The 13th PAOC was a successful event. The full program had fewer parallel sessions than usual, and two daily plenaries. Ringing was well represented at the conference by a Round Table Discussion on Afring, and many orals and posters relating to ringing. Similarly, the weaver family had lots of exposure through a Round Table Discussion, plenary and symposium on weavers, as well as some posters.

Wednesday was excursion day, and I visited Tarangire NP, which had much birdlife as well as wildlife. Weavers seen included Rufous-tailed Weaver, Speckle-fronted Weaver, White-headed Buffalo-Weaver, Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Vitelline Masked Weaver, and Red-billed Quelea. Unfortunately weavers were not breeding yet in general, as they were waiting for the imminent rains.

The conference ended with a great gala dinner on Saturday evening with entertainment by a local theatre group and the usual visit by Prof Lump-Splitter. On Sunday morning the ADU contingent had a free day before returning home and we went ringing on the property of safari tour guide, Daudi Peterson. The most caught species was Red-billed Firefinch, with a variety of other species, and a handful of male Taveta Golden Weavers (photo above).

My trip was sponsored by Project for the Enhancement of Research Capacity (PERC, UCT). The conference organisers did a superb job!

Many people helped organise the bird ringing session. Thanks to Colin Beale (University of York) for organising the event! Neil and Marc Baker (Tanzania Bird Atlas) provided rings, poles and other equipment. Colin Jackson and Andrew Kinzer (Arocha Kenya) brought mist nets and other equipment. Daudi and Trudi Peterson provided a wonderful venue and fantastic hospitality!

Read more about the conference here.