Learn-the-Birds Team Rambles
Learn-the-Birds Team Rambles
LTB Team Rambles about Birding on the holidays and other recent observations.
For the first webinar of the year we are going to repeat the year start we did for the last two years. The Learn-the-Birds team will be all together talking about their experiences of birding in the December/January holidays, and perhaps a little earlier as well. For some of us that will be summer, and for some winter.
Places visited include Washington State (USA), Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape in South Africa, as well as the Caribbean. The team will talk about and illustrate some of their recent birding adventures, talk about what they learned, and discuss our plans for Learn-the-Birds for 2024 and beyond. Included will be recent observations at a Cape Penduline Tit nest, winter birding in Washington State for shorebirds and bald eagles, hunting interesting behaviours in the subtropics, and threatened birds in the Caribbean.
Please note that we are using Google Meet instead of Zoom for this webinar as we are evaluating replacing Zoom with Google Meet going forward. The process will be the same, you will receive a link to click to enter the Webinar, and it will open in your web browser. You will need a relatively recent version of a web browser such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox or another compatible browser.
Organizer
Christa Rolls is an Avian Ecologist and Conservation Biologist who loves birds and connecting others with their passion for birding. She started her career in avian ecology in Southern Indiana in 2012, and since then has had the opportunity to work on various projects in the Pacific Northwest, Germany, and, currently, California monitoring bird populations and behavior to help inform management decisions. Christa is also on the Board of Directors for Ecostudies Institute, a non-profit organization based in the Pacific Northwest that conserves wildlife and their habitats through science, restoration, and outreach. Most recently, in September 2020, she founded Birding Tools and hosts the Birding Tools Podcast, which breaks down all aspects of beginning birding, from finding the right pair of binoculars to learning how to find birds in the field.
Lynette was a foundation phase and preschool teacher for 16 years. She currently writes, designs and creates fabric tactile books for blind preschool readers. Her book, Spider’s Web, won an international tactile book competition in 2009. She is passionate about education and teaching novice birders interesting facts about birds, interesting bird behaviour and bird vocalisations. She is an advocate for ethical birding practices and is not afraid to voice her opinion on this matter. In 2018 she received a merit award from the Grahamstown Rotary Club for her contribution to advancing birding in the Grahamstown area as well as the Eastern Cape Province.
Having grown up on a farm and being close to nature all her life, she loves to share her passion for the natural world with others on the two Facebook groups that she created, Eastern Cape Birding and Southern African Bird Calls, and on her Youtube channel. Lynette is a keen photographer of wildlife, including birds, as well as macro photographing of insects and spiders.
Faraaz Abdool is an internationally published freelance conservation and wildlife photographer/writer who specializes in birds and the issues they face worldwide. He graciously serves on the Trinidad and Tobago Bird Status and Distribution Committee (formerly the Trinidad and Tobago Rare Bird Committee), and leads birding trips on both islands. Faraaz also runs yearly birding and wildlife tours to East Africa.
Faraaz is also the author of “Casual Birding in Trinidad & Tobago”, an extensive volume designed to market T&T as an attractive and easy birding destination as well as to educate the local population about their avian cohabitants.
Faraaz cultivates wildlife consciousness via his words and images, in a last-ditch attempt to reconnect humans with nature and save the world.
Derek was biology professor for over 20 years, and discovered several species new to science (not birds, alas), and even has a species named after him. His studies have encompassed ecology, systematics and phylogeny, as well as technology in education. He has published around 80 academic papers, and more than 100 magazine articles in which he has brought science and nature to lay persons. He has also been a university Deputy Vice Chancellor, held various technology roles in university and business, and is a technology geek. Derek is an accomplished nature photographer on land and under water, with his photos appearing in over 20 books, hundreds of magazines, several mobile apps, and museum exhibits. Today he works in FinTech, but prefers to spend time photographing birds and unravelling their stories so he can re-tell them to humans. He is co-founder and looks after the technology and arrangements for Learn-the-Birds.