Birdlife Zimbabwe has firmly entered the digital age with the launch of its brand new website at their headquarters in Eastlea at the end of February.

The launch was attended by members of the diplomatic corp, the media, Birdlife members and representatives of various environmental conservation groups including COSMO, Environment Africa and Marlborough Environmental Action Group (MEAG). Attendants got a chance to view a video by Tinashe Mombeshora taken at Marlborough Vlei last month during the World Wetlands Day commemoration. The film showed school students and environmentalists calling for wetlands preservation.

Entertainment was provided by the Dzikwa Marimba band, a group of orphans from Kambuzuma sponsored by the Embassy of Royal Netherlands.

As its name suggests, Birdlife Zimbabwe is all about promoting birds in Zimbabwe and seeks to make information on their preservation available for all members of the public so that birds will be well protected. Birdlife Zimbabwe conservation manager Fadzai Matsvimbo explains, “Jessica Wen Grimault designed and administers the site free of charge in support of our conservation efforts.”  Their new website, the product of months of hard work, aims to make bird-watching in Zimbabwe exciting and is full of useful information. On the site you’ll find the number and types of bird species in different parts of the country, wetlands and the birds living in them, bird ringing, an events calendar and the functions of the organisation.

Birdlife Zimbabwe was founded in 1951 as the Rhodesian Ornithological Society (ROS). It became a full member of BirdLife International (BLI) in April 2002. BLI is a global partnership of 120 membership-based organisations that have a common interest in the conservation of birds and biodiversity. The organisation survives on donor funds mainly from their UK partners, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). It currently has 500 members.

Birdlife Zimbabwe offers regular outings in and around Harare, evening meetings, surveys and citizen science projects. “Birds are indicators of the changing environment therefore we use birds to impart conservation issues to the general public,” said Matsvimbo.

To join the organisation or find out about all sorts of information on birds, visit their new site www.birdlifezimbabwe.org.