Thuringowa Bird Club Inc. is your local (non-specialist) Avicultural Society. The Club has been active in the promotion of birdkeeping, in the local area, since March 1995.

The Club is a social gathering of local aviculturists who have the common aim of sharing the joy and experience of keeping birds as a hobby. We are also fairly active in promoting hobbyist aviculture within the area, and the Club has been a regular representative at the Riverway Festival, Local Pet Expo’s and we host an Annual Bird Sale, held in early May each year. The Bird Sale is open, as a seller or buyer, to both members of Regional/Local Avicultural Societies and the General Public. The Bird sale is run as a Queensland Commercial Wildlife Licenced event. We have a wide membership and as well as local birdkeepers we have members from around the Townsville region (we call them “out of towners”) who attend meetings from time to time. At a time when some social organisations are floundering, our Club is prospering and that is a tribute to the members of our Club.

Members keep a very large variety of birds ranging from Australian and foreign Finches, Native Parrots, Lorikeets, Exotic Lorikeets and Lories, Cockatoos, Asiatics (Ringnecks etc), and Exotic Parrots (Conures etc). We have a wide range of collections that include the smaller suburban backyard setups through to extensive holdings on acreage allotments. As well as the variety of birds kept there is a wealth of experience to be had from our members, some of whom have kept and bred birds for over twenty-five years. A number of our Members have given presentations at Avicultural Conventions and have also had articles on aviculture presented in publications such as the Parrot Society Of Australia magazine and Talking Birds.

The Club is also very active on a Federal, State and Local Government front and we have contributed to a number of Government Consultative Committees. The Club has also been an active participant in Environment Protection Agency (EPA) consultative processes on a variety of aspects regarding the hobbyist birdkeeper including Codes of Conduct and amendments to Wildlife Regulations. We as a Club were also involved in the Drafting of Local Laws regarding the keeping of domestic birds for the former City of Thuringowa. An effort that was rewarded by Thuringowa having the most liberal and informed regulations in the State. Due to the recent amalgamation of Thuringowa and Townsville Cities, these Local Laws are being reviewed and our Club is once again, involved in the updating of the Local Laws.

The Members meet formally on the first Sunday of the month, January excepted, and meetings are held at member’s homes. The formal part of the meeting is generally followed by some “bird talk” and/or a brief practical demonstration on some aspect of birdkeeping and of-course, provides the opportunity to view the host member’s collection. We venture out of town for a couple of our monthly meetings to catch up with our “out of towners”. We also visit other Bird Clubs in the NQ area, generally over a weekend and we also host w/end visits from other Clubs.

Other social activities include attendance at an annual Northern Avicultural Societies (NAS) “get together” that is held over the long weekend in June of consecutive years. This event is hosted by one of the North Qld Bird Clubs, on a rotational basis and is a great opportunity for networking and aviary visits. Our Club is always well represented at these NAS get-togethers and good attendance is aided by our central location in the NAS district and the generous subsidy our Club provides to members attending the w/end. The TBC Inc has the honour of hosting the twentieth anniversary meeting of the NAS in June 2010. Besides the subsidy, our members benefit from our Sales Table. We carry a small range of avian supplements and hardware, which is available to members at very reasonable prices. We also provide a bulk seed and supplement service where members may purchase AGM seed etc at a substantial saving compared to local Feed Store/Pet Shop prices.

The Club publishes a monthly magazine “WINGS” which contains formal and topical information on the Club, local happenings and info on aviculture in general. Magazines from a number of other Clubs are received regularly and together with our extensive library, there is a wealth of information for both the novice and more experienced birdkeeper.

Our latest venture is this website. It’s a work in progress and hopefully will become a valuable asset to birdkeepers in our region.