Bird ringing - Birds4Africa

“I’m very grateful to Dieter and Manuel for their patience, perseverance and expertise as they shared their extensive bird-ringing skills and knowledge with all those participating in the fantastic course on Aride in August.” Craig Nisbet, Desroches Island Conservation Officer (see Aride blog).

“Birdringing with Dieter and the BDI at Fynbos Estate was an relaxed, well thought and a enjoyable experience. There was a good variety of birds caught and ringed that made it worthwhile to drive through for a day, it was as always a pleasure to ring birds with Dieter and to learn from his wealth of knowledge. The day and trip was very well planned. Thank you for the opportunity to join the group.” Loutjie, Fynbos Estate (see Fynbos blog).

Bird ringing allows a close connection with birds, as well as being an important tool to study birds. By coming on a ringing expedition, you are contributing to monitoring birds. Ringing monitoring is conducted at a variety of ringing sites on the Cape Peninsula (southern suburbs of Cape Town), mostly wetland sites. In partnership with the Biodiversity and Development Institute, you can join 10 day ringing expeditions at a site 1 hour’s drive from Cape Town. You can also choose one of the established ringing trips in South Africa, or enquire about ringing trips elsewhere in Africa.

Bird ringing services:

Upcoming ringing tours
Ten day ringing expeditions with BDI African Ringing Expeditions, and with Dieter as ringing leader.
Custom bird ringing tours can be organised in South Africa (especially the Karoo, and Zululand or Overview Zululand, in KwaZulu-Natal), Namibia, Seychelles, and other African countries.
Specialist ringing, like swallow chicks and weaverbird chicks.
Introduction to bird ringing for Field Biology Courses and student groups (eg at Fynbos Estate, at Klipbokkop)
Ringers and birders are welcome to join Dieter for morning sessions in Cape Town.
Dieter can provide bird ringing training courses.
Ringing demonstrations for anyone wanting to learn more about this way of studying birds or just appreciating birds from really close up.

Dieter provides all ringing equipment, and has all the required permits. Ringing is conducted ethically, and all data is curated at SAFRING at the University of Cape Town, where the data is available to researchers.

Measuring the head length – Southern Red Bishop

Some previous ringing courses led by Dieter

African Ringing Expeditions (BDI)