Bird Life KZN Midlands sprang from the Port Natal Club 25 years ago, when it became apparent that a local club was needed in the Midlands area. The club was originally based in Pietermaritzburg where most of the Committee lived, and where the evening meetings and most of the outings took place. With the rapid growth of Howick recently, and with many of the Committee members now residing in this town, it was decided to make Howick the centre for the Club!
With our move to Howick we welcomed people moving into and already living in the 'Ambers' who were already BirdLife South Africa members and members of other clubs, to KZN Midlands Bird Club. We are a member of BirdLife South Africa, and it is a prerequisite for membership of our club to be a member of our parent body.
That said anybody and everybody is welcome to join us for our evening meetings and outings. We have a monthly (except July, too cold! and Dec too much going on.) evening meeting which is held at the Goldfields Community Centre at WESSA. This takes place on the third Wed. evening from 17:30 for registration (Members R15 pp, non-members R20) and we have well known speakers presenting their interesting talks from 18:00 to 19:00.
The club also runs a last Wed. morning of the month outing to places of birding interest, meeting anytime from 06:30 depending on the season of the year, and returning in time for lunch, unless we travel further afield to well know Nature Reserves. See the Events page for more details of our outings and for information regarding a course we are holding in early October with Dr David Johnson – well known to most of us
As a Club we are actively involved with projects of a national interest, including the Bearded Vulture project, and twice a year a Waterbird count at Midmar Game Reserve, Albert Falls Dam, Darvill and the Gartmore Crane Conservation Centre. Also a coordinated Car route twice a year to monitor Cranes, Bustards, Storks, and some other birds. These counts are on set routes. The Cape Parrot is another species that we monitor on regular yearly basis. These are just some of our projects.
Membership of our Club includes a magazine called 'KZN Birds' which is published three times a year and covers all the Natal Bird Clubs. One can also take out with membership the lovely magazine called 'African Birdlife' published by BirdLife South Africa 6 times a year.
Information kindly supplied by BirdLife KZN Midlands.