Yesterday marked the launch of a new e-journal, Ornithological Observations - http://oo.adu.org.za/. This journal is published online, by BirdLife South Africa and the Animal Demography Unit at UCT and is of a semi-scientific nature. It is edited by Arnold van der Westhuizen, PhD student and ardent ADU/BLSA project participant.

Its main aim is for scientists and citizen scientists alike to submit interesting observations of bird related matters (behaviour, nesting activities, foraging behaviour, biometrics, annotated checklists etc.) in a reader-friendly format that is accessible to the public and the scientific community. One regularly encounters interesting bird behaviours, or nesting habits, or movement patterns  and it is these anecdotal observations which often do not get into the broader scientific and popular literature. But by getting these observations published in a short, user-friendly format they contribute valuable information to our bird knowledge base that can be used in future editions of Roberts's Birds of southern Africa.

Submissions for OO are encouraged from southern Africa but articles and short papers can be submitted from anywhere around the world. Getting the article from submission to publication is hoped to be a quick process as papers will not be peer-reviewed but the editorial committee will ensure that a high-standard is maintained. Templates have been provided to make the writing process as streamlined as possible. And even if you do not want to write anything you can visit the site frequently for interesting reads on our birdlife.

For more information please visit the OO website. There are already two articles that can be viewed and downloaded as pdf files. These will give you a nice feel for the style and format that is used for OO submissions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and making OO a successful media platform for birders and scientists!

One of the most recent recoveries reported to SAFRING was a White-backed Vulture. This bird was found by Themba Nkuna who wrote: “I found a dead White backed Vulture outside our White Lion Boma today (11/08/2008). I am at Hoedspruit at the White Lion Trust farm coordinates. It seems the bird might have died from colliding with our diamond mesh fence two to three days ago after being scared by lions when stealing the meat. The bird had two Yellow tags code: A028 and 027216502621 at the back of the tag. The code on the ring which was on the right foot is G 26512.  Unfortunately I didn't have a tape measure to measure the bill, feet and wing span, I believe you have that.” This vulture was ringed by Andre Botha of the EWT Birds of Prey Working Group at Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre on 29 January 2007. The vulture moved at least 28 km and this movement may be viewed here.

Not only is this vulture one of the most recent recoveries, the first birds ringed in southern Africa were vultures. 31 Cape Vultures were ringed exactly 62 years previously in August 1948. 

Vulture ring G26512 was recovered less than a month before the International Vulture Awareness day on 4 September 2010. This awareness day will focus the attention on the dire plight of many of the world's vultures and highlight the awareness and regional activities of organisations who participate in vulture conservation. Details are available on the BirdLife SA web.

Ecotone Africa provides a variety of nets, digital scales, calipers and other ringing equipment that is not stocked by SAFRING. (SAFRING stocks rings, pliers, rulers and some standard nets). The Ecotone catalogue has been updated and is available on SAFRINGs order web page - the pdf contains details on ordering Ecotone stock.

Israel is in a critical location for migrant birds and millions of birds pass through Israel every year. Ringing has been active at Eilat, the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, where the scheme is based, as well as at many other sites. There is also an active raptor and vulture ringing program. The Israeli Ringing Center now has its own web blog. You will find photos of many familiar species and some less familiar ones.

Weaver colony sizes vary between species with solitary species having 1 or 2 nests and colonial species may have over 100 nests in one colony. Single-male colonies, like Southern Masked Weavers, typically have less than 10 nests but sometimes this may be larger especially if there are more males than the usual one. One result of PHOWN (Photos of weaver nests) is having a nest count per colony. To see minimum, average and maximum colony sizes for records submitted to PHOWN click here.

While ringing or birding, you can look out for weaver colonies and contribute photos with nest counts to the ADU Virtual Museum. As soon as your record is accepted, the average colony sizes will be automatically updated.