Barossa Bird Club Meetings

Meetings are held on the last Thursday of each month (excluding December with no meeting, and the January special BBQ meeting usually held in Stockwell) at 8pm at

Grace Lutheran Church Hall (formerly St Paul's)

(corner Murray St & Basedow Rd, Tanunda SA 5352)

Visitors are welcome.

The Annual General Meeting and election of officers is held directly after the General Meeting in July.

Format

Meetings are generally informal and most have a guest speaker presenting various interesting topics. Members nights are also arranged when members present talks on their experiences in aviculture.  We have a raffle with excellent prizes and after the meeting, tea and coffee is provided while we have a chat and stock up on service items.

Guest Speakers

March 2021

Brian Reichelt

Brian Reichelt shared with us his vast knowledge of bird keeping from a very early age. His presentation was on Exotic Birds, the housing, feeding, breeding etc. at his home in Port Augusta.

 

February 2021

David Barrington

David presented photos of his collection of waterfowl, sharing his knowledge of species specific needs for breeding, feeding and housing and pest management for keeping these beautiful birds.

January 2021
January BBQ
 
December 2020
No Meeting
 
November 2020
Season 2020 Breeding Roundup
 
October 2020
David Pace "Aviculture in the 2020s"

David gave a talk on what it means to be a modern aviculturist where he took us through the construction of his amazing custom aviaries, his diverse collection of birds, some of his clever ways to manage pests and harvest live food for his birds and shared with us his insights into the future generation of aviculture.

September 2020
Bob Lowe "Finches"

Bob Lowe gave a great tour of his aviary practices around the keeping of finches.

August 2020
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

The Kea - New Zealand's smartest bird

 

July 2020
AGM

Dr. Gary Fitt

Gary has served on the committee of the Queensland Finch Society, National Finch and Softbill Association and various other representative avicultural bodies for numerous years. He is a passionate advocate for bird conservation and chairman of the Save the Gouldian Fund and members were treated to a detailed insight into his avicultural knowledge and stunning photographs from Cheryl Mares.

March - June 2020
Cancelled due to COVID-19
February 2020
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

Birding in Java & Bali by Alma and Greg Dare

 
January 2020
January BBQ
 
December 2019
Christmas Function
 
November 2019
TBA
 
October 2019
Trevor & Janet's Club Bingo
 
September 2019
Peter Woite of Kaburra Sanctuary

Peter introduced us to the birds and animals of his amazing property just outside of the Barossa, and his dedication to helping large birds such as the brolga.

August 2019

No Guest Speaker

July 2019

AGM

 
June 2019
Dennis Matthews "Microbats!"

Dennis provided a lot of fantastic information about another type of winged creature, the Australian native bats and microbats.

May 2019
No Guest Speaker

 

 
April 2019
Roy Hevesi "Frameless Aviary Construction"

Roy demonstrated a method of jointing aviary wire together to create unique shapes for frameless aviary construction.

March 2019
Kym Hampel "Rosellas"

Club home-grown talk by a very experienced rosella breeder on his experiences with this species.

February 2019
Dr Anne Fowler "When Nutrition Goes Wrong"

Dr Anne Fowler from the Adelaide Bird & Exotics Vet Clinic gave a highly informative talk on signs and symptoms of nutrition-based disorders in birds, and on the importance of finding the "Goldilocks spot" when it comes to nutrients - not too little, not too much.

January 2019
Australia Day BBQ
 
December 2018
Christmas Function
 
November 2018
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

Migratory shore birds

 
October 2018
Members' Bird Chat

Roundtable discussion about members own aviaries.

 
September 2018
Mount Gambier Visit

Paul Kremmer gave a wrap up with photos from the Mount Gambier Aviary visit.

 
August 2018
Gordon Rich "The Grass Finch Wrens Tour"

Gordon Rich shared his experiences chasing 12 elusive species of grass finch wrens from Mildura all the way to Kakadu. Travelling by plane, bus, helicopter and on foot through some of Australia's hardest to reach places chasing a new tick in the field guide - and spotting some of Australia's rarest birds along the way!

July 2018

AGM

 
June 2018
Kevin Leske "Java Sparrows"

Kevin Leske gave a presentation on Java Sparrows, including his experiences breeding these birds.

 
May 2018
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

Problem solving crows; raven funerals and the widowbird

 
April 2018
David Pace "Quail"

David Pace shared his experiences in breeding Quail and shared his unique custom aviary construction and management practices.

March 2018
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

Presentations from the Cornell University's research into the 39 species of Birds of Paradise

 
February 2018
Tom Massey "Fruit Doves"

Tom Massey will share his experiences with Fruit Doves.

January 2018
Australia Day BBQ
 
December 2017
Christmas Function
 
November 2017
Keith Hocking "Macaws"

Club Member Keith will shared his experiences in breeding Macaws.

October 2017
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

Update on Matilda the Orange Bellied Parrot - More Difficult Birds: the Swift Parrot and Operation PKO

 
September 2017
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos

Guess the Mutation - Wild Finch Research - Night Parrot Background and Update - Fledging of "Matilda" Orange Bellied Parrot

 
August 2017
Mulga Parrots

Paul Kremmer gave the club an excellent presentation on Mulga Parrots - in the wild, captive breeding and mutations.

 
July 2017
Lindell Andrews, Biosecurity SA

Lindell returned to give a presentation on her experiences in the jungles of Costa Rica working on the preparation and release of captive-bred scarlet macaws back into wild breeding populations. After seeing the remoteness of the location and the conditions under which Lindell worked, we gained a whole new respect for her dedication to species conservation!

June 2017
Swan Hill Visit

Di Auricht & Paul Kremmer gave a wrap up with photos from the Swan Hill Aviary visit.

 
May 2017
Chris Hall, "Wild Barossa"

The local author gave a fascinating talk about the background to his book, which is about biodiversity in the Barossa region.  His book is about the relationship between the animals and plants in our unique landscape, and we enjoyed hearing about the birds, animals and plants of our region and the way in which the landscape has changed over the years.

April 2017
Bird Sale Preparation
 
March 2017
Lindell Andrews, Biosecurity SA

Members had an excellent update on exotic species which are pests within South Australia. Of particular interest was the red-whiskered bulbul, which has the potential to damage grape and fruit crops within the Adelaide Hills should a population establish itself within South Australia. An amnesty for this species has been announced subsequent to the meeting through the Adelaide Hills NRM. Lindell has an incredibly interesting background, and we've asked her to return to talk about her time with scarlet macaws in the jungles of Costa Rica!

February 2017
Tony Vaughan, "Royal Flying Doctor Service"

Tony gave an excellent talk about the operations of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, particularly within South Australia and Northern Territory. It was an excellent insight into the service's origins and the way in which it saves the lives of people living in remote communities every day - sometimes through medical retrieval, but sometimes through providing day to day medical practitioners and preventative healthcare to remote areas which many of us take for granted.

January 2017
Australia Day BBQ
 
November 2016
AnnMarie's Mixed Bag of Videos
 

October 2016
Gunther Frensch, "Birds of the Barossa":
Frensch Photography
Birds of the Barossa (Facebook)

Gunther is a keen amateur photographer based in Gawler who runs the "Birds of the Barossa" Facebook page, showcasing our local wild bird population. His stunning photographs coupled with information about where and when to see these birds promotes an interest in the birds visible in our region. One of the hardest parts of wildlife photography is that the end result doesn't always show the process needed to capture that image, and Gunther shared some of that process with us.

 
September 2016
Meeting cancelled due to weather
 
August 2016
Alan Smith gave a presentation on Keeping Blue Winged Parrots (Neophema chrysostoma), which included his aviary set up and experiences from seeing these birds in the wild.
May 2016
Ella Laucke and Alex Stewart introduced members to Laucke's new Black Parrot range of pellets.
April 2016
Paul Kremmer gave a presentation "Trapping Goats South-West of Broken Hill".
 
February 2016
AnnMarie Bartholomaeus talked about clicker training for companion parrots, introducing this amazing tool of operant conditioning for training, used worldwide in zoological practice as a part of animal husbandry.
 
November 2015
Dr Christo Delport of the Paralowie Vet Clinic spoke about his breeding program of African Grey parrots in his homeland of South Africa.
August 2015
Gordon Rich presented a MasterChef experience with Wombaroo and Passwell products

July 2015
Raoul Madden presented photos of birds in the wild.