The Cape Bird Club

Letter to BirdLife SA members  –  8 August 2007

Dear Birder

Ordinary people achieve extraordinary things if the strategic direction is right. If it is wrong, even the most extraordinary people only achieve ordinary things. That insight was given by Mr Justice Mervyn King to a recent conference. Strategic steering of BirdLife SA is therefore our most important issue.

Your Council has been wrestling with the strategic steering of the organisation you support, BLSA. How do we gain the trust and confidence of our stakeholders, how do we ensure we manage BirdLife with care, skill and diligence – and convey this to all?

Major challenges we have identified include;

  • membership issues from getting more black and younger members

  • to how we process invoices and receipts each month;

  • the bird atlas project (SABAP 2);

  • your Important Bird Area (IBA) assessments;

  • removing a perceived rift between scientists and recreational birders and

  • that difficult-to-define perception by some of our members of arrogance or dictatorial behaviour by the head office of BLSA.

At a Council meeting this past weekend (August 4 and 5) we examined our membership closely, paying particular attention to our relationship with clubs and their members. There is some discontent, so all is not right, but certainly all is not lost.

In the June letter I appealed to people to write to tell me why they joined BirdLife. The response was gratifying, with much wonderful praise for BirdLife. There was some criticism too, insightful stuff which helped us in our weekend deliberations.

Here are some comments received on why people joined:

  • “Because I am passionate about birds and conservation.”

  • “To meet and mingle with like-minded people”

  • “Because it is the right thing to do!”

  • “It’s fun going out with the club.”

  • “Because I love birds.”

  • “I enjoy the outings and the company.”

  • “To enhance my scant knowledge.”

  • “Visiting areas out in the wild with like-minded people.”

  • “Finding new birds, visiting wonderful places.”

  • “Adds value to my life.”

The phrase most often used in replies was “I love birds.” Most submissions were several paragraphs long, many waxing lyrical in extolling the writer’s delight in birding. Truly heartening to read. Yet the most frequently asked question from members remains:

 “What does BirdLife do for me?”

It puts one in mind of that famous John F Kennedy inaugural quote: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask yourself what you can do for your country.” 

Watching birds and “twitching” is top of mind in many members’ comments. Were it not for these members – probably the majority of us – BirdLife SA would wither. They are the blood that runs in our veins. Yet BirdLife is more about providing the flesh, the heart, the lungs and the skeleton which enables that blood to run, be channeled and enriched with oxygen. The scientists are of course the brains in this metaphor.

BLSA’s primary task is conserving birds and their habitats, doing so scientifically and vociferously with media and club support. It is your national body. It tries to help all people interested in birds (and convert those still unaware of birds’ beauty and value and delight into passionate avian supporters).

BLSA’s main function is to help the birds themselves. We are there for people, for birds, for the planet – RSPB’s slogan.
To do this, your being a member helps us all look after habitats, Important Bird Areas (IBAs), species conservation. It provides jobs, education, influences policy and lawmaking, creates linkages with other conservation bodies to strengthen networks, and together we make a powerful 8 000 - strong army of bird activists.

We have weaknesses: probably the worst one at the moment is a failure to communicate better than adequately with individuals, as Council and the full-time staff members are loaded with other work, which seems to enjoy priority. With your help we hope to change this, to communicate more fully what is being done in your name and for which you share both the responsibility and the glory. And there are some great things, from rehabilitating wetlands, removing poisons, monitoring species numbers, organizing protest actions, suing developers and halting bad projects, to steering huge organisations like Eskom and the airports company (ACSA) in the right direction for the benefit of birds. All of which attracts criticism, sometimes by those who enjoy making deliberately provocative claims to get noticed.
Irritating stuff, but folk - like birds – can be queer. 

There is so much discussion over so many issues at a Council meeting that it is difficult to keep you informed of all that has been happening. 

  • Your Executive Director, Gerhard Verdoorn, has been busy cleaning up the country’s more toxic poisons, and his group managed to find 85 tons of the illegal stuff to seal tight and safe just in Limpopo province alone – four times as much as the 20 tons expected. There are looming crises at Barberspan where the water is so polluted plant life is producing dangerous mycotoxins (worse than the poisons) which are killing birds by the thousands; 

  • at Chrissiesmeer and Loskop Dam the water is getting so bad because of mining that it is no longer safe for people, agriculture or even wild birds. Council was shown radar images of the Barn swallows at Mount Moreland leaving their roost early in the morning and arriving back, all 3 million of them! They are (thankfully) under the flight path of the aircraft that will land and take off at the new uShaka International Airport, but an agreement has been reached with ACSA whereby pilots will be notified if the wave of swallows has taken off or is about to do so. An extraordinary thing to watch, this great wave of swallows taking off every morning, and this site is rapidly becoming one of the area’s top tourist spots. Local clubs are organizing a welcome back party for the swallows, which made us think of a Spring “Welcome the Migrants” event. Yes, it could be confused with the chaps across the border. Watch this space.

On June 11th I attended a wonderful BirdLife Overberg meeting in Onrus, near Hermanus. Under the direction of Anton Odendaal this club is achieving great things in educating, entertaining and informing members. They will be hosting the 2008 AGM in their region next year. I urge you all to try to attend, make it a weekend of marvelous birding because they have laid on a spread of activities to make your binoculars shiver in delight.

BirdLife SA continues with its community based conservation, policy and advocacy, ecotourism, birding routes and all the other activities. More of those in the next letter. Please realize how much we value your support, and do enjoy yourselves this Spring.

Regards
Peter Sullivan
Chairman

                          

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