Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa’ hosts the delightful Prof. Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan from the University of Cape Town. Prof. Anusuya will be unravelling the Biology of Fossil Birds whose history extends to about 150 million years ago. For the next 85 million years early birds co-existed with dinosaurs and pterosaurs. The End of the Cretaceous Mass Extinction event brought an end to the reign of the dinosaurs on land and pterosaurs in the skies. Fortunately some birds survived. Prof. Anusuya will highlight some of the diversity of extinct birds and give some insight into how ..read more

BirdLife South Africa's Kristi Garland shares the Spring Alive programme with us on Conservation Conversations and discusses some good activities to keep the kids busy during lockdown. This podcast is a product of BirdLife South Africa and was produced by Melissa Howes-Whitecross with editing by Carl Bierman, music by Herman Bergmann, visit www.birdlife.org.za/blsa-conversations/ to find out more about BirdLife South Africa, the live webinar series or to support the productions series using the Quicket donations platform ..read more

Durban Bay supports one of the largest and busiest harbours in the southern hemisphere. Not surprisingly, the rich biodiversity that it once supported has been seriously degraded by harbour, and other city, developments. It thus provides a valuable test case of the worst impacts of such human development on an extensive coastal aquatic ecosystem. Situated at the heart of a major South African city, the waterbird populations of Durban Bay are well known, especially since the advent of monthly waterbird counts of the entire Bay extending back over 20 years. This talk will dip into this rich sour ..read more

Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa hosts Trevor Hardaker, well know for SA Rare Bird News Alert and Zest for Birds. Trevor will take us on exciting, visual journey through many of the best birds on offer in South Africa. With over 860 bird species recorded in South Africa there is no one right definition to what a "best bird" is. We will take a look at this from various angles, e.g. endemism and record holders. Based on a thorough survey of birders across the country we will also see which species are the favourites amongst the South African birding community. This podcast ..read more

 Join three members of our Seabird Conservation Programme in celebrating World Penguin Day, celebrated annually on 25 April. The team takes us through the diverse global array of penguins, relays some interesting facts about penguins, and then go into the conservation of the African Penguin in particular.  This podcast is a product of BirdLife South Africa and was produced by Melissa Howes-Whitecross with editing by Carl Bierman, music by Herman Bergmann, visit www.birdlife.org.za/blsa-conversations/ to find out more about BirdLife South Africa, the live webinar series or to support ..read more

 Trevor Hardaker features the birds of the West Coast National Park as part of our monthly SANParks destination feature.  This podcast is a product of BirdLife South Africa and was produced by Melissa Howes-Whitecross with editing by Carl Bierman, music by Herman Bergmann, visit www.birdlife.org.za/blsa-conversations/ to find out more about BirdLife South Africa, the live webinar series or to support the productions series using the Quicket donations platform.  ..read more

BirdLife South Africa's weekly webinar series ‘Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa’ hosted Dr Melissa Howes-Whitecross. Melissa, as Landscape Conservation Programme Manager and former Raptor & Large Terrestrial Bird Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa will be unpacking some of the lessons learned during the 9 year conservation journey to save the 'Sentinels of the Grasslands'. Through a dedicated tracking study across South Africa, much has been learned about the movement, dispersal and behaviour of the Secretarybird. This webinar comes on the back of a recent announ ..read more

Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa hosted Dr Andrew Jenkins and Anthony van Zyl, BirdLife Species Guardians for the Taita Falcon. They will share the results of over a decade of monitoring of one of the rarest raptors in Africa, the Taita Falcon. This charismatic little bird of prey is a topic of conversation among birders and conservationists alike. Join Andrew and Anthony as they unreavel some of the insights learned over their years of staring at the Blyde River Canyon cliffs and trying to understand what drives the behaviour and biology of these tiny falcons. The gathere ..read more

The Critically Endangered Blue Swallow is a much sought after ‘tick’ for any keen birder. However, its future as a tickable species is in peril, with diminishing habitat, dwindling conservation capacity, unknown migratory routes and destinations.  It is not all doom and gloom with key conservation organisations in Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, Conservation Outcomes and BirdLife South Africa partnering together to save this awesome swallow. Join Brent Coverdale and Steve McKean to understand why the species is in such dire need of help, what conservation actions are being undertaken and ..read more

On Tuesday, 9 March 2021 at 19:00​ (SAST), BirdLife South Africa's weekly webinar series ‘Conservation Conversations with BirdLife South Africa’  hosted Linda van den Heever (Vulture Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa). Vultures may not win many prizes in the beauty department, but without them our world would be a decidedly less pleasant place. They are nature’s supreme clean-up crew, getting rid of carcasses and unwanted organic waste, free of charge. Not only can they directly prevent the development and spread of pathogenic microbes by quickly and efficiently removing carcasses ..read more