D.F.O. Monthly Meeting
Kevin Cook -- Falcons and Parrots: Newly Discovered
Peculiarities in the Birds’ Family Tree
Monday, November 22, 2010
(4th Monday, NOT last Monday)
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
7:30 p.m.
Birds have touched humanity from the beginning. They enchant our
myths and fairy tales, they color our cultural aphorisms, they appear as
petroglyphs, they motivated exploration, they became fodder of politics, and
now
they stimulate commerce. Not surprisingly then, three centuries ago the
human appetite for knowledge reached for the world of birds and has been
pondering that world ever since. But just like life itself, what we know
about
birds has been evolving. You go to bed one night with the tanagers in one
family, and you wake up the next morning and they have been moved to a
different
family. You leave for a birding trip with the storks and herons mingling
as cousins, and you come back to find herons and pelicans have something
going. And perhaps only God himself knows what to do with condors...and He’s
not telling. We have engaged a bloodless intellectual war between factual
knowledge and comfortable perception. For example, perception argues that
falcons and hawks must be related; but since the 1960s, some ornithologists
have argued that falcons and hawks are not related based on certain specific
biological evidence. Their arguments fell on ears deafened by the tradi
tions of perception. But now additional evidence corroborates their claims and
points to a common ancestry between parrots and falcons. New names and
new classifications reflect new knowledge, which means we’re not finished
learning. Not yet. November’s program, “Falcons and Parrots: Newly
Discovered Peculiarities in the Birds’ Family Tree,” will explain the history
of
bird classification as a way to interpret current thinking about current
knowledge with an eye towards what we can expect next. The program’s momentum
will move ever forward on the assertion that new knowledge, properly
assimilated, enriches the birding experience.
Kevin J. Cook is a writer-naturalist who lives in Fort Collins. He
moved to Colorado in 1974 to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in biology and
chemistry at Western State College and his Master’s Degree in wildlife biology
at
Colorado State University. Since 1975, Kevin has published more than 6,000
pieces of writing; edited almost 1,000 articles for publication in
technical journals (including the environmental impact statement for the
Mexican
Spotted Owl); conducted about 220 birding and general wildlife tours; and
taught more than 1,000 seminars on bird, wildflower, mammal, and tree
identification plus others on topics as diverse as nature writing, wildlife
history,
and the development of biogeography. Though passionate about all birds,
Kevin has devoted special attention to small owls since receiving his first
research grant in 1976. He writes a weekly nature column that appears in two
northern Colorado newspapers and has been a columnist and feature writer for
Bird Watcher’s Digest since 1991. He wrote all 325 bird entries for the
encyclopedia Endangered Wildlife of the World published by Marshall Cavendish
in 1993. His writing was paired with Roger Tory Peterson’s artwork in
Houghton Mifflin’s FlashGuide, “100 Common Backyard Birds.” And his essay, “
Shift Your Focus from Birding to Birds,” was part of Houghton Mifflin’s
2007 book, Good Birders Don’t Wear White: 50 Tips from America’s Top Birders.
Kevin has taught and led trips for Elderhostel, the Rocky Mountain
Nature Association, and others, and in the late 1970s he was a ranger
naturalist in Everglades National Park.
Kevin last appeared in front of the DFO audience in October, 2008,
when in the program “An Uncommon Eider” he explained the need and the value of
segregating ecological bird catalogs from recreational bird checklists.
To learn more about Kevin and his writing and teaching visit his
wonderful website www.wildlifewindow.com.
Join DFO on Monday, November 22nd and gain new insights into how and
why ornithologists “keep changing” our field guides.
Future Meetings
December 2010
NO DFO MEETING. Please plan to participate in the Denver Christmas
Count and/or one of the many other Christmas Counts around the state!
January 24, 2011
Nick Komar - Gulls of Colorado
Directions
The Denver Field Ornithologists monthly meetings are held in Ricketson
Auditorium at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in City Park. These
meetings are free and open to the public and occur on the 4th Monday of each
month August through April (except December). Park on the north side of the
Museum and walk around and enter through the Museum's west door. Plan to
arrive by 7:15 p.m.; DOORS OPEN BY 7:00 AND ARE LOCKED AT 7:30 P.M. If late,
you can enter through the security/volunteer door, but this does create
problems for our hosts at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Submitted by Chris A. Blakeslee - DFO Board Member
Centennial, Colorado
corvidc...@aol.com
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