Hi Members,

June 2012

N e w s l e t t e r o f B i r d L i f e B o t s w a n a

Familiar Chat

After 10 years as Vice-Chairman and Membership Secretary of BirdLife Botswana, Mike Golds-worthy decided to step down this year. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his dedication - his quiet backroom demeanour and efficiency ever-dependable. Thank you Mike!

A new Board was appointed in May and Mike Barclay has stepped into the breach. We wish him every success and must all help to keep him busy enrolling new Members and keeping us in the loop.

BirdLife International celebrates 90 years of commitment to the conservation of birds and there will be a lot more about this to-wards the end of the year.

Highlights in this issue include a fascinating new discovery that perhaps breaches the gap be-tween dinosaurs and modern birds - see page 4. Don’t miss Nicky Bousfield’s account of breeding Fish Eagles in the Fran-cistown area, page 3 and the well received WMBD celebration in Tlokweng on page 2.

Eugenie Skelton — editor skelton@home.co.bw

Flickr: Birds of Botswana

We encourage anyone inter-ested in photography to register and submit photo-graphs of birds in Botswana to our Flickr site.

It is an excellent way for us to build a library of photo-graphs and for Members to display their talents.

Please go to the site and look at some of these out-standing bird images.

Access via www.birdlifebotswana.org.bw and click on ‘Flickr’

In This Issue

World Migr. Bird Day Rocked 2

An Unusual Cain and Abel Story 3

Research Reveals Microraptor Colours 4

Delta Delites 5/ 6

BirdLife International News 7

Forthcoming Attractions for Members 8

Kids for Birds 9/10

Branch Events 11

BLB Committee 12

Membership Form 13

IF ANYONE CAN

CANON CAN

Did You Know That…

• the BirdLife Partnership is the world’s largest partnership of national civil society organi-sations working for nature?

• together the BirdLife Partner-ship can achieve much more than any of the Partners alone?

• the successes of BirdLife In-ternational should be owned and celebrated by every sin-gle Partner and its constitu-ency?

• the oldest BirdLife Partner is the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS, BirdLife in In-dia, founded 128 years ago in 1883) followed by RSPB and NABU?

• the BirdLife Partnership in its present form will soon be 20 years old and that it has roots that go back as far as 90 years?

Page 2

This Year’s WMBD Celebrations in Botswana Rocked!

Celebrating WMBD to a marimba tune

By Lesego Ratsie

On the 28th of April BLB and the DWNP, in partnership with the American Embassy, celebrated World Migratory Bird Day at Tlokweng SOS Children’s Village. As birds and people are connected in different ways, the theme for this year’s celebrations was ‘Migratory Birds and People – Together Through Time’, emphasizing the cultural, social, historic, economic and spiritual relationships between birds and people. The main objectives of the celebrations this year were to: 1. Raise awareness and promote conservation of birds, espe-cially migratory species; 2. Develop an interest and knowledge of birds among chil-dren, including orphans, the disabled and those affected by HIV/AIDS; 3. Promote Botswana’s indigenous knowledge on conservation at grassroots level. 550 students participated in the event, from primary, secondary and tertiary schools and special institutions (Tlamelong Rehabilitation Centre, Holy Cross Hospice and SOS Chil-dren’s Village). The atmosphere was electric as there were 18 performances of songs, playing of musical instruments, presentations and dramas de-picting migratory birds and environmental issues. There were also educational/information stalls from other institutions working to-wards wildlife conservation in Botswana - Kalahari Conservation Society, Somarelang Tikologo, DWNP and Department of Environ-mental Affairs. As one of the environmental awareness days, the event presented an op-portunity for local communities and schools to become more aware of various environmental issues, and ways to prevent and control environmental destruction. The participants received commemorative T-shirts which were specially designed for the day. Refreshments for the children were provided by Choppies and Kgalagadi Brewer-ies. It surely was a memorable day for those children who participated.

Guests of Honour From left: Mr Tsholofelo Bonatla (GEF Small Grants Programme),

Ms Heather Goethert (American Embassy), Ms Phatsimo Lobelo (American Embassy), Dr Kabelo Senyatso (BLB) and

Mr Moemi Batshabanag (DWNP)

Regional Officer: Environment- Science Technology and Health, Heather Goethert, receiving a token of

appreciation from BirdLife Botswana Director, Dr. Kabelo Senyatso

Three kms south of Francistown is the modern technical Mambo Water Works where the city effluent is treated. The bulk of the high quality grey water is discharged into the Tati River which has thus become a perennial river creating wetlands that attract a good number of water dependent bird species. King amongst these is the symbol of Africa’s waterways, the African Fish-Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer), whose characteristic call reverberating over the bush is always a delight.

It was not long before a pair of Fish Eagles were breeding in a tall Ana tree ( Faidherbia albida) at the confluence of the Sepua and Tati Rivers and in 2007 a chick hatched and fledged.

Again in 2008 there was breeding success. However, it became evident that a troop of monkeys were becoming increasingly bold in approaching the hatchling in the nest despite the parent birds bombing the intruders. The chick was already fully feathered and would stand erect in the early morning to warm itself in the dawn sunshine. On one such morning the young bird’s head was found on the ground beneath the nest. Presumably the monkeys had caused so much mayhem that the chick fell to the ground. This was booty for ground dwelling predators like Caracal cats, Jackal etc. The primary feathers found along with the head clearly indi-cated that they were still partly in pin and could not support the weight of the growing chick. So sad.

In 2009 again one chick hatched successfully. This time the par-ents were extra vigilant. One adult would always be seen stand-ing guard whilst the other was off gathering food. The chick grew and fledged, but would NOT disperse. The year rolled by and the adults went back into breeding mode.

In 2010 a single chick hatched successfully but the older sibling continued to hang around. Now the parents were feeding two off-spring as the juvenile would fly in and steal food from it’s junior. The younger chick grew and became progressively stronger. One can only presume that this scenario finally led to a serious scrap between the two. The younger bird fell out of the nest and like the 2008 chick, was not yet airborne so landed on the ground. The remains of a bountiful meal was evidence under the nest. Sadness again.

However, the story does not end there - immature 2009 finally dispersed after persistent chasing by the parents and in 2011 TWO chicks hatched. They grew and both fledged successfully. Hurrah!!!

P.S. A trigger camera photo reveals an adult Fish Eagle in the vi-cinity of the nest with a badly deformed leg. The locality strongly suggests that it is one of the regular breeding pair. It would ap-pear that the leg was broken since the last breeding season.

Page 3

By Nicky Bousfield

Photos Eugenie Skelton

An Unusual Cain and Abel Story

An immature shows distinct mottling and black-tipped tail feathers

Page 4

Research Reveals Microraptor Colours - from Rotunda, the Member Magazine of the American Museum of Natural History

A pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur known as Microraptor had black iridescent feathers when it roamed the Earth 130 million years ago, according to new research led by a team of American and Chinese sci-entists that includes American Museum of Natural History researchers. The dinosaur’s fossilized plumage is the earliest record of iridescent feather colour. The findings, which suggest the importance of display in the early evolution of feathers, are published in the March 9 edition of the journal Science.

“This study gives us an unprecedented glimpse at what this animal looked like when it was alive,” said Mark Norell, one of the paper’s au-thors and chair of the Museum’s Division of Palaeontology.

Although its anatomy is very similar to birds, Mircroraptor is considered a non-avian dinosaur and is placed in a group of dinosaurs called dro-maeosaurs that includes Velociraptor. Knowledge about Microraptor’s plumage could help scientists zero in on the evolutionary transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds. Modern birds use their feathers for many different things, ranging from flight to thermoregulation to mate-attracting displays. Feather colour is produced partially by arrays of pigment-bearing organelles called melanosomes, the structure of which is constant for a given colour. By comparing the imprint patterns of fos-silized melanosomes to those in living birds, scientists can infer the colour of dinosaurs that lived many mil-lions of years ago. Statistical analysis of the data predicts that Microraptor was completely black with a glossy, weakly iridescent blue sheen like a crow.

The research has also given new insight into the purpose of the dino-saur's tail. Once thought to be a broad, teardrop-shaped surface meant to help with flight, Microraptor's tail fan is actually much narrower with two elongate feathers. The researchers think that it was ornamental and likely evolved for courtship and other social interactions, not for aerodynamics. These findings also contradict previous interpretations that Microraptor was a nocturnal animal because dark glossy plumage is not a trait found in modern night-time birds.

The fossilized Microraptor specimen from the Beijing Museum of Natural History (AMNH/M. Ellison)

A close-up view of the well-preserved feather imprints on the Microraptor fossil

(AMNH/M. Ellison)

A reconstruction of Microraptor

based on digital overlays of nine fossilized speci-

mens from China (AMNH/

M. Ellison)

Page 5

Delta Delites

by grateful recipients

Courtesy of Wilderness Safaris, we recently won an adven-ture trip to Xigera camp in the Okavango Delta as a prize at the Birdlife Botswana annual dinner.

We were informed before we left that there might be a wait at Maun airport depending on the camp flight sched-ule, so we were pleasantly surprised when we were met by the friendly Wilderness staff and escorted almost im-mediately to the plane for Xigera.

As we flew towards the landing strip we saw 3 buffalo drinking but could not see the camp, which we later dis-covered was nestled under huge trees and filled with the constant calling of Woodland Kingfishers.

The staff welcomed us with song and dance and as Xigera is an environment friendly camp we were given recy-clable water bottles to use during our stay which could be refilled with water filtered by reverse osmosis. This saves a tremendous amount as the ubiquitous plastic water bottles do not have to be transported to and from the camp for disposal or reprocessing.

Camp Xigera is renowned for its bird life. There is some game but there are other camps where a larger variety can be seen. Xigera also has strong contrasts between the seasons. When the water recedes there is a huge is-land for birds and game but as it rises again a large part is submerged and most activities are water related.

We arrived towards the end of the drier season and immediately upon landing we were asked by our guide whether we would like to go back to camp or go for a game drive until about 11 am, after which we would return to camp for brunch. Game drive it was and we soon discovered that the guides have a tremendous knowledge of the area and the birds. We were privileged enough to see a huge variety of birds and plenty of game.

That afternoon on a slow mokoro ride along the more used channels we again saw a multitude of birds including the near threatened Black Coucal, the only coucal with a seasonal variation in plumage. The male of this species builds the nest, incubates and cares for the young all alone!

After a 6am wake-up call with coffee and a light snack we left for the first activity the following day - very early but then if you want to see the best you need to be out early!

In the afternoon we were taken on a short game drive to another boat launching area and escorted by boat to what is called “the lagoon” where the water is shallow enough to swim without danger from hippo or croc.

We were offered sundowners from an exquisitely prepared table in the water decorated in true Okavango style.

On the way back the skies precipitated the rain that had been collecting, but without hesitation the Wilderness guides produced waterproof blanket-lined ponchos and we were on our away again - warm, snug and dry.

Page 6

The delta water had been rising whilst we were there and one afternoon our guide took us out for the first trip of the season through channels that had been too low to utilise since the last high water season - following the channels made by hippos. We encountered hippos and numerous pairs of Pygmy Geese that flew off just before we could get close enough to admire their gorgeous colours. The plentiful Malachite Kingfishers remained sta-tionary just long enough to identify their exquisite blue crown that extends to their eyes and differentiates them from the African Pygmy-Kingfisher, which we did not see.

The delta was like riding through a sea of water lilies – channels filled with crystal clear water with the larger areas simply full of flowering lilies.

Sundowners on the last evening were served on the banks of one of the channels and we were joined on the oppo-site side by a family of giraffe.

Highlight of the camp – a juvenile Pels Fishing Owl greeted us every morning from the tree above our start-ing point and said goodnight from the same perch – but unfortunately it was absent on the last day. Our guide had told us that it was alone as it was the offspring of the resident pair and it was time for junior to leave home and start his own life.

Many thanks to Wilderness Safaris and BirdLife Botswana for making these special moments possible.

BirdLife International News

Threat to the Amazon’s birds greater than ever, Red List update reveals

The risk of extinction has increased substantially for nearly 100 species of Amazonian birds, reveals the 2012 IUCN Red List update for birds just released by BirdLife International. The new assessment is based on models projecting the extent and pattern of deforestation across the Amazon.

Of particular concern are longer-lived species, for which even moderate rates of deforestation can be important. Some species appear likely to lose more than 80% of their habitat over coming decades and have been placed in the highest category of extinction risk – Critically Endangered.

The 2012 update is a comprehensive review, undertaken every four years, of all the world’s more than 10,000 bird species. The update shows worry-ing news not just from the tropics but in Northern Europe too, where over a million Long-tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis have disappeared from the Baltic Sea over the last 20 years, resulting in the species being uplisted to Vulnerable. The reasons for this decline are still not clear but the fortunes of another sea duck, Velvet Scoter Melanitta fusca are even worse, with the species now being listed as Endangered.

In Africa, the White-backed and Ruppell's Vultures, Gyps africanus and G. ruppellii, are mirroring the fate of their Asian cousins, with rapid declines linked to poisoning, persecution and habitat loss. Both species have been reclassified as Endangered. Their declines have much wider impacts, since vultures play a key role in food webs by feeding on dead animals.

However, not all the news is bad. Restinga Antwren Formicivora littoralis, a small bird from coastal, south-east Brazil, has been downlisted from Criti-cally Endangered, as new surveys have found it to be more widely distrib-uted than previously thought. Its future also looks more secure now owing to the creation of a new protected area covering its core distribution.

There are also examples of a species’ fate being turned around, despite almost insurmountable odds. In the Cook Islands of the Pacific, the sus-tained recovery of Raratonga Monarch Pomarea dimidiata, once one of the world’s rarest birds, has led to it being downlisted to Vulnerable. Intensive conservation action, particularly through control of alien invasive predators like black rats, has saved the species from extinction. The bird’s population is now about 380 individuals, over ten times bigger than at its low point, although continued conservation efforts are required.

Page 7

“We have previously underesti-mated the risk of extinction that many of Amazonia’s bird species are facing”, said Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife’s Direc-tor of Science, Policy and Infor-mation. “However, given re-cent weakening of Brazilian forest law, the situation may be even worse than recent studies have predicted.”

“Such successes show the remarkable achievements that are possible where effort and dedication by conservationists and local communities are backed up with political support and adequate re-sources,” said Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global Research Coordinator.

“But the worrying projections for the Amazon emphasise the urgent need for governments to meet their international commitments by establishing comprehensive protected area networks that are adequately funded and effectively managed.”

“These figures are frightening. We’re pretty sure that the birds haven’t moved elsewhere, and the numbers represent a genuine population crash. The widespread nature of the declines point to the likelihood of environmental change across much of the arctic and sub-arctic regions where these spe-cies breed”, said Andy Symes, BirdLife’s Global Species Programme Officer.

Ruppell’s Vulture—in serious decline

Page 8

Forthcoming Attractions for BLB Members Film Premiere - Gaborone We will be showing the film ‘The Big Year’ starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson at the Maru-a-pula School Theatre on Thursday 14th June at 19:00. The film is about three intrepid birders in the US who try to see more birds than anyone else in a year. It is a light-hearted true story which anyone who has ever gone birding will enjoy. Tickets are free to those who apply for them from our office. However we are using this as a fund-raising opportunity so we would appre-ciate donations of about P100 per person at the door. First come, first served. There will be a cheese and wine party at 18:00 sponsored by Messrs Gem Diamonds, followed by the film at 19:00. Don’t miss the premiere as it promises to be a bumper occasion.

The Next Camp The July camp has been cancelled due to lack of interest and we will arrange the next one in spring.

Bird Identification Course in Gaborone We will be running a bird identification course on Thursday evenings in September Dates:13th, 20th, 27th and 4th October; Time:17h30; Place: Northside School; Cost: P50 per eve. The course will cover common birds in the Gaborone area, water birds, migrants, raptors and little brown jobs, subject to there being a minimum of twenty participants.

BLB shop Please support our shop near Kgale Spar and look out for exciting new sales items. If you want a BLB tyre cover, please contact our office at 3190540.

A birdie bush….. How many can you identify?

Page 9

Kids For Birds compiled by Doreen McColaugh

Photos Eugenie Skelton

Dear Kids,

In our first article on brood parasites we discussed how these birds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and leave the job to those birds to incubate the brood parasites’ eggs and raise their chicks. In this article we look at the cuckoos, a family of brood parasites that have a number of species found in Botswana and the birds they parasitize, which are called their “hosts”. In many cases the hosts don’t really want to be hosts and try to prevent the brood parasites from fooling them. But, more about that in the next arti-cle. Here we will list the most common brood parasites that live in, or visit Botswana and their favoured hosts. Some brood parasites only parasitize one other species while others parasitize a large number of different bird species.

It would be interesting if first you could recognize the brood parasites by viewing them or hearing their calls. Some are very sneaky and are seldom seen, though they may call loudly like the Red-chested Cuckoo does, while others, such as the Jacobin, are quite visible. Diderick Cuckoo males, for example, will make themselves visible and call often and loudly. It is thought that this puts the potential hosts on alert that it is around and so they might come to investigate and maybe try and drive it off. In the meantime when the hosts are away from their nest, the Diderick Cuckoo female quickly darts in and lays her egg in the host’s nest.

In the chart on the next page the cuckoos found in Botswana are listed be-side their hosts and their calls. Some of the brood parasites that use many host species use even more species in neighbouring countries that are not listed here, as those host birds do not occur in Botswana. In the next edi-tion we will look at the other brood parasites found in Botswana.

Birds of Botswana by Kenneth Newman, Nests & Eggs of Southern African Birds by Warwick Tar-boton and Roberts’ Birds of Southern Africa by Gordon Maclean were consulted for this article.

A Jacobin Cuckoo calls from a prominent perch

A male Diderick Cuckoo calls incessantly in summer and is

easily identified by its metal-lic green and white plumage

and prominent red eyes

A young Jacobin Cuckoo is ‘hosted’ by a Red-eyed Bulbul

Page 10

BROOD PARASITES THEIR CALLS THEIR HOSTS

Cuckoos

African Cuckoo Male = mournful “hoop-hoop” or “cii-cuck” Female = a loud “pik-ik-ik-ik-ik”

Forktailed Drongo

Black Cuckoo Male = monotomous hoo-whoo, wheee” or “I’m so sick” (in Eng-lish), rising on the last syllable. Also an excitable “yowyowyowyowyowyowyowyow”

Crimson-breasted Shrike, Southern Boubou, Tropical Boubou

Diderick Cuckoo Male = far-carrying “dee-dee-deederik” Female = deea-deea-deea-DEEA”

Cape Sparrow, Masked Weaver, Spotted-backed Weaver, Red Bishop, Cape Wagtail, Mountain Chat/Wheatear, Robins & Scrub-Robins (Karoo, Kalahari and White-browed), Rattling Cisticola, Titbabbler, Flycatchers (Marico & Paradise) Sparrows (Great & Grey-headed) Weavers (Spectacled, Golden, Lesser Masked & Redheaded), White-winged Widow, Golden-breasted Bunting

Great Spotted Cuckoo Male = loud rasping “keowkree-kree-krikrikrikri” quickly re-peated. Female = calls a bubbly “burroo-burroo”

Pied Crow, Black Crow, Starlings (Longtailed/Meve’s, Blue-eared & Glossy, Burchell’s, Red-winged, Pale-winged, Com-mon/ Indian Myna)

Klaas’s Cuckoo Mournful “hueet-jie” – repeated 5-6 times

Stonechat, Barthroated Apalis, Longbilled Crombec, Tawney-flanked Prinia, Flycatchers (Dusky & Fantailed), Batises (Chinspot, Cape & Pririt), Puffback, Sunbirds (Marico, Double-collared, White-bellied, Dusky, Scarlet-chested, Collared)

Jacobin Cuckoo Shrill, flute-like “kleeuw, pewp -pewp, kleeuw, pewp-pewp”

Bulbuls (Cape, Black-eyed, Red-eyed, Terres-trial) Fiscal Shrike, Fork-tailed Drongo, Speckled Mousebird, Babblers (Arrow-marked & White-rumped), Flycatchers (Fiscal & Para-dise), Southern Boubou, Titbabbler, Cape Wagtail

Red-chested Cuckoo Male = far-carrying “wip-wip-weeu” or “Piet-my-vrou (in Afri-kaas) Female = “pik-pik pik-pik”

Robins, Scrub-Robins & Robin-Chats (Heuglin’s/White-browed Robin-Chat, White-throated Scrub-Robin & Bearded Scrub-Robin)

Striped Cuckoo “klew, klew, klew, klew” fol-lowed by long “chiririririri”

Babblers (Arrow-marked, White-rumped)

BirdLife – Kasane

This branch plan to meet on either the last Saturday or Sunday of the month. Contact Phil Zappala phil@sgsafrica.com or check the website www.birdlifebotswana.org.bw for details

BirdLife – Ghanzi

Contact Kevin Grant tiisakalahari@gmail.com

BirdLife – Maun

Field outings on weekends, contact Pete Hancock birdlifemaun@botsnet.bw Additional activities may be scheduled depending on demand. Contact Pete Hancock at BirdLife Maun office for further information - 6865618. Maun office address – P O Box 1529, Maun

BirdLife - Jwaneng

Contact Jerusalem Mooketsi for details jmooketsi@debswana.bw

BirdLife – Francistown

The Francistown branch hold their meetings on the second Wednesday of each month, starting at 19h00 at the Supa-Ngwayo Museum, located at the corner of the first turn to the left as you travel from the Bulawayo roundabout towards the light industrial area. If you have any questions please contact Dr. Zsolt Gido gidozso@yahoo.com

BirdLife - Gaborone

Bird walks 1st Sunday of the month, start at 06:30, September to April and 08:00 May to August, inclusive. Meet in the southern car park of Molapo Crossing.

For any queries contact Harold Hester at chairman@birdlifebotswana.org.bw or Mike Barclay mbarclay@bergstan,co,bw

Page 11

Page 12

Committee of BirdLife Botswana 2012 Chairman Harold Hester chairman@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Vice-Chairman Mike Barclay mbarclay@bergstan.co.bw - also membership secretary

Treasurer Ian White ianwhite2010@gmail.com

Secretary Peter D’Arcy darcybotswana@yahoo.com

Ordinary Board members

Dr. Kabelo Senyatso - Director BirdLife Botswana (ex-officio Board member blb@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Chris Brewster - recorder cbandog@gmail.com

Mary Lane-Jones - marketing lanejones.mary@gmail.com

Doreen McColaugh – education bdmac3@gmail.com

Eugenie Skelton – editor Familiar Chat skelton@home.co.bw

Mary Webb - webb_mary@yahoo.com

Dr. Kathleen Toomey ToomeyK@bw.cdc.gov

Dr. Zsolt Gido - organiser of activities in Francistown gidozso@yahoo.com

Kevin Grant - organizer Ghanzi tiisakalahari@gmail.com

Phil Zappala - organizer Kasane phil@sgsafrica.com

Dr. Michael Flyman - representative DEA mflyman@gov.bw

Dr. Lucas Rutina – Okavango research Institute representative lprutina@ori.ub.bw

Jerusalem Mooketsi - Jwaneng Representative jmooketsi@debswana.bw

Dr. Marks Ditlhogo - UB ditlhogo@ub.bw

Frederick Dipotso—Department of Wildlife and National Parks representative fdipotso@gov.bw

Stephanie J. Tyler steph_tyler2001@hotmail.com

Staff members

Pete Hancock - Conservation Officer Maun, editor Conservation newsletter birdlifemaun@gmail.com

Keddy Mooketsa - education – Gaborone education@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Lesego Ratsie - membership - membership@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Dikabelo Koboyatshwene – Admin. Officer –Gabs –admin@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Yukiko Maki-Murakami - eecoordinator@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Virat Kootsositse - coordinator@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Boniface Keoneeng - accounts@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Records sub-committee Recorder Chris Brewster, PO Box 26292, Gaborone

Secretary Keddy Mooketsa education@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Andrew Hester

Stephanie J. Tyler steph_tyler2001@hotmail.com

Richard D. Randall rrsafaris@yahoo.co.fr

Conservation/Research sub-committee

Chair Pete Hancock birdlifemaun@botsnet.bw

Kabelo Senyatso blb@birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Stephanie Tyler steph_tyler2001@hotmail.com

Graham McCulloch gmcculloch@botsnet.bw

Sekgowa Motsumi semotsumi@gov.bw

Caspar Bonyongo cbonyongo@orc.ub.bw

Editorial sub-committee (Babbler) Editor Stephanie J. Tyler steph_tyler2001@hotmail.com

Asst. Editors Pete Hancock & Doreen McColaugh

BirdLife Botswana P.O. Box 26691, Game City, Gaborone, Botswana. tel. 319 0540

Website: www.birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Membership Form - 2012 Membership is due in January of each year, as the subscription runs from January to December.

Rates

Standard - P120.00

Corporate - P2000

Professional – Rangers, Guides and SSG members - P60.00

Life - P2000

Students studying in Botswana – P15

Schools/Clubs – P50 plus P5 per club member with a minimum of 10 members per club

SADC Region – P350

Overseas (and outside SADC) – P450

The following details are required:

I/We/Dr/Mr/Mrs/Ms:____________ _______________

wish to become members of BirdLife Botswana

Address:__________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Home/Cell Phone:_________________________________________

Work phone:______________________________________________

Email (please PRINT):_______________________________________

I acknowledge that my family dependents, invitees and I take part in the BirdLife Botswana organised events entirely at our own risk. I, in my personal capac-ity and as representative of my spouse, children, dependents, and invitees hereby keep BirdLife Botswana, its committee, members and agents indemnified and hold them harmless against all loss, injury, or damage to person or property from any cause (including negligence) arising as a result of our participation in events organised by BirdLife Botswana.

Signed_________________________

Date:__________________________

Please make your cheque payable to 'BirdLife Botswana' or Electronic Funds Transfer to First National Bank Botswana, Kgale View 284567, Account # 57110052562, Swift FIRNBWGX \

Please return, fax or mail this form with your subscription and payment details:

OFFICIAL USE Card______________________ Data base________________________

Gaborone Maun Francistown Kasane Jwaneng Ghanzi

The Secretary (membership)

Pete Hancock Gido Zsolt Phil Zappala Jerusalem Mooketsi Kevin Grant

BirdLife Botswana PO Box 20463 gidozso@yahoo.com PO Box 570 jmooketsi@debswana.bw

PO Box 820

PO Box 26691 Maun Kasane Ghanzi

Game City

Gaborone or phone Pete to or phone Phil to or phone Kevin to

Botswana collect 6865618 collect 75186109 collect 72112297