The July meeting will be a normal face-to-face one held at our usual venue. Attendees should heed social distancing and good hygiene practice etc, and use their common sense and stay home if they have COVID symptoms. Mask wearing is recommended.
The short presentation will be by Peter Fullagar and Chris Davey on “Estimating Little Penguin numbers on Barunguba (Montagu Island), NSW
There has been no recent estimates of Little Penguin population numbers along the east coast of Australia. For the 2022 breeding season the Department of Planning and Environment, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) initiated the ‘Big Little Penguin Survey’ to be run over a short period across a few islands along the east coast. From 17-23 September surveys were conducted on Barunguba, the Tollgates and Snapper Island. Barunguba is well known as a breeding location for the Little Penguin with evening tours specifically run to see the Penguins coming ashore. A local tour company advertises that ‘Montagu Island is well known for its colony of Little Penguins. It’s home to around 10,000 pairs of them’. Peter Fullagar will present results from the survey and outline plans for the future.
The main presentation will be by Geoffrey Dabb with the title “WHAT’S BLACK AND WHITE AND SWOOPS CYCLISTS?”
Geoffrey will introduce an illustrated book he has just completed. The book is a description of the world of bird books, related to Geoffrey’s life as a book-obsessed medium-grade bird watcher. It covers a lot of ground, both geographically and in time, and in the subjects touched on (New Guinea, book inscriptions, national bird lists, bird names, uses of bird photography). The title of the talk is taken from the back cover. The title of the book, on the front cover, is TOO MANY BIRD BOOKS: THE STORY OF AN INTERMITTENT WATCHER. As copies are not expected to be available, Geoffrey is offering the talk as a non-book-launch.