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On a recent birding trip I observed a bird sitting on the rotting rib of a zebra, lurking in stench, silhouetted in typical hunch and puffed familiarly. It was a vulture. I thought of the average South African’s image of the vulture: death-minder; death-sitter; death-feeder. I thought of how our world labels birds naively. I thought sadly of superficiality and ignorance and disrespect: the dove is white on blue and stamped as a symbol of united peace across the flags that fly at the United Nations; the stork is a caricature on baby-book pages, crying the wail of birth on greeting cards and wrapping paper; the owl is wisdom bespectacled wisely for Hollywood and for the mythical stories of Merlin and other sorcerers and shaman; the parrot finds tropical laughter on breakfast-cereal boxes and cartoon networks squawk and hoot its likeness colourfully in silly frivolity. But the vulture is always death. For the birder things are different. Birders see the elegant vulture, the essential vulture and the graceful vulture. We see the vulture as artist and the vulture as pure wonderfulness. The swan of Swan Lake is our vulture, a ballet dancer and an athlete, a choreographed player in a perfect show. The birder sees the vulture as the untamed do - like the lion does, we understand its feral connection on the plains of Africa and the critical soar of this bird, as it cleans the landscape in a radiance of order and we marvel at the vulture as it rips and swallows in exquisite adaptation and we long for the vulture as it leads us forward with an incredible stare, in the narrative of life. We see the zebra and vulture as one and the vulture then becomes part of us in carrion and in the cycle of decay and in rebirth. For the birder, the vulture is a symbol of life and a symbol of the interconnectedness of Nature. We are proud members of BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) and when we look carefully at the BLSA logo we see a white tern flying in beautiful abstraction and this tern cries in a plea for all people to look at birds like birders do. When we see that tern we therefore see the vulture clearly too. BirdLife South Africa gives us hope to dream of a healthier future, where the air is pure once more and where the birds are safe and abundant and free. So let us dream for a moment. Close your eyes and imagine a time, many centuries ago, when our City was a mere outpost of tents and stone homes. Look up and imagine the constant winds of Table Mountain holding Cape Griffon aloft and see an unsullied sky of vultures. François Levaillant tells us in his writings that “they were indeed numerous,” and the literature confirms that the type specimen was shot near Cape Town in the early 1780’s - the first of its kind known to science! But let us not stop there, let us dream further - in 1731 Peter Kolb describes Bearded Vultures at the Cape of Good Hope and further back still, in 1670, Johan Schreyer confirms Egyptian Vultures on the Peninsula too. (1) In this address I could have spoken lovingly about the Orange-breasted Sunbird or even more glowingly about our very own logo-bird – the Cape Sugerbird. But I have not because they are still with us. They are ours to still enjoy and learn from and they are ours to still conserve comfortably. Instead I have chosen to talk about the vulture because it is ultimately a symbol of our failure. Conservation is a complex concept in Africa. It cannot survive as an idea imposed on people or as a directive packaged in international smiles of aid and condescension. It cannot exist in the bio-diverse detachment of science alone or the governmental documents of regulations and law because conservation is alive. It is and must be a happening thing. It must be constant and it must be ambitious. It is from this perspective that I want to put an idea to you now. I want you to dream not of the past but rather of tomorrow, for that is the place where the vultures will fly again against the cliffs of our beloved mountain. Tomorrow belongs to us completely and we can shape it as we see fit. BirdLife South Africa is presently busy with a preliminary and very thorough feasibility study to re-introduce appropriate vulture species back onto Table Mountain. At the moment this is still only a bold idea. But that is ok, because it is an idea with a loud message. The thought of these majestic creatures gliding along the edge of that world famous silhouette will send out a triumphant call to all fellow South Africans and the world. It will be an unavoidable call and in its loudness we will have reshaped the vulture forever - from a bird of death sitting on a rotting zebra rib to a bird of life flying on our open sky. At the Cape Bird Club, we are truly a “togetherness of birders,” which is nowhere more evident than in our teamwork at the Western Cape Birding Forum. The Forum is your voice to the wider birding community of the Western Cape. It is the seat of coordination for all the regional conservation work that we do, whether it be the monitoring of hundreds of EIA’s, the analysis of new governmental, environmental policies or the organization of data-capture initiatives through our Important Bird Areas programme. The Forum is also constantly looking at ways for the many bird clubs that it represents to help each other spread the message of birding to the general public. None of this is possible without the dedication of our honorary secretary, Sylvia Ledgard. Sylvia is the embodiment of professionalism, diligence and reliability and her skills alone have lifted the Forum’s influence to the national stage. We salute you Sylvia. I would also like to thank our honorary treasurer Brian Dennis for his commitment to our cause along with the chairpersons and committee members of all the other clubs. Our meetings often exceed 25 participants, are frequently heated and always passionate, sometimes lasting for many, many, constructive and worthwhile hours. During this year our outreach work has been threefold:
To return to the theme of vultures for a moment, I refer to news that captured world headlines a few weeks ago. The headline read: “Tagged vulture arrested for spying”. It appears that a vulture ringed by scientists at Tel Aviv University had strayed into Saudi Arabian airspace, where it was promptly arrested on suspicion of being a Mossad spy. The Saudis seemed to have confused its transmitter and leg bracelet for a Zionist plot. Fortunately the matter was eventually resolved by level-headed ornithologists from both countries. Nevertheless, the incident makes us all very grateful that Robert Mugabe and our other regional neighbours have nothing against the ADU. So on that sobering note; I would like to wish Prof. Les Underhill and his staff and students at the ADU a very happy 20th birthday and thank them once again for a faultless year of SABAP 2. 2011 sees this hallowed institution achieve a significant milestone and no club respects, admires and appreciates them more than ours. Les, we also know that this is your last year as leader of your “team”. We are proud to call you a member of the Cape Bird Club. You are a role model to scientists, conservationists and birders across the world and we are confident that your status as the revolutionary, trend-setting and creative force behind international, statistical science will remain forever. Closer to home we thank our president, Peter Steyn, for yet another year of quiet diplomacy. His eloquence at opportune moments elevates every evening meeting into a sophisticated, learned affair and his gentle wit hovers in the realm of Churchill. On a more solemn note it is appropriate and proper to remember the legendary Nico Myburgh, dear friend of Peter’s and dear friend of ours, who passed away sadly this year. His photographs and his contagious love of our local birds will remain a fitting legacy. To our committee: Julian, Helen, Dave, Anne, John, Pricilla, Frank and Janet, you have become dear friends, you are an intimate part of our success and you are shining examples to all our many fellow members. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. To our Vice-Chairperson Heather, in the true spirit of Charles Darwin, you have successfully evolved into a super-being. Your ability to achieve excellence with everything you do is inspiring and indeed testament to survival of the fittest. I am proud to announce that Promerops will henceforth be wrapped in a beautiful, colour cover - fitting tribute to the art of bird photography and editorial excellence. All of this has only been possible through the many years of commitment and talent of Jo Hobbs and Otto Schmidt. We thank Joan Ackroyd, our membership secretary for once again solving complex and sometimes rather dangerous membership disputes not too dissimilar from the civil unrest plaguing Libya presently. We also thank the Courses Sub-committee headed up by Sylvia Ledgard and her seasoned, capable team of Isabella Hayden, Janet Hallet, Gill Ford, Priscilla Beaton and Mel Tripp. This was Sylvia’s 11th and final year at the forefront of course organization and design and our gratitude to her is truly immeasurable. Priscilla will now step into Sylvia’s shoes as chairperson of this sub-committee and we wish her much creative inspiration into the future. Our new sub-committee for international camps has had a busy year, with the first expedition to Ethiopia in a few weeks ready and packed to go. There are further exciting plans afoot for 2012, so watch this space. We thank the chairman Johan Schlebusch and committee members, Otto Schmidt and Mel Tripp, for a considerable amount of detailed planning. We are always in awe of Mel’s graphic design prowess and perfectionist approach to all that he does. His design of the expedition brochure and checklist has finished off a thoroughly professional offering to the members. We thank Derek Longrigg, Dick Barnes and Eric barnes for coordinating monthly counts and we thank Anne Koeslag for teaching the beginners about the birds of Rondevlei, which she has done passionately for many years. We also thank Mike Buckham for our rarities reports, long may they continue. We thank Gavin Lawson our webmaster and club photographer, Gavin and Anne Greig our tireless booksellers, Jan Hofmeyr, our slide librarian, Des and Mary Frylink our shopkeepers and Simon and Stella Fogarty, our memorabilia sales team. We also, of course, thank all the assistants who prepare and serve tea and the many other members who complete the clubs team of helpers. In the spirit of the vulture of yesterday and in the image of its shadow on the face of our beloved mountain tomorrow, remember that the Cape Bird Club has always dared to dream and that the future must be for the birds. Thank you. Vernon Head. (1) – Vultures of Africa, by P Mundy, D Bunchart, J Ledger, S Piper - Academic Press ( Jan 5, 1993)
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