The Bristol Bird Club has chosen Brian Olsen of Virginia Tech for the Stephen M. Russell Graduate Lectureship., Tuesday, April 19, at East Tennessee State Unviersity - Bristol Center at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is sponsored and hosted by the Bristol Bird Club. He will speak on "Evolutionary Divergence in the Swamp Sparrow." Olsen is a graduate student studying towards a doctorate degree in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University at Blacksburg. In 2001 he took a Bachelor of Science Zoology from Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, graduating Magna cum laude. His studies at Virginia Tech focus on conducting research investigating the differences in morphology, demography, and behavior between the tidal and freshwater sub-species of the Swamp Sparrow, Melospiza georgiana. His graduate school responsibilities include teaching a formal course this semester - senior level Ornithology in the Graduate Education development Institute. He has worked as an intern at Smithsonian National Zoological Park; Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Educator; Biodiversity Research Institute, Field Biologist; Loon Preservation Committee, Field Technician and Audubon Society of New Hampshire, Field Technician. He presented a paper "Seasonal clutch size variation in Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrows: Physiological constraint or strategic adjustment?" at the 122nd stated meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. Quebéc City, QC. His grants and scholarships have included: Smithsonian Institution Graduate Fellow, Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife and the Maryland Ornithological Society. He has published research in the Auk (journal of the American Ornithologists' Union) and several papers in The Journal of Ecological Research. The lecture is open and free to birders and the public. The BBC will begin gathering about 7:15 p.m. The ETSU-Bristol Center is located about 4 miles north of the Bristol Motor Speedway on the Volunteer Parkway (U.S.11E) in Bristol, TN. There is one main building to enter and you will see directions inside. Areaa faculty may offer extra credit for any students who attend. The BBC will collect a roll of those students if you will notify us. The club's named lecture honors Dr. Russell, who was a charter member and founder of the Bristol Bird Club while a high school student at Abingdon, VA in 1950. He is retired (Emeritus), from teaching and research in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona and is well known as an authority on the birds of Sonora. He is Curator Emeritus of The University of Arizona's Bird Collection . He is an honorary member of the famous Cooper Ornithological Society and a past presidents. He served with distinction on committees and boards for the American Ornithologists' Union (including the office of secretary). The BBC, a chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, is named for Dr. Russell. He served on boards and committees of the Organization of Tropical Studies, Western Bird Banding Association, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Southwestern Research Station. He received his B.S. from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. from LSU under Dr. George H. Lowery. His dissertation studied the ecology and distribution of the birds of British Honduras (Belize), which was published as the first A.O.U. Ornithological Monopgraph. He taught six years at LSU-New Orleans before joining the faculty at the Unviersity of Arizona in 1964. He retired from Arizona in 1996. The 2004 honored lecture was Lesley Bulluck, a graduate student working towards a doctorate degree at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, studying Golden-winged Warblers. Wallace Coffey Bristol Bird Club Stephen M. Russell Chapter Bristol, TN. ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST Bristol Birds Net Photo Gallery located at: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5 This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****