Two workshops on PHOWN (Photos of Weaver Nests) will be held in Kenya, the country with the highest diversity of weaver species (over 60 species). A workshop will be hosted at the Nairobi National Museum, Nairobi, from 28-30 May 2012. A second workshop will be held in Watamu on the Kenyan coast on 2 June. Anybody is welcome to attend!

PHOWN is a citizen science project of the Animal Demography Unit, to collect and monitor breeding distributions and colony sizes of weaver birds globally.

Photo: Golden Palm-Weaver, PHOWN 1533, submitted by D Rollinson

Program in Nairobi

Tue, 29 May
    7h00-11h00 - Bird ringing in the Museum gardens
    14h00 - Lecture 2: Photos of Weaver Nests project
    15h00 - Tea
    15h30 - Practical: uploading PHOWN records (for any participants that already have photos of weaver nests, with date and locality of the record)

Wed, 30 May
    8h45-12h30 - Bird walk, Kipande Rd
    12h30 - Practical: uploading PHOWN records from bird walk
    14h00 - Lecture 3 and discussion: PHOWN in Nairobi and WRAP (Weaver Research Africa Project)
    15h00 - Tea
    15h30 - Discussion: bird atlas in Kenya

Workshop details:
There are no workshop costs for participants
You will benefit most by attending all sessions, but if you can only come to one, or some of them, that is fine - come when you can!
Bring a laptop, if you have one. If you don't have a laptop, you can still come! Some materials will be provided that you can copy to your laptop.
Bring any photos of weaver nests you have, as long as you know the date and locality of the photos.
Bring a camera (and binoculars) to the bird walk (and your own transport, if possible).
Tea and snacks will be provided after the lectures for attendees.

Program in Watamu

The workshop will consist of 3 lectures, some practical demonstration of how to be involved in the project as well as discussion on the proposed Bird Atlas of Kenya project.

Lecture 1: Weaver breeding biology
Lecture 2: Photos of Weaver Nests (PHOWN) project
Lecture 3: and discussion: PHOWN on the Kenya coast and WRAP (Weaver Research Africa Project )

Practical: uploading PHOWN records (for any participants that already have photos of weaver nests, with date and locality of the record & if nests can be located nearby a practical demo in the field)

Discussion: Bird Atlas of Kenya II project

Tea & mandazi will be provided mid-morning and afternoon. Bring your own lunch or get lunch in the canteen.
Workshop to be held with Colin Jackson from Mwamba Field Study Centre.

These workshops are funded by Project for the Enhancement of Research Capacity (PERC, University of Cape Town)