There will be three shorter presentations at the May meeting.
The first presentation on an aspect of COG’s history in relation to COG’s 50th Anniversary celebrations will be by Chris Davey on “History of the COG Bird Song Tapes and CD”.
Next will be Amelia Coman, a student at the ANU under Leo Joseph on “A genetic and morphological investigation of a Canberra local”.
Thornbills are found throughout Canberra and all over Australia, however, for four species there hasn’t been much research into how they are related to each other and what mechanisms drive their morphological evolution. For her honours thesis Amelia studied just that. Her species of choice were the Brown Thornbill, the Inland Thornbill, the Tasmanian Thornbill and the Mountain Thornbill. Using 8 different loci and multiple morphological measurements she was able to determine some of the mechanisms driving diversity within this taxon.
The final presentation will be by Ding Li Yong, a graduate student at the ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society on “Chasing birds in the Malaysian Jungle”.
The lowland forests of East and West Malaysia are no doubt the richest habitats for birds in all tropical Asia. Some of the best-studied sites of no more than a few hectares are home to nearly 240 regular residents, including colourful hornbills, broadbills, pheasants, trogons and most of all, the unnaturally gaudy pittas. A few of these have kin in the forests of Australia, particularly the gerygones, monarches and a few of the ‘babblers’. Ding Li Yong will share some of his birdwatching and research experiences from the Malaysian jungle based on 15 years of visits. He will also talk about some of the best sites to visit and how these can be visited independently.