About Birds SA

Birds SA was established in 1899 as The South Australian Ornithological Association. The Association aims:

• To promote the conservation of Australian birds and their habitats.
• To encourage interest in, and develop knowledge of the birds of South Australia.
• To record the results of research in regard to all aspects of bird life.
• To maintain a public fund called the “Birds SA Conservation Fund” for the specific purpose of supporting the Association’s environmental objectives.

You can find out more about the history of the Association below.

Membership is open to both serious and casual bird watchers of any age and background. To explore the membership levels, benefits and costs, go to the Membership page.

• Monthly meetings are generally held on the last Tuesday of every month, except December, in the Charles Hawker Building, Waite Campus of The University of Adelaide , Waite Road, Glen Osmond on the ground floor in Lecture Room 101-102. Meetings start at 7.30 pm. 
• Field trips are generally held monthly on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and visitors are welcome to come along. We generally have three field trips each month in the Adelaide region and often an additional monthly field trip in both the Victor Harbor area and the Port Augusta area. Two camp-outs are held each year, one over the Easter holiday break and the other at the October long weekend. Read more on our events and field trips page.
• Webinars are a feature of the Birds SA calendar. We aim to put up informative webinars occasionally depending on the time commitment of our volunteers.  A core of Bird Identification webinars is interspersed with some more general birding topics, with the dual aims of educating and entertaining. Recordings of previous webinars are here which include informative bird identification sessions to help you improve your birding skills. 
• Advocacy for the protection of birds and their environments is a major activity of Birds SA.  Recent campaigns have included persuading the SA Government to constrain beach driving at beaches adjacent to national parks; lobbying for stronger Nature Laws, such as the recent SA Biodiversity Bill; helping to strengthen provisions in the Cat and Dog Management Act; successful lobbying for stronger tree protection laws culminating in much improved legislation from April 2024; working with other NGOs to protect SA leasehold pastoral leases from over grazing. Check out our current conservation projects.
• Research grants are made to eligible students and community research groups up to a maximum of $10,000 to support various research areas of bird conservation science undertaken by graduate students and community researchers.
• An extensive library containing books, journals, videos and tape recordings gives you access to some amazing birding resources. You can find the library catalogue on the Library page. 
• Birds SA is a registered not-for-profit that is governed by an elected management committee. Our ABN details and other governance information are found on our governance page .
• Donations to support our conservation work can be made online at the Donations page.

For further information, please go to Contact Us form at the bottom of the Home page.