The short talk will be given by Neil Hermes on “The Jerusalem Bird Observatory.”
Every year hundreds of thousands of European migratory birds are channelled along the ranges of Israel on their way to African summer haunts. For over 30 years, an observatory and ringing (read bird banding) station has been operating in the very heart of Jerusalem. This site is a very successful environmental centre which educates thousands of people about birds and bird migration every year.
The main presentation will be by Geoffrey Dabb on “Birds of Black Mountain – the historical, the typical, the notable, and the mixed flock”.
If asked for a talk on the birds of ‘Black Mountain’ you would need to think about what was distinctive or interesting about that site, near to the heart of Canberra. You could, if you wished, treat the subject as simply ‘The woodland birds of Canberra’. The site, apart from the much visited Botanic Gardens, is not particularly valued by birdwatchers – although it is by botanists. However, three sets of survey work in the 1960s and 1970s help in understanding what goes on there and point to some distinctive features. This talk looks at those historical records and adds some recent observations. This is a revised version of a presentation given in April for the Friends of Black Mountain as a heritage festival event.