Lions Club and Cape Bird Club event at Rondevlei Nature Reserve.

 

 

On Saturday, 18 April, the Rondevlei Nature Reserve hosted a “Get to Know Your Birds” event. This collaborative morning brought together the Cape Bird Club and the Cape Town Lions Club to raise awareness and celebrate nature, conservation, and community service.

As Lions Clubs International, one of our Pillars of Service is Environment. During the week of April 18 to 26, every Lions Club around the world was asked to focus on an environmental project.

As such, the Cape Town Lions Club decided to focus on our wonderful bird life. District Governor Bevil Lakay set a meaningful tone for the event, emphasising how bird awareness fits perfectly into the Lions’ global mission to protect our planet.

Guest speakers offered a wealth of knowledge that kept the audience captivated, including Dr Dieter Oschadleus who delivered an incredibly interesting talk on bird ringing. Penny Dichmont from the Cape Bird Club took us on a trip down memory lane and also had a fascinating interview with a young birder, Iver.

There was also an insightful presentation from the City of Cape Town. Tristan de Freitas, a Nature Conservation student based at Rondevlei, updated us about the hippos in the reserve and the sad death of Brutus. He also spoke about local conservation efforts and provided information about the reserve’s history.

Tristan gave an overview of the bird and animal life found in the reserve.

A highlight for many was the guided walk led by Daryl de Beer. Daryl’s expertise brought the Reserve to life as he pointed out the various species that call Rondevlei home, making the world of birding accessible to experts and novices alike.

The success of the day was evident in the buzz of conversation that followed. Both clubs received several membership enquiries, and there was even an exciting request to host a future birding outing at a local estate. Anyone interested in learning more about the Cape Town Lions Club is welcome to contact Gail Darling on 079 151 4679.

The Cape Town Lions Club extends its deepest gratitude to the Cape Bird Club and all the speakers who volunteered their time and shared their passion about birds. It was a wonderful reminder of what can be achieved when local organisations fly in formation.

Photographs by Claire Stockenström.

Report by Gail Darling (Cape Town Lions Club and CBC member).

 

Rondevlei Nature Reserve is a beautiful place to go birding; or it was. The wetland’s water level was very low: the bird hides had no water in front of them. But the “Know your Birds” event still went on. The first person to speak was Uncle Dieter. He talked about bird ringing. It was very interesting; no, it was fascinating!

After the talk, we had a tea break and a quiz for the children, with pictures of different parts of some bird species (e.g. the flanks of a Fulvous Whistling Duck). After the quiz was my interview with Aunty Penny about birding. Afterwards, she gave me an Africa Birds & Birding magazine which had pictures of African Snipes (which is one of my favourite birds) and Aunty Gail gave me a sketch-pad and pencils. Then a young man talked about Rondevei and the hippos that live there.

After the talks, we went outside for our walk, led by Uncle Daryl. Before the walk, he quickly said what we could expect to see. The first birds for the walk were Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus) and Hartlaub’s Gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii). We went into Broekhuysen Hide and saw that where the water was, it was grown over in plants. At the second hide, we saw a Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis).

When we came to Winterbottom Hide, we saw something glorious: WATER!!!!!!! There we saw more Great Cormorants, African Darter (Anhinga rufa), which were doing the thing where you can only see the neck, which was fascinating, Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus) and a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea). Suddenly, an African Marsh Harrier (Circus ranivorus) came flying low over the reeds. Then it extended its legs: it was going to catch something! Unfortunately, it caught nothing, and flew away.

Little Stint (Calidris minuta), African Spoonbill (Platalea alba), Kittlitz’s Plover (Anarhynchus pecuarius), Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) and South African Shelduck (Tadorna cana) were some other notable sightings. In my opinion, it was a great day. I saw 21 bird species.

And after the recent rains, Rondevlei is full of water again!

Photographs by Helen Liebling and Wesley Ford.

Report by Iver (10 years).