May Meeting

Wed 10 May 2023 07:30pm

Michael Lenz - Dynamics of Eurasian Coots on two suburban Ponds in Canberra over seven years, including two La Niña events
Melissa Snape - Connecting Nature, Connecting People: implications for woodland birds

The May 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 Michael Lenz and Julie Clark entitled “Dynamics of Eurasian Coots on two suburban Ponds in Canberra over seven years, including two La Niña events.”

The Australian race of the Eurasian Coot has some notable features: Numbers can fluctuate widely and birds respond to good rainfall in the interior and move there to breed and disperse afterwards. We counted Coots on Yerrabi Pond, Gungahlin, and West Belconnen Pond, Dunlop, in Canberra monthly over seven years. Two times in that period La Niña dominated the weather. The talk focusses on the response of Coots to this weather phenomenon.

The main presentation will be by Dr Melissa Snape, Senior Urban Ecologist, Conservation Research Unit, ACT Government on: “Connecting Nature, Connecting People: implications for woodland birds.”

Canberra’s network of nature reserves, forests and urban green spaces provide important areas of habitat for biodiversity conservation, as well as providing opportunities for community connection with nature and Country. As our city grows, the combined influences of habitat loss, fragmentation and climate change pose a serious threat to native plant and animal conservation, and the wellbeing of our community. Connecting Nature Connecting People (CNCP) is an ACT Government initiative designed to address these complex issues. This talk will provide an overview of the CNCP project as a whole, and also present outcomes from the ACT Urban Habitat and Connectivity Project with a focus on small woodland birds.

Back to Past Events
Spacer