Winter/Spring 2012 PGAS Program Schedule
| PGAS monthly programs are
held on the second Tuesday of
each month,
September through June, in partnership with the Patuxent
Bird Club, the PG County chapter of the Maryland Ornithological
Society.
There are no programs scheduled
in
the summer months. PGAS members
are encouraged to attend monthly meetings and non-members are always
welcome. Until further notice, programs will be held in College Park, MD at the College Park Aviation Museum. The formal program always begins at 7:30 pm, but doors open at 7:00 for informal conversation, refreshments, and exchange of birding news. Each program opens with brief statements from leaders of both clubs about upcoming events, items of interest and other club business, followed by the featured speaker with a question-and-answer period afterwards. Click on the location links below for directions and click on the program dates for more information about the presentations. |
|
|
|
|
|
| January 10 |
College Park Aviation Museum | Greg
Kearns |
Ospreys |
| February 14 |
College Park Aviation Museum | Deanna
Dawson |
Cerulean
Warbler Conservation |
| March 13 |
College Park Aviation Museum | Rob
Fleischer |
Extra-Pair
Mating |
| April 10 | College Park Aviation Museum | Gail
Mackiernan |
Ecuador |
| May 8 |
College Park Aviation Museum | TBD | TBD |
| Tuesday,
January 10, 2012, 7:30 pm College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD Ospreys
presented by Greg Kearns Join members of the Prince George’s Audubon Society and Patuxent Bird Club, MOS, to learn about Ospreys, the often-seen “fish hawk” of local rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, with photos and video by Greg Kearns. His program will cover osprey biology on the Patuxent River, the provision of nesting platforms, efforts to increase their numbers, his banding program with the public, and more. Greg Kearns, a M-NCPPC Park Naturalist for over 27 years at Patuxent River Park in Croom, MD, is an accomplished photographer, worldwide traveler, leader of eco-tours both here and abroad, expert birder, licensed bird bander, as well as a renown authority on Ospreys, Sora Rails (an elusive bird of the marshes), and wetland ecology at Jug Bay on the Patuxent River. Greg was named Conservationist of the Year by the MD Dept. of Natural Resources in 2006 for his work and the restoration of the wild rice marshes at Jug Bay, which has been recognized as one of the best wetland restorations in MD. Jug Bay is a component of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) under NOAA, and the most beautiful natural area in Prince George’s County. Enthusiastic and knowledgeable, Greg is a popular speaker who has presented many other programs in the past, his last being Great Western National Parks. Don’t miss this one! |
| Tuesday,
February 14, 2012, 7:30 pm College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD Cerulean Warbler Conservation
presented by Deanna Dawson Join us for a photo-presentation into the decline of this strikingly colored wood-warbler and what efforts are underway to try and improve its future. The 4.75” male Cerulean is sky blue above and white below, with a dark breastband and dark streaks on its flanks, while the female is a unique blue-green above. They nest in our area in tall broadleaf trees along rivers and near other water, and can also be found breeding or in migration from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Coast. Concerns about long-term declines in Cerulean Warbler populations have led to collaborative efforts to address information and conservation needs for the species. Surveys and research, conducted throughout the species’ range during the past decade, have greatly increased our knowledge of Cerulean Warbler distribution and ecology, and are helping to focus on-the-ground conservation actions. Deanna Dawson, a biologist at the U.S.G.S. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in nearby Laurel, is active in the Cerulean Warbler Technical Group, which coordinates and facilitates these activities. |
| Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 7:30
pm College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD Who's Your Daddy?: Extra-Pair Mating in
Birds - How We Document it and Why They Do It
presented by Rob Fleischer With the advent of powerful DNA methods some 20 years ago came an incredible ability for scientists to look within the "private" lives of animals. One outcome of the studies was that many songbirds, considered a paragon of monogamy by behaviorists, actually often had a remarkably high level of extra-pair paternity. The amount of extra-pair mating varies with taxonomy, colonial breeding, and migratory status. A number of ecological and behavioral factors also play a role. Dr. Fleischer will present information on how we study these behaviors, both in the field and in the DNA laboratory. He will also discuss some interesting case histories, mostly from research his laboratory at the Smithsonian. These include, among others, some bird species like Phainopeplas, Humboldt Penguins and Carolina Wrens, that are more monogamous than we might expect based on their behavior; like House Wrens, whose extra-pair mating varies by latitude; and the strange behaviors of the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird. Dr. Robert Fleischer is Head of the Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park. Directions to the College Park Aviation Museum
|
| Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 7:30
pm College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD East Pacific Odyssey or…If it’s Tuesday it
Must be Ecuador
presented by Gail Mackiernan In autumn of 2009, Gail
Mackiernan, her husband and two friends took a cruise from California
to Chile. Their primary targets were seabirds, but the cruise’s 12 port
stops in Mexico, Central and South America also yielded a wonderful
array of landbirds. Gail’s presentation follows their “odyssey” from
the California deserts to the mist-filled beech forests of Chile, and
everything in-between!
|
| Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 7:30
pm College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD TBD
Directions to the College Park Aviation Museum
|
last updated 2/5/12