Good morning COG/Canberra Birds members and chat line subscribers, a reminder that our July monthly will be held tomorrow evening Wednesday 8 July from 7:30 pm.
This is also another reminder that there has been a change in venue
as detailed in bold red below.
Also, chairs will need to be set up before the meeting and put away after.
Everyone is welcome so please come along to listen to two very different presentations as detailed below.
You will also be able to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee after the meeting.
Jack Holland
As detailed below there has been a change in venue for the COG/Canberra Birds monthly meetings for the first half of 2026.
Speakers for the 8 July meeting will be:
Philip Veerman - An exposé of the story of the description of new subspecies of Australian birds in
Canberra Bird Notes
Laura Rayner -
An update of Superb Parrot research
Temporary change of meeting venue for Canberra Birds
The Canberra Birds committee has decided to change the venue for our monthly members' meetings, at least until renovations of the Canberra Girls Grammar School’s Multi-media
Theatre are complete, expected in August/September 2026.
The new venue is the Bugang Room at the Denman Village Community Centre, located at 5 Felstead Vista, adjacent to the Denman Prospect shops (see Google Maps link
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NqW3XrN5iJf8dzRe9)
This is a light, spacious, modern event venue with a kitchen. There is plentiful parking, under lights, close to the door and with several disabled parking spots outside the
door. The room is on the first floor, accessed by two flights of stairs or by a lift.
To help guide you once there the Canberra Birds Sandwich Boards will be outside the front door.
For people attending the meeting by public transport, the R10 bus provides a very good service around every 15 minutes from the ANU through Civic to the Denman Prospect shops
with the bus stop opposite the venue. For example, a bus runs to there from 6:57 to 7:23 pm and return buses at 9:05 or 9:35 pm arriving at the ANU at 9:31 and 10:01 pm, respectively.
The short presentation will be by
Philip Veerman
on “An exposé of the story of the description of new subspecies of Australian birds in
Canberra Bird Notes.”
One of the most unexpected and yet important items ever to have been published by COG was this article in 1988. Two versions of parts of the story have previously appeared and
it is a strange story to be retold now, with adding the other side that has not been told before, being the role of the editor of the time and how and why it was necessary and how COG was helped whilst being able to make this valuable contribution.
The main presentation will be by
Dr Laura Rayner
on “An update of Superb Parrot research”
Laura is an Assistant Director with the Office of Nature Conservation and lead author of the forthcoming ACT Nature Conservation Strategy. She is a passionate supporter of COG
since moving to the ACT in 2010 when she started analysing the group’s long-term woodland bird monitoring dataset, contributing to multiple scientific papers and technical reports on the program.
Laura has a Ph D in conservation ecology from the Australian National University and has worked extensively in the field of woodland bird and tree hollow research for almost
20 years. She has worked extensively with the ANU’s Difficult Bird Research Group on species such as Regent Honeyeaters, Swift Parrots, Orange-bellied Parrots, but in particular Superb Parrots and Regent Parrots. Laura is a strong advocate for threatened species
recovery, mature tree protection, nature positive policy, and science communication.
In her presentation, Laura will provide a Superb Parrot research update to the group. Her talk will cover a new range-wide monitoring program that is improving how we track Superb
Parrot populations, along with cutting-edge research from the ANU revealing fresh insights into the birds’ long-range movements. Laura will also discuss practical conservation efforts closer to home, including work to reduce predation pressure at Canberra’s
critical nesting colonies and a new, coordinated approach to managing nest boxes across the ACT. Together, we can discuss how monitoring, research and on-ground management are being integrated to support the conservation of this much-loved threatened species.
