FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Fw: Historical Snippet - June 16, 1992

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

 BBC Snippet  
June 16, 1992   Dr. Arturo Kirkconnell, curator of birds at the National 
Museum of Natural History in Havanah, Cuba, came to the Bristol Bird 
Club's monthly meeting to be our speaker.  The meeting was held at the
Slater Center of the Bristol Tennessee Department of Leisure Services.

He spoke on the subject of the many ecological dangers facing our
migratory birds which nest in North America and winter in the Carribean
tropics and in South America.


He shared with BBC one of his most exciting 
projects.  With his protegee, Dr. Orlando 
Garrido, they were well underway on the first 
field guide to the birds of Cuba.  It had been 
nearly half a century since a book of
significance had been published about the 
birds of the huge island.
It would be the first field guide
solely dedicated to the largest 
island in the Caribbean.  All of
Cuba's 350 species would be 
illustrated in color including the 
21 endemics and most vagrants.
The text would cover species 
description, similar species, 
range, status, habitat, voice, and food. Their
field guide has made a major impact on the 
study of birds in that country.   Cuba has been 
relatively off limits to birders and visiting ornithologists for the last 47 
years. 

With access, the tourist industry grows for those freely visiting from other 
countries, much of the open land preserved by years of isolation and under
development is rapidly disappearing. 

It was not surprising that Dr. Kirkconnell played a major role in helping small 
groups of licensed participants have access to birding there.  He teamed with 
Victor Emanuel Nature Tour as a program leader for the "Cuban Bird Study
Program."   As a bi-lingual Cuban ornithologist, he was of enormous value.

In 1992, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was generally believed to be extinct
in the United Sates.  Dr. Kirkconnell shared with us some of the background
on the possible presence of the bird in Cuba and efforts to continue to 
obsevere and document the occurence there. 

The Bristol Bird Club has a long history of prominent visiting speakers.  More
reflections will be shared in future "BBC Snippets"
 
From the archives of the Bristol Bird Club