Bird (lovers) of a feather, flock together
More than 1 000 people made the trip to the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden to take part in the 2018 African Bird Fair.
Throngs of bird lovers and watchers made their way to the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden during the weekend of 8 and 9 September for the 2018 African Bird Fair.
The Fair got under way on Saturday, 8 September, with beautiful spring weather setting the stage for what would hopefully be a memorable African Bird Fair. Hundreds of stalls were spread along the Garden’s usually empty, tranquil grass banks.
The weather on the morning of Saturday was perfect, with not a cloud in sight, and the wind playing along as best it could. The conditions were also ideal for the eagles to come out and play, and the hundreds of visitors had the chance to take a look at the juvenile eagle that everyone’s trying to name.
Visitors also had the chance to give their idea of what the juvenile should be named, as the Caxton Joburg West team was on hand to give people a chance to enter the Name the Chick competition on Saturday. Perhaps the most adorable entrant of the whole weekend was little Joshua Stevens who, simply because he loves hotdogs, decided to name the juvenile eagle Hotdog.
The entries received at the Fair brought our total entries to within 12 entries of the 250 mark. If you’d still like to enter, you have until Friday, 14 September, to do so on our website.
Unfortunately, Joshua will have to wait until next week to find out if his adorable entry is chosen by the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR).
The BEPR also manned their own stall at the Fair, taking over the reigns from the Caxton team for the competition on Sunday.
Unfortunately the number of visitors died down on the Sunday, as the wind started picking up and the weather turned a tad iffy. Through the night, typically strong winds had ripped through the fair and tossed several stalls all over the place.
But, despite the weather not playing along and keeping visitors away on Sunday, exhibitors were still pleased with the way the event went, according to BirdLife South Africa’s events programme manager Emma Askes. “It was one of our less busy Fairs in recent years, but that’s because of the weather on Sunday,” she said. “Otherwise, the exhibitors were really happy with how many visitors they received at their stalls.”
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