Lower Murray Bird Club

Last night I was the guest speaker at the Lower Murray Bird Club here in Murray Bridge, South Australia. I had previously showed bird photos and spoke about Australian birds to this group about 3 years ago. Thinking that the membership is probably fairly static over a relatively short period of time, I made up a completely new talk with more recent photos to show. Just as well, because quite a few remembered my talk from back then.

I’m not into keeping birds in cages or aviaries, preferring to see my birds in the natural state. All the same, it was good to speak to a group of people who are all bird lovers, no matter where one sees them. Out of the many thousands of bird photos I could draw on for my talk, I tended to focus on those I had taken in walk-through aviaries, especially those at Adelaide Zoo.

I was made to feel most welcome and the audience was very attentive to what I had to say. I think they also enjoyed the photos I had chosen. I only wish I had a small portion of their bird knowledge, especially in the care of birds. I could be so much more helpful to my many readers if I had a broader knowledge in this field. I am trying; recently I’ve added a few more books to my growing library which will help.

People living in South Australia have many bird clubs that they could join. While many of them do not have their own websites, there is a combined site listing names, localities and contact details. The site is the United Bird Societies of South Australia (Click to access).

If you are a member of a group which might like to have me as a guest speaker, don’t hesitate to contact me through my contact form at the top of this page, or click here.

Red Browed Finch

Guest speaker

Today I was the guest speaker at the Mallee Aged Care, a group which meets in the local soccer club rooms every fortnight. The organiser invited me – and my wife – for lunch and after that I gave a one hour presentation, talking about Australian birds. I illustrated my talk with photos of our lovely birds. Most of the photos have been shown here on my blog over recent years.

While many in the group were hard of hearing, all said they could hear me clearly – it must be the remnants of my teacher voice at work.

All said they enjoyed the talk very much and learned so much about our birds. One lady even started taking notes on a paper napkin!

I’ve done similar talks to various group before, and the requests are becoming more frequent as word gets out. It’s something I enjoy and I not only love sharing about Australian birds, as a former teacher I love imparting knowledge about them with any who will listen. Friends and family know this and often ring or ask about something they’ve seen birds doing.

An offer too good to refuse:

I am prepared to go anywhere to talk about Australian birds. If it’s interstate just provide the air fare and I’ll be there. What the heck – I’ll even fly overseas to talk about Australian birds.

Emu, Monarto Zoo, South Australia

Emu, Monarto Zoo, South Australia