Hello All,
We resume the Monday Night Seminar series with a special event at *Cornell Cinema *on at the Lab of Ornithology is on *February 29th at 7:00pm*. As usual the event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited—first come, first served. Thanks for helping spread the word! - Marc *Special film screening: Racing Extinction *Screening starts at 7:00pm (approx. 1hr), Followed by a Q&A with Dr. Christopher Clark Come to the Cornell Cinema to watch "Racing Extinction" in this special free screening hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The film, from Louis Psihoyos, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary "The Cove,” follows a team of artists and activists as they seek to expose activities that are driving extinction, and inspire people to see the planet in a new way, with never-before-seen images. Christopher Clark, from the Lab’s Bioacoustics Research Program, is featured in the film, and will join the audience for questions after the screening. No advance tickets are needed; seating is first come, first served. ------------------------ *Upcoming Monday Night Seminars* March 14 Cayuga Bird Club Meeting *Strange tales of a curious bird: recent research on the SUPERB LYREBIRD (Menura novaehollandiae)* Anastasia Dalziell, Postdoctoral Associate, Cornell Lab of Ornithology The male superb lyrebird is world-famous for its remarkable ability to mimic natural and human-made sounds. Until recently, however, most of our knowledge of this elusive bird came from the written accounts of early colonial naturalists and a renowned video sequence by Sir David Attenborough. Ana traveled to the forests of south-eastern Australia to study lyrebird mimicry in the wild, and discovered that the lyrebird is considerably more bizarre than previous reports have indicated. In this talk, Ana will show that, contrary to early suggestions, male lyrebirds are highly selective about what sounds they mimic and when they mimic. She will also discuss the intimate association between vocal mimicry and dance, the sounds males make during copulation, and the unexpected sophistication of mimicry by female lyrebirds. Many of these findings are unprecedented, and thus challenge our understanding of the evolution complex communication in animals more generally. March 21 *Today’s Research on Birds* Connor Taff postdoctoral associate, Sahas Barve, graduate student and Taylor Heaton Crisologo, undergraduate Join us for this special Monday Night Seminar showcasing three outstanding young researchers and ornithologists. Dr. Connor Taff, a postdoctoral associate at the Cornell Lab, will talk about the elaborate songs and plumage of male Common Yellowthroats and how these traits evolved over time. Sahas Barve is an avid birder and exceptional ornithologist from India. He’ll discuss his work on the coping mechanisms birds use to survive high in the Himalayas. Then, undergraduate Taylor Heaton Crisologo will spotlight the strategies used by Herring Gulls to defend their nests and protect their chicks. April 11 Cayuga Bird Club Meeting *Audubon New York’s Important Bird Areas Program –Protection for Critical Sites* Jillian Liner, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon New York New York’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program strives to identify the most critical sites in the state for birds and then works towards their protection and proper management. To date, 12,000 IBAs have been identified on 6 continents and in 156 countries. The IBA network in NY has provided a solid foundation upon which to build conservation efforts aimed at protecting the full diversity of avian species in the state. Recent conservation projects to protect priority birds at IBAs will be discussed. Jillian Liner is the Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon NY based at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY. She has 20 years’ experience in the conservation field and has been with Audubon since 2001. At Audubon, Jillian oversees the Important Bird Area (IBA) program and assists with implementing habitat management, advocacy, outreach and other land protection efforts. She co-authored Important Bird Areas of New York: Habitats Worth Protecting and works closely with state and federal partners, other NGOs, and Audubon Chapters to increase the protection of IBAs and other critical habitat areas. April 25 *Alone in this Remote Place: The Pioneering Women Biologists of New York’s Raptor Recovery Programs* Darryl McGrath, Author Forty years ago, four women biologists in New York played key roles in the projects that kept the peregrine falcon and bald eagle from going extinct. All four became the first scientists to achieve several critical accomplishments in this work. Their research often unfolded in the wilderness, under difficult, isolated and even dangerous conditions. Author Darryl McGrath captured their stories in her book, “Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York’s Bird People,” which documents the raptor recovery programs and also pays tribute to the determination of these early women biologists. Marc Devokaitis Public Information Specialist *Learn something new about birds every month! Sign up for our eNewsletter at birds.cornell.edu/enews <https://secure3.birds.cornell.edu/SSLPage.aspx?pid=1065>* *Have we helped you today? Your support makes our work possible. If you’re not yet a member, please visit birds.cornell.edu/join <https://join.birds.cornell.edu/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1806&ea.campaign.id=21925&ea.tracking.id=DMA> to support our cause and receive our beautiful quarterly magazine, Living Bird. * -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
