The competition was launched on the 30 March 2009 and all the primary schools in the St Helena Bay area were approached. The competition involved all the grade 5, 6 and 7 learners and they were required to identify all wild birds within the area. A total of 50 winners would be selected and have the privilege of visiting the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB). The feedback from the schools indicated that the children were feverishly on the look out for wild birds, and would even sacrifice playing ball games during intervals just to add one or two more birds to their list.
On 29 April, the closing date for the competition, the number of entry forms received was overwhelming, and it was clear that the children had put a lot of effort into identifying as many wild birds as possible. The following are examples of some of the birds that were identified: doves, falcon, Cape sparrow and starling. Green Stars committee members were now left with the arduous task of selecting 50 winners from a total of 80 entries. The judging proved to be extremely difficult as all the learners put maximum effort into their work - and the final distribution of the 50 winners was as follows:
- E.J. Malgarte – 13 learners
- St Helena Primary – 12 learners
- Steenberg Cove – 13 learners
- H.P. Williams – 12 learners
On the day of the excursion to SANCCOB, we departed on 20 May at 10:30 from St Helena Bay. The children were served sandwiches, fruit and juice during the trip. Upon our arrival everyone was heartily welcomed by a SANCCOB staff member and we were taken to their educational centre. The SANCCOB staff member illustrated how to clean, feed and handle penguins safely (as some of them are strong enough to break your finger with a single bite). The children were also educated as to the anatomy of the penguins, their predators and the detrimental effects of oil spills.
After the educational session, the time had come to see the penguins. The children were split up into groups and taken through the penguin rehabilitation process and many of the learners immediately recognised the birds from the movies “Surf’s Up” and “Happy Feet”. The SANCCOB staff members and volunteers were impressed with the learners’ behaviour and enthusiasm and encouraged them to join SANCCOB as volunteers when they turn sixteen.
The return trip was filled with discussions on the subject of penguins and everyone received a McDonalds Big Mac meal for lunch, and sang their favourite songs to shorten the journey.
SANCCOB is doing an excellent job and we and the learners were very impressed with all that we experienced during our visit. It was a heart warming experience to see the Namibian rehabilitated penguins before they were set free.
The Green stars would like to thank all the schools who participated in the competition and a special thank you to SANCCOB for hosting us.
Acknowledgement for their contribution to Titania Stefanus–Zincke and Darryl Hess – Oceana Brands St Helena Bay
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