Birdlife Overberg is hosting the popular and informative “Flight for Birders” identification course by Anton Odendal in Stanford on 24 and 25 February.  The costs will be R 350-00 per head, and include the course manual and a certificate endorsed by BirdLife South Africa – roughly 1,400 slides and drawings will be used.   The contents of the course get updated every second year and this has now been done – in many cases images of similar and potentially confusing species have been combined on the same slide in order to illustrate differences. The development of an infrastructure for birding tourists in the local area will also be highlighted.  In the vast majority of the slides English and Afrikaans names of species are printed onto the slide.   The course focuses on basic steps in the identification of birds, places heavy emphasis on where to find the rare and often endemic birds in southern Africa and illustrates how ordinary bird-watchers could become involved in the conservation of birds and their habitats.  The course will be presented at the Main Hall of the popular Stanford Arms Hotel.
Contact Elaine at mwjasser@mweb.co.za or 028 - 3161105  / 0824558402.

Twitchers take note! A bird identification course, “Flight for Birders“  is to be held for novice and intermediate birders at The Great White House in Kleinbaai from the 13th to 14th June. The presenter is Dr Anton Odendal, from Birdlife Overberg,  and the cost is R300/head. The programme looks fantastic, and is geared to show the keen novice birdwatcher the basic steps to identify birds, as well as where to find rare species, and how bird watchers can become involved in conservation. Then once you’re up to speed, and know their names, you can click away on your camera and enter the Stanford Birding competition! Entries close on Monday 21st September 2009, and the winners will be announced at the annual Stanford Glendower Bird Festival dinner on 3rd October 2009. This exciting festival runs from 1st - 5th October, with loads of great programmes. With Avitourism becoming the fastest growing sector in the industry, and Stanford being well placed for great birding, we hope to welcome lots of visitors with binoculars soon!