On Tuesday evening, April 9th, 2019 the Linnaean Society of New York 2018/2019 Speaker Program will feature two new presentations sure to be of interest to New York birders:
6:00 pm - On the Trail of a Mystery: The Decline of Loons on Squam Lake, New Hampshire - Tiffany Grade The Common Loon population of Squam Lake, New Hampshire, experienced a precipitous decline between 2004 and 2005, followed by years of almost total reproductive failure, from which the loons have still not recovered. Since the initial population crash, the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) has been working to uncover the reasons for these declines, following a trail of chemical contamination on a reputedly pristine lake, high rates of adult loon mortality, and the mysteries of loon social interaction that have seemingly contributed to their inability to recover. Tiffany Grade, LPC's Squam Lake Project Biologist, will trace the disturbing but fascinating history of Squam's loons and LPC's efforts to restore a healthy population of loons to the lake. After receiving a doctorate in medieval history, Tiffany Grade realized that bird conservation was her real passion and completed a master's degree in conservation biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011. 7:30 pm - World Birding: Travels and Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist - Douglas Futuyma More and more birders have been expanding their quest beyond their home area to the entire country and to the great wide world. In this talk, Doug Futuyma will share some of the thrill and satisfaction of seeing exotic species in exotic environments, from rain forest cassowaries to subantarctic albatrosses and desert larks. He will also pose and partly answer some of the questions that these experiences prompt about evolution. Why have some groups of birds diversified more than others? How do new species form? How can we account for giant flightless birds on all the southern continents? Why are there so many more species of birds in the tropics? Doug will aim to show that esthetic appreciation and scientific understanding together can enrich the experience of birding. Douglas J. Futuyma is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. His research concerns speciation and the evolution of interactions between species, especially herbivorous insects and their host plants. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Both presentations are free and will be held in the Linder Theater on the first floor of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Enter at West 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. All welcome! Complete details of these exciting presentations and the rest of the 2018/2019 program can be found here: https://linnaeannewyork.org/programs-trips/lsny-programs.html -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
