BirdLife Rustenburg outings

Rustenburg – Birdlife Rustenburg will be holding its monthly meeting on 21 May at the Methodist Church Hall at 7pm, cnr Brink & Schuurman streets. 

This month we are hosting a very special guest speaker, Mark Anderson, the chief executive officer of BirdLife South Africa. Mark is regarded as a world authority on the biology and conservation of Old World Vultures and has been studying a population of African White- backed Vultures for the past 20 years. 

He is a prolific writer and has written more than 200 scientific articles as well as several chapters in books. Since 2008, Mark has been credited with overseeing Birdlife South Africa, which is now one of the country’s top conservation NGO’S. 

Mark will be presenting the club with a talk on Gardening for Birds. This should be very informative and interesting as many of us have a keen interest in gardening and this should definitely not be missed. 

Everyone is welcome at a small fee of R20.00 for non-members. Tea and snacks will be served after the meeting.

* On Saturday 26 May, BirdLife Rustenburg will be holding its monthly outing at Finfoot Lodge which is situated on the banks of Vaalkop Dam. 

Finfoot Lodge is very well known for its diversity of Aquatic as well as Bushveld Birds. Finfoot Lodge has arranged a boat trip to view water birds and hopefully the very scarce African Skimmer which has been seen there recently. 

There are only eight seats available for the boat trip and this will be on a first come, first served basis. The rest of us will do birding from the shore and well as in other areas of the reserve.

Other birds to look for, are African Fish Eagle, Herons, Terns, an abundance of waterfowl on the dam and various Bushveld birds such as the scarce Cape Penduline Tit, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, African Firefinch, Coqui Francolin, Flappet Lark, Bennett’s Woodpecker and many more.

Everyone is welcome. There will be a charge of R50.00pp gate fee and a charge of R235.00pp for the boat, this includes gate fee. We meet at BP Mall at 7am; bring own drinks and snacks! 

There will also be a restaurant and bar facilities available at the lodge for those that wish to do so, after the birding excursion.

Contact Shaun McGillewie on 083-702 1462 for any additional enquiries.