A New Approach

BIRDING BIG DAY 2017

More than 330 teams took part in the 33rd Birding Big Day (BBD), which was co-hosted by BirdLife South Africa and BirdLasser (www.BirdLasser.com) and took place on 25 November 2017. Birding Ecotours (www.birdingecotours.com) came to the party as corporate sponsor of the event, pledging R30 for each species added to the day’s tally.

After registering in either the Open category or the Community category and selecting a location, teams could start recording from midnight on 24 November, with leaders logging all the species via the BirdLasser app, which provided live updates on the challenge website. Wet conditions over the eastern half of the country did nothing to dampen spirits and birders set off protected by raincoats, umbrellas and boots.

An addition to BBD 2017 was the challenge to teams to raise funds for the Terrestrial Bird Conservation and Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas programmes, with a portion of the profits also going to the dedicated team at BirdLasser. The sponsorship from Birding Ecotours was a welcome addition that motivated teams to push for birds in remote locations, resulting in a total count for the day finalised at 650 species – and a R19 500 donation from the company!

Hamerkop, comprising Ehren and Johan Eksteen, Duncan McKenzie and Lourens Grobler, won the Open team category, having racked up a total of 303 species in the Nelspruit, Barberton and southern Kruger Park area. With 302 species, Selwyn Rautenbach, Dewald Swanepoel, Joe Grosel and BirdLasser founder Henk Nel in team Zonke iNyoni came a very close second. The highest-scoring Community team was the Witwatersrand Bird Club with 186 species in the Mongena concession of Dinokeng Nature Reserve in northern Gauteng.