North American Ornithological Conference highlights

[David Rees <>]

its the same in Northern Europe.  Feeding garden birds is an important way for people to connect with nature and a deeply cultural activity in those parts and it brightens up winter.  Australian garden birds don't need feeding in the same way, though access to water in dry times is very useful. 

However, I do wonder about the cultural connection ordinary Australians have with their wildlife, My feeling is that by international standards I know it is not great and it is not getting better.  While feeding bread to the 'ducks' at the local lake is not the best at least the people concerned are interacting with wildlife.  More people are hunting Pokemons than birds there now.

David

On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 6:57 AM, Con Boekel <> wrote:

Thank you Steve

I found the following quote from your link to be the most interesting, given that feeding birds is regarded as almost axiomatically bad in Oz.

regards

Con

'Each year, 50 million people in North America buy 1 million tons of bird food. After surveying data for 136 species, Project FeederWatch leader Emma Greig found that most feeder birds have strong populations. The flip side is that the species most in trouble—such as seabirds and shorebirds—don’t come to feeders and are declining because of other threats. Greig’s conclusion: Feeding birds may not help the hardest-hit species, but it may inspire people to support conservation, too.'

On 9/14/2016 6:58 AM, Steve Read wrote:

Hi all

 

The following link contains a very interesting set of highlights of the recent North American Ornithological Conference

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/research-highlights-from-2000-ornithologists-at-the-naoc-2016-meeting/

as assembled by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

 

Well worth reading to see the diversity of bird research happening worldwide – and the amazingly detailed lives of birds.

 

Steve