The next Eugene Birders Night (SWOC) meeting will be held Monday, Jan 17th
, 2019 at 7 pm at the McNail-Riley house, 601 W 13th Ave, Eugene. The
McNail-Riley House is the restored historic house at the NW corner of W.
13th Ave. and Jefferson St. The parking area, located immediately west of
the McNail-Riley House, can be accessed from 13th St, by turning left
(north) shortly before Jefferson St. It may also be accessed by Jefferson
St. via the driveway located immediately north of the M-R House. We are
allowed to park only in the 5 spaces closest to the M-R house. If these
spaces are full, you can take the west exit from the M-R parking lot on to
13 Ave, then go directly across 13th to enter and park in the Fairgrounds
parking lot.
After initial introductions, we’ll share recent sightings and discuss
birding connected topics. Then University of Oregon Biology Professor Bitty
Roy and her companion Michael Wherley will present, "Caribbean Birds and
Some Lizards". Roy and Wherley will show the evolutionary patterns and
habitats of the birds from three of the largest islands in the Caribbean:
Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. Roy explains that “because these are
islands, and thus geographically isolated, there are a large number of
endemics, which are found nowhere else in the world. Often there are
related birds from one island to the next, but not the same species,
forming what is called an adaptive radiation. For example, there are five
Caribbean species of Tody (Todidae), which look like golf balls wearing
feather boas. The Todidae family is only known from the Caribbean, with
one species on Jamaica, two on Hispaniola, one on Puerto Rico and one on
Cuba. Prior to recent human settlement, these islands had very few mammals
except for bats, and no carnivores. Instead, birds and their cousins the
lizards filled those ecological niches. Not surprisingly, there are lizard
eating birds, the Lizard Cuckoos.
No entrance fees! All are welcome!
Contact ellencantor@xxxxxxxxx for further information
