Take your passion for birds to new
heights.
A six-week live online course written by the late Joe Grosel — twice-weekly expert lectures, ten modules, and the southern-African field methods that turn enthusiasts into confident birders. No equipment required. Just your eyes, your ears, and a willingness to slow down.
Built for everyone who keeps looking up.
You don’t need expensive equipment to become a birder. You don’t need to live near a reserve, or to have grown up on a farm. You just need your eyes, your ears, a reasonable understanding of bird behaviour — and someone who can teach you to see what’s been there all along.
This Online Birding Enthusiast course was written by renowned southern African birding specialist Joe Grosel (1966–2021), whose passion for the smallest cisticola was as boundless as his knowledge of the largest eagle. He believed birding wasn’t a hobby for experts. It was a way of paying attention to the world.
Whether you’re a safari guide brushing up before your next FGASA exam, a teacher building a school nature programme, a lodge manager hosting birding guests, a traveller preparing for Kruger, or simply someone who loves the bushveld and wants to deepen the way you experience it — this course is built for you.
Ten modules. Six weeks. One transformation.
The course Joe built.
Joe Grosel was one of southern Africa’s most loved birding specialists — a teacher whose enthusiasm was as infectious in a tiny bush hide as it was in front of a packed lecture theatre. He believed that a good birder is, in the end, just a person who has learned to be still.
Every module of this course carries his method, his stories and his way of seeing the wild. We are humbled to be part of his legacy — and proud to share it with every birder who joins us.
A taste of the bush.
Voice is often the single most reliable way to identify a bird. Press play on any of the calls below — these eight species are just a fraction of the bird-call library you’ll work with throughout the course.
EcoTraining Bird Call Library — 95+ species available to course participants throughout the six weeks.
Ten modules, six weeks, one transformation.
Each module builds on the last — from where birds came from, through anatomy and physiology, into behaviour, identification, the great families and the magnificent raptors that close the course.
Bird Evolution, Taxonomy & Morphology
From dinosaurs to today’s 11,000 species — and the universal language we use to classify them.
External Bird Anatomy
Topography, feathers, beaks, feet — the vocabulary every confident birder uses.
Internal Bird Anatomy
Hollow bones, fused vertebrae, four-chambered hearts, nine air sacs. Built for flight.
Bird Physiology
The physics of flight, the syrinx and song, thermoregulation and water balance.
Aspects of Bird Behaviour
Courtship, nesting, song versus call, alarm networks — learning to read the bush.
Bird Identification: Step-by-Step
The Joe Grosel method — SSBHVC: Size, Shape, Behaviour, Habitat, Voice, Colour.
Key Features of Bird Families
Family-level shortcuts that cut your field guide by 80%.
Bird ID Groupings of southern Africa
Habitat-driven birding — grassland, woodland, wetland, coastal, arid, fynbos, forest.
Perching Birds (Advanced Passerines)
More than half of all bird species on Earth. The songbirds. The LBJs. The art.
Raptors
Eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures. 83 species in the region. Conservation in crisis.
Identification is a process. SSBHVC.
Joe Grosel’s gift to birding was insisting on a method. By the end of this course you’ll apply it without thinking — in the field, in the bush, in your garden, anywhere on Earth.
Two intakes a year.
The 2026 January intake is already complete. The 23 June intake has 84 birders booked and counting — registration closes two business days before launch.
23 June – 28 July 2026
Six weeks · Tuesday and Thursday 18:00 SAST · Live + recorded · 84 students already enrolled · Registration closes 19 June.
13 January – 17 February 2026
This intake is in progress. Join the June cohort instead.
Frequently asked.
Six weeks. Ten modules. One lifelong skill.
Take your passion for birds to new heights, in the company of expert instructors, the legacy of Joe Grosel, and a worldwide community who keep looking up.
Secure your place →