World Birdwatch weekend, 7-8 October 2006

06-10-2006

BirdLife is urging people to visit important bird areas (IBAs) to celebrate the World Bird Festival this October. BirdLife Partners throughout the world are organising events to publicise their national networks of IBAs.

Eight African countries are taking part in the festival. This weekend, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania is leading birdwatching expeditions to the Uluguru Mountains; the Association pour la Conservation de la Nature au Rwanda (ACNR) has a birdwatching event at Akagera National Park IBA, and talks and birdwatching in Volcanoes National Park; BirdLife Botswana is hosting a World Birdwatch weekend; and Sierra Leone has an excursion to the Western Area Peninsular Forest (WAPF).

Fourteen Asian countries are hosting events. This weekend, MNS (BirdLife in Malaysia) has the Inauguration of the Amazing Kuala Selangor Nature Hunt, and the Festival of Wings Exhibition on IBAs and migratory birds. In Sri Lanka, FOGSL is organising a Birdwatching Event to promote threatened habitat and endemic birds, and hosting a Bird Identification Workshop at Colombo University. The Bird Conservation Society of Thailand and the Wild Bird Federation of Taiwan are organising raptor watches and counts. The Nature Society Singapore (NSS) has a guided birdwatching tour in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR), and HKBWS has organised Hong Kong Bird Watching Day. Several other birdwatching societies in China are taking part in the World Bird Festival for the first time. The 11 societies who have joined are offering activities such as exhibition, talks, bird identification courses, birdwatching tours and kite-making competitions (in the shapes of swallows and swifts) in Kunming (Yunnan), Luzhou and Mianyang (Sichuan), Wuhan (Hubei), Beijing, Nanjing (Jiangsu), Shanghai, Hangzhou (Zhejiang), Fuzhou and Xiamen (Fujian) and Shenzhen through out the wholeof October. Find out more at http://www.chinabirdnet.org/

Eugenio Coconier/Aves Argentinas

BirdLife’s Director, Dr Michael Rands, officially opened the World Bird Festival celebrations in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Zoom In

BirdLife’s Central and South American Partners have organized huge programmes of events this year. Particularly prominent is Argentina, where 19 out of 23 provinces, including Antarctica, are joining the festival. For details, see www.avesargentinas.org.ar. This weekend, Bermuda Audubon Society has the Paget Island Bird Camp. There are seven activities in Bolivia on 7-8 October including a events at the IBA Parque Nacional Tunari, Parque Acuático Mariscal Santa Cruz, Botanical Garden Martín Cárdenas, museum of history Natural Alcide D`Orbigny, and the Central plaza 14 de Septiembre. In Chile from 7-22 October, UNORCH is carrying out a spring census of wetlands birds, and this weekend in Colombia Asociación Río Cali is offering talks, videos and trips to reserves. In Ecuador, there are birdwatching trips to Papallacta, Cuyuja, and Mangaloma–Nanegalito. At the Nacional University of Mexico (UNAM) on 9 October, there will be a rally about birds, and an exhibition of birds, and at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California on October 7th will be a World Birdwatch events. Nicaragua’s Alianza para las Áreas Silvestres (ALAS) is organising birdwatching trips with local guides, and in Venezuela, Sociedad Conservacionista Audubon de Venezuela (SCAV) is hoping that its third World Birdwatch will beat 2005’s record of 626 birds - more than 45% of the Venezuelan list.

In Europe, 32 countries are putting on events to celebrate the continent’s 4,500 IBAs. This weekend’s main event is Eurobirdwatch 2006. Last year, around 40,000 people took part in 1,400 events and activities. Sweden took the lead for both the number of birds (788,620) and the number of species (259) recorded. This year there are far too many events to list here –check your national partners website for details.

To find out what's on in your country, visit http://www.birdlife.org/action/awareness/world_bird_festival/index.html and click on links to your region on the righthand side of the page.