African Ringing Expeditions

Next confirmed tour with open spaces: 3-12 December 2019
Book now to get your discount for this tour!

The Biodiversity & Development Institute (BDI) is a non-profit research entity in South Africa. We are offering unique and immersive bird ringing expeditions in South Africa, designed to provide opportunities for ringing African birds. The bird ringing taking place during these expeditions contributes to long-term research projects.

We have designed these expeditions to run for ten days in either of two unique habitats. Our primary expedition runs year-round and occurs in the Fynbos Biome in the Cape Floral Kingdom, an area rich in biodiversity with 70% endemism. Our secondary expedition runs during the Austral summer and occurs in the Savanna Biome, a quintessential African habitat with its associated suite of bird species.

Our expedition leaders are vastly experienced ringers who have PhDs based on ornithological topics. For both expeditions, we have carefully selected sites to maximise the number of species that can be netted and ringed. We have also gone out of our way to provide safe and comfortable accommodations, hearty South African food, and a superb overall experience.

We facilitate all the logistics of such a trip from when you land at the airport until your departure. We take care of transportation, accommodation, food, and all of the bird ringing equipment. All bird ringing occurs under our permits and under the auspices of the South African Ringing Scheme (SAFRING).

Our bird ringing expeditions provide wonderful opportunities to ring African birds, to interact with local ornithologists and conservationists, to contribute to important long-term citizen-science projects, and to experience delightful accommodations in spectacular landscapes.

In this series of linked pages we will highlight some of the details of our expeditions, including more information about who we are, what we do and why we are passionate about these bird ringing expeditions, what happens during an expedition, where the expeditions occur, and when they occur. More details can be obtained by contacting us directly.

We hope that you will join us on one of our future expeditions, and that you’ll use the expedition as a springboard for exploring other parts of South Africa.

Find out more about the expeditions:

General:

Fynbos expedition:

Bushveld expedition:

Peregrine takes plover
Jul 24, 2019
On 14 November 2016 Kyle Walker collected Peregrine pellets in Scarborough, Cape Town, in on-going monitoring of Peregrine nests on the Cape Peninsula. Kyle was surprised to find a bird ring in the pellet. Peregrines prey on birds, especially on doves and pigeons, but finding a ring in a pellet is nevertheless exciting. In this case, the ring […]
Longevities of shrikes, bush-shrikes and helmet-shrikes
Jul 5, 2019
The shrikes, bush-shrikes and helmet-shrikes were formerly all classed together in one family, but have been split into separate bird families (shrikes, bush-shrikes) and the helmet-shrikes have been moved into the Vangidae family. After a brief description of each of these groups, the ringing numbers and longevities will be presented. The true […]
Colour ringing birds at Fynbos Estate
Jun 25, 2019
Bird ringing was conducted at Fynbos Estate from 17-21 June 2019, with two students from France, as part of their field project. During the ringing sessions Emilie and Manon learned to identify and measure local bird species. Two species, Common Fiscals and Cape Robin-chats, were also colour ringed to enable observations on individually […]
Longevities of Cossypha robin-chats
Jun 7, 2019
There are 14 species of Cossypha robin-chats in Africa. They are medium sized thrushes and sexes are alike. They have much red in the plumage and many species have a white eyebrow. The juveniles are spotted above and mottled below, but the tail pattern is the same as that of the adults. These birds have long tarsi and are usually found on or near […]
Virtual Museuming at Mwamba Conservation Centre, A Rocha Kenya
Jun 4, 2019
Mwamba is the Conservation Centre of A Rocha Kenya. It is on the coast, and offshore is the Watamu Marine National Park. Just inland is the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, the largest remnant of a dry coastal forest which originally stretched from Somalia to Mozambique. Just to the south of Mwamba lies Mida Creek, which has mangrove forests, intertidal […]

Find more of our ringing posts here.