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.

DATE
LOCATION
SPEAKER
TOPIC
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!


Directions to the College Park Aviation Museum


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. 


Directions to the College Park Aviation Museum


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!

Directions to the College Park Aviation Museum


Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 7:30 pm
College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, MD

TBD


Directions to the College Park Aviation Museum

Questions or comments?  Contact the PGAS Webmaster at:  info@pgaudubon.org

last updated 2/5/12