016) 371 1626
Tuesday, 10th	Johannesburg bird clubs (hosted by the Wits Bird Club)	20h00 Delta Environmental Centre, Blairgowrie, Randburg	Lorraine Leigh (011) 787-7694 (mornings)
Wednesday, 11th	Pretoria Bird Club	19h00 Transvaal Museum, Paul Kruger Street, Pretoria	Andre Marx 083 411 7674
Thursday, 12th	Naboomspruit Bird Club	18h30 for 19h00 Gereformeerde Kerk Hall, 5th Street, Naboomspruit	Charles Field (014) 743-0122 or 082 895 0241
Friday, 13th	Pietersburg Bird Club	19h00 Bolivia Lodge, on the Duiwelskloof Road (4km outside Polokwane)	Chris Campbell 082 462 5867
Saturday, 14th	Ellisras Bird Club	18h30 for 19h00 Mogol Club Conference Room, Onverwacht	Mike Drury (014) 763 4287
Monday, 16th	BirdLife Feathered Friends	19h00 Tweeoewers Farm Roodekoppjes Dam, Brits	Elsa Lourens (012) 254 0213 or 082 775 3071
Tuesday, 17th	BirdLife Wesvaal	19h00 City Library Auditorium, Gouws Street, Potchefstroom	Paulette Brink 083 234 7134
Wednesday, 18th	Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa - Northern Cape Branch	19h30 Lady Oppenheimer Hall, McGregor Museum	Estelle du Plessis 083 272 6233
Thursday, 19th	William Quintin Karoo Wild Bird Society	19h00 City Library Auditorium, Beaufort West	Maria Andela (023) 414 3615
Friday, 20th	Arrive Cape Town