PROGRAMME FOR 2008

London meetings:

8 July - Dr Joanne Cooper - Fancy that: pigeons, finches, chickens and the Origin of Species.

150 years ago, papers on natural selection by Darwin and Wallace were read at a Linnaean Society meeting in London and the world changed. Ornithology played a crucial role in the work of both men, but in very different ways; Wallace explored a far-flung archipelago, while Darwin kept pigeons at home. In this talk, Jo will discuss the birds that inspired Darwin and show how his high-flying ideas had some very humble foundations.

Jo is a BOC committee member, and works as a curator in the Bird Group of the Natural History Museum at Tring. She has a particular interest in palaeornithology, but has also recently been researching Darwin’s bird collections and is closely involved in a number of NHM projects commemorating Darwin’s contributions to science.

23 September - Samuel Turvey - New Zealand's moa: biology and extinction of the world's strangest birds. 

Among the largest birds that ever lived, moa rapidly became extinct following human arrival in New Zealand.  Can their subfossil remains tell us anything about their ecology, or whether they might have been 'pre-disposed' to be overexploited by humans?

Sam Turvey is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London.  He researches the ecology of bird and mammal extinctions, particularly on island systems, as well as developing conservation projects for ZSL's EDGE of Existence programme.

4 November - Richard Price - Birds of Morocco.

The Club holds about eight evening meetings a year, usually in London. An address by a speaker, usually one with an international reputation in fieldwork, exploration or a specialist knowledge of an ornithological subject, is preceded by drinks and an informal supper, giving members an opportunity to meet each other and to contribute to the discussion and questions which follow the talk.

Dr Nigel Collar talking to the club about Birds and People in January 2008.

Overseas Members visiting Britain are especially welcome at these meetings, and the Hon. Secretary would be very pleased to hear from anyone who can offer to talk to the Club, giving as much advance notice as possible - please contact: Tony Statham, Ashlyns Lodge, Chesham Road, Berkhamsted, Herts. HP4 2ST, UK or Email: Honorary Secretary

Meetings are held in the Sherfield Building of Imperial College, South Kensington, London, SW7. The nearest Tube station is at South Kensington; a map of the area will be sent to members, on request. (Limited car parking facilities can be reserved, on prior application to the Honorary Secretary). The cash bar is open from 6.15 pm, and a buffet supper, of two courses followed by coffee, is served at 7.00 pm. (A vegetarian menu can be arranged if ordered at the time of booking). Dinner charges are £22.50. Informal talks are given on completion, commencing at about 8.00 pm. Overseas Members especially welcome.

Recent meeting:

29 April: AGM and Members' Evening.

After the AGM and a delicious dinner, five members of the club gave short presentations.

Robert Prys-Jones spoke first and described the research he has been doing unearthing the bird collection which Kalman Kittenberger made in East Africa during the first 30 years of last century.  He has tracked down numerous specimens in various museums around the world included nine type specimens.

Tom Gladwin then spoke about the White Wagtails he has recently been seeing in the UK during the winter months and compared these to ringing data from Scotland and Devon. He suggested that White Wagtail might be becoming a more regular winter visitor in the UK and speculated that this could be due to milder winters and global warming. He feels this merits further investigation.

Katrina Cook described an expedition she had been on in November 2007 to Mt. Namuli in Mozambique following in the footsteps of Col. Jack Vincent who had collected birds there some 75 years earlier. The area has been poorly studied and holds a number of important endemic forms including Namuli Apalis.

Michael Casement showed a selection of photographs he had taken on a recent voyage to Antarctica. These included a fine selection of seabirds and a rather bizarre-looking leucistic Gentoo Penguin.

Finally Martin Gauntlett talked about the problems created by the wealth of recently published works on the birds of the world, all of which use different taxonomy. He gave as an example Richard's Pipit and compared the taxonomic treatment followed in seven major publications. Depending upon the authority chosen Richard's Pipit can be regarded as anything between one and seven different species!

6 November 2007

After dinner David Fisher gave a talk on the Birds of Australia and how its avifauna relates to that of the rest of the world.  David reviewed the families of birds that occur in Australia by showing photographs he had taken of one species from each family and explained how many species in each of these families occur in Australia.  Following this, he explained the various theories that had been put forward over the years to explain the evolution of the Australian avifauna, including the most recent and most convincing which is that the bulk of Australia’s avifauna evolved there from the families that had inhabited Gondwana prior to the break up of that ancient continent.  David went on to explain and illustrate that this is why the closest living relatives of many distinctive Australian birds such Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae, Magpie Goose Anseranas semipalmata, Plains-wanderer Pedionomus torquatus, megapodes (Megapodiidae), and frogmouths (Podargidae), are found in South America.