The initiator of the Fellowship was PP Dick Tafel of North Bay, Ontario, Canada. In June of 2002 he was superseded as president by Mike Lakin of Botswana, Africa. The third President was PDG Steve Leonard of Indiana USA who served in that role for six years up until June 2013 when he was succeeded by PDG Julie West from District 6630 in Northeast Ohio, USA. For several years now, PDG Fred Dijkers (District 1610) has been the chairman.
ABOUT US
The Birdwatching Fellowship commenced in 1991, with its presence at the Mexico
convention. It is now one of more than 120 Global Networking Groups within Rotary.
OUR HISTORY
OUR ACTIVITIES
BirdWalks
A tradition of holding field trips during Rotary International convention was started, the goal of this was to see local birds. Over the years these trips have taken place the day immediately after the international convention in order not to interfere with any of the scheduled events of the convention. With the aid of local leaders, such trips customarily locate about fifty local species. A small group of Rotarians and partners usually take part in these events.
BirdTrips
The first lengthier trip occurred after the Singapore convention in 1999 and travelled through much of central Malaysia, for seven days. In May of 2001, a fifteen-day trip was organized through Southern Africa, including Kruger National Park and much of Swaziland and Botswana. Much of the transportation and accommodation in Africa was through the assistance of local Rotarians. Then there were no longer field trips until 2024.
In 2024 the southern part of Sweden and the island of Oland was our travel destination. It was a successful trip of just over a week. We started the year 2025 with an excursion in India, where we encountered many new bird species.
In May 2026, another successful birding trip was arranged in the Netherlands. During this trip, participants saw several endemic and migratory species. This trip was coordinated by President Fred Dijkers with assistance from board member Pieter Schut.
An upcoming trip to Madagascar is scheduled for November, 2026. Board member Eva Nordwall is coordinating this trip.
BirdTalks
A new activity of IFBR are the Bird Talks. These are meetings with a duration of about an hour. The presentations are delivered via Zoom at a time that is convenient for as many members as possible. But other people, interested in birding, are also welcome. Board member and Vice President, Krishna Mangipudi organizes these talks. The topics of the Bird Talks are diverse, but always bird-related.
Our Newsletter & Youth Scholarships
An English newsletter (The Osprey) is emailed to all members several times a year. Publisher is Sarah Saville. Together with Pieter Schut she is also active for our Facebook page. The full membership list is normally available for members on the website. But now this part of the website is ‘under construction’.
Finally, we try to support small-scale bird projects, especially those where young people have the opportunity to delve into this subject.
