The in-person portion of the meeting will be held at the Academy of Natural Sciences, BEES classroom (3rd floor).
Meeting agenda:
7:15 PM: Zoom opens
7:30-8 PM: Club business
8 PM: Presentation followed by questions (might start earlier if club business finishes earlier).
Please register for the meeting whether you will be attending in person or via Zoom. Then watch for the meeting link in your email. Disregard the meeting link if you will be attending in person.
Real Birds Eat Squid: The Spirit of Seabirds
Speaker: George Armistead (in-person)
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” – Karen Blixen Perhaps the most romantic and least familiar group of birds in the world, the seabirds are truly awe-inspiring. Storm-Petrels, Petrels, Shearwaters & Albatrosses live miraculous lives that are impossible to fathom. Many feed at night on squid, hence the title here, which has evolved as a tribute among seabirds to their favorite group of birds. For birders, these birds are often hard to access, and difficult to achieve a familiarity with, but only the coldest and least curious would fail to marvel at their dynamism. We’ll examine their lives and habits, the nature of pelagic birding, and explore the myths and legends that relate to sea-faring folks, birders or otherwise.
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George Armistead leads birding and wildlife tours for Hillstar Nature, a company he founded in 2021. George has guided trips to all seven continents and authored two books: Better Birding: Tips, Tools, and Concepts for the Field (2015, Princeton University Press), and The ABA Field Guide to the Birds of Pennsylvania (2016, Scott & Nix, Inc.). He has a masters in environmental studies from University of Pennsylvania, and is an associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He’s an avid fan of Philadelphia sports teams and loves spending time at home too with his wife Kristin and their dog Sully.