Category: Meeting Minutes

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom, due to social distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Rochelle Thomas called the meeting of the Society to order. After welcoming the meeting attendees, she reminded members of the upcoming beach cleanup at Cedar Grove in Staten Island. President Thomas also noted that members who have yet to pay their dues could do so online or via mail.

Motion 1: President Thomas announced the results of the online new-member vote, which passed with 146 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval.

The Society welcomed the following eight new members:

1. Annie Wilker, Active Member, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski, Evelyn Huang
2. Sarah Lisciandro, Associate Member, sponsored by Asta Skocir
3. Paul Bovitz, Active Member, sponsored by Lenore Swenson
4. Hannah Cui, Active Member, sponsored by Ronnie Almonte
5. Aris Concepcion, Active Member, sponsored by Sylvia Alexander
6. Ho Kei (Heidi) Ng, Active Member, sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
7. Marie Cohen, Active Member, sponsored by Leslie Fiske
8. Paul Cohen, Active Member, sponsored by Leslie Fiske

Motion 2: President Thomas then announced the result of the online vote to approve the minutes of the September 2022 members meeting. The vote passed with 144 votes of approval and two abstentions. The final copy has been updated with member suggestions.

At 7:03 pm, President Thomas introduced the evening’s speaker, Roger Pasquier.

Roger Pasquier is an associate in the Department of Ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History. A member of The Linnaean Society of New York since 1968, his career has been in ornithology and conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, the U.S. National Museum, the World Wildlife Fund-U.S., the Environmental Defense Fund, and the National Audubon Society.

Birds in Winter: Surviving the Most Challenging Season

Effects of Winter
Winter affects about a third of all the world’s bird species. The season is colder, windier, and much longer than the breeding season. Birds must survive with less food, light, and time for foraging, in addition to longer nights. During this time, some birds stay put, but many others migrate south. In the Western Hemisphere, birds migrate to a winter range that is much smaller than their summer range, which leads to increased competition for resources. Southern migration typically brings the additional challenge of more predators and resident species on the winter range.

Types of Migration
There are many types of migrations, including partial migration, where some of the population moves from an area while others remain. Some migrations are short-distance, typically a few hundred miles, while on long-distance migrations, birds travel much farther, usually to a tropical zone or beyond. Altitudinal migration occurs in the Appalachians and, more commonly, in the Rockies.

Non-Migrating Species
Feeders
Many people are interested in the impact of feeders. For chickadees, feeders have little effect. However, feeders can be essential for species like the Carolina Wren, for whom one peanut is a third of the daily metabolic need.

Scatter Hoarders
Chickadees cache food using a scatter-hoarding technique. They store different foods in various well concealed locations for later retrieval, often weeks or months later. Every fall, the chickadee’s hippocampus (the part of the brain dealing with memory) expands to contain the many locations of the hidden food and then contracts again at the end of the winter. Blue Jays store a wide variety of acorns; one of the ways oaks increase their range is by germinating from the acorns that the jays have never retrieved. Red-bellied Woodpeckers hide fruits such as crabapple, apple, or cherries in the deep grooves of the bark of locust trees. White-breasted Nuthatches store seeds and other little bits, usually in cracks in tree bark, sometimes in the ground.

Larder Hoarders
Owls and kestrels are examples of larder hoarders. These birds have a single cache to store food after they catch and kill it. These hoards are usually temporary, as the food would decompose if left for a long time.

Short-Distance Migrants
Distribution
The Dark-eyed Junco displays a variety of migration patterns based on latitude, age, and gender. Generally, the adult males winter farther north than the females and younger birds. However, some young males winter even farther north than adult males, ostensibly to reach desirable breeding territories before the adult males arrive.

Eruptions
Everyone’s favorite erupting species is the Snowy Owl. Recently it has been determined that these eruptions occur when food has been particularly abundant during the previous breeding season, resulting in a higher number of young birds. This population increase causes food scarcity in the usual range and necessitates a wider dispersal of birds during the winter.

Long-Distance Migrants
There are 40 species of warblers that migrate into the narrow range of the Caribbean Islands, parts of Mexico, and down through Colombia. A few, such as the Blackpoll Warbler, go even farther. 

Non-Overlapping Territories
Some of these species share breeding ranges but have discrete winter ranges that are non-overlapping. During the spring and summer, the Bay-breasted Warbler and the Cape May Warbler reside in a vast and almost entirely overlapping range in the boreal forest, while they winter in completely different locations—the Bay-breasted in mainland Panama and Costa Rica, and the Cape May in the Caribbean Islands.

Overlapping Territories
A lot of these warblers have overlapping winter ranges. For example, 18 warbler species spend the winter in Jamaica, and another twelve migrate through. During the breeding session, the Louisiana Waterthrush favors running water, while the Northern Waterthrush favors still water and boggy areas. Where they overlap in winter, they stick to those same habitat choices. The Black-and-white Warbler feeds entirely on the bark of trees, so it doesn’t care what other warblers are around during the winter. The Worm-eating Warbler has a specialized winter diet that it accesses by probing into curled-up dead leaves and flowers.

Species Hierarchy
Some birds in overlapping areas practice domination over other species. For example, the Yellow Warbler is dominant over the Magnolia Warbler. Others have hierarchies within their species, such as the male redstart, which in the Caribbean inhabits the bug-rich mangroves and wet areas, while female and young redstarts use the the scrub and drier habitats.

Habitat Specialists
Other warblers, such as the Kentucky, are habitat specialists who spend the winter in the deep forest. The Chestnut-sided Warbler stays at the forest edges. The Tennessee Warbler moves around and has a flexible territory.

Territory Sequence
There are a few North American birds that winter in the tropics using a sequence of territories. Veeries move around the Amazon basin, looking for unflooded areas. The Purple Martin has a three-part migration: some go to Colombia, some to Amazonian Brazil, and others farther south to Bolivia—a tactic to avoid overcrowding, it is thought.

Migratory Connectivity
All Wood Thrushes display migratory connectivity, meaning that birds from a particular breeding region also stay grouped together on their wintering grounds. This creates a conservation imperative to preserve the habitat in both locations.

Territorial Hierarchy
The Yellow Warbler is a long-distance migrant with wintering territory across Mexico. Males have been observed driving away as many as 29 other species. Male yellow warblers inhabit the canopy while the females remain in the understory, indicating that there is territoriality and hierarchy not only among species, but also within species.

Floaters
There are floaters, such as Wood Thrushes, who never establish a winter territory but drift around the margins of other species’ territories. These birds have far lower over-winter survival rates than those that maintain territories.

Flocks
Some species spend the winter in flocks, which provides safety in numbers. Flocking species often feed from fruit trees that are not easily defended, or in locations where the food is very patchy. Since this requires them to move around, they have no need to defend a territory.

Aerial Migration
Another reason some birds stay in place is that roosting sites are scarce. Some shorebirds spread out at low tide while feeding and form flocks in the air at high tide. Sanderlings, Dunlins, and other sandpiper species spend the hours of high tide flying over the sea in what is called aerial migration. This behavior lessens the danger of being caught by a predator.

Competition
It is unclear how much competition there is between North American over-winterers and resident birds of the tropics. A study in Venezuela, where North American migrants coexist with tropical resident birds, showed that the smaller resident Turkey Vulture retreated when North American vultures were present, conceding the more open areas to the migrants. When the migrants left, the resident vultures returned for their breeding season. Among migrating warblers and resident insect-eating birds in the tropics, most migrant birds take smaller prey, work harder to find the prey, and are often still feeding when the resident birds have finished and are taking shelter. They also tend to eat ants and beetles that the residents find distasteful.

Survival
During the winter, finding food and avoiding predators are the primary activities that occupy  birds. Warblers who winter in the tropics have a 90% survival rate, much higher than for those who do not migrate.

Shifting Diets
Many migratory species shift their diets on their winter grounds. Kingbirds become specialists in one type of tree, and they follow it from Bolivia all the way through Colombia and then into Panama at the exact time when it comes into full fruit. The kingbirds devour the fruit, disseminate the seeds, and move on to the next crop. Among birds that don’t winter so far south, the Yellow-rumped Warbler and the Tree Swallow shift their diets from insects to Bayberry.

Acclimation
Another way that birds survive the winter is by acclimation rather than migration. For example, Snowy Owls have feathers down to the tips of their toes. Smaller birds can fluff their feathers, trapping air to keep them warm. Most birds eat more at the end of the day, when they need fuel to carry them through the long and cold winter night. Some birds adjust their behavior during the day. For example, chickadees move more slowly and go to roost earlier in extremely cold weather to save energy.

Roosting Habitats
Roosting habits also change during the winter. Ruffed Grouse roost in snow burrows, as do many small birds, including Snow Buntings, redpolls, and wrens. They use high-velocity flight to project their bodies into the soft snow, which then collapses into the hole behind them, thereby leaving no visible entrance for a predator to find. The birds work their way back out of the snow in the morning, sometimes using a different exit. Other birds roost in cavities that keep them warm and protected from predators. Many birds roost in groups during the winter, further insulating them. Bluebirds often group together, and as many as 89 Winter Wrens have been found occupying a single cavity.

Hypothermia 
Some birds use hypothermia to survive the cold. For example, chickadees automatically drop their temperature at night by about 10 degrees Celsius to reduce their internal fuel consumption. Hummingbirds and sunbirds do this during the day at high latitudes in the summertime. The whip-poor-will can sleep for several days without moving and without feeding. It is suspected that other nightjars may also do this, but nothing conclusive has been found.

Conservation
HIPPOIt is essential to understand which seasons and locations impact the survival and reproduction of bird populations. To support this, E.O. Wilson devised the conservation acronym HIPPO, which stands for Habitat, Invasives, Pollution, Population, and Overharvest.

Habitat LossIt is well known that the Bachmann’s Warbler became extinct because its wintering habitats in Cuba and the Isle of Pines were completely lost during the 20th century. The near-threatened Piping Plover is difficult to protect because we do not have a clear understanding of its wintering habitat.

Modified Habitats
We do know that some birds can adapt to modified habitats. For example, the Cerulean Warbler does very well wintering in the shade trees planted at Colombian coffee farms. Unlike coffee trees, these trees provide enough insects for the Cerulean Warbler without displacing the resident birds. This strategy might also be better for the resident birds, but at the moment the focus is on increasing the wintering habitat for migrants.

Invasive Species
There are many invasive plants and animals that threaten birds, but one of the most challenging is cats that spend time outside. In the US alone, cats kill one to four billion birds annually—more than pesticides, collisions with buildings, or other causes. Cats are highlighted as a winter problem because birds tend to stay in suburbanized and cat-filled areas due to feeders.

Pollution
Pollution is global, but a good example of how it directly influences bird species is the case of the Whooping Cranes that winter in the Texas Gulf Coast. Unlike their pristine Canadian breeding habitat, the southern wetlands are contaminated with effluent from the surrounding areas, including pesticides, herbicides, petroleum, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and industrial pollutants.

Population
Human population poses a threat during the winter because humans occupy winter breeding grounds, especially beaches and mountain resorts where people are vacationing.

Overharvest
While most people think waterfowl hunting is fairly well regulated, there is a particular problem in the length of the season. By the last months of the hunting season, in January and February, birds are already paired for breeding; if one of the pair is killed, there is often not enough time for the surviving bird to find another mate. The more serious problem of overharvesting is that seabirds are often caught in long fishing lines and gill nets that run for miles in the winter, when more birds are out in the open ocean.

Climate Change
Climate change is another form of pollution that exacerbates all other aspects of HIPPO.  Impacts on habitats include sea level rise, which reduces coastal wintering areas; snow cover contraction, where precipitation decreases in subtropical zones and increases in high latitudes, causing prolonged and intense droughts; and severe storms stretching farther north.

Wintering Habitats
A good example of a change in wintering range is provided by the American Robin, which used to be considered a harbinger of spring. These birds now live here throughout the year because there’s less snow and less reason to migrate. Many other birds are also spending less time on their wintering range. Golden Eagles in Michigan and Minnesota have been observed arriving up to a month earlier than historically documented.

Physical Adaptations
In addition to behavioral adaptations, scientists are also seeing physical adaptations to the changing climate. In the last few decades, warblers have had an average weight that is less than it used to be. This is in response to the warmer environments in which they live; smaller birds dissipate heat faster than larger ones.

Phenological Disjunct
Because spring is coming earlier, birds that winter in the tropics are starting to migrate north earlier. Trees are leafing earlier, and insects that feed on those trees emerge sooner. The European Pied Flycatcher, which winters in Africa south of the Sahara, is now having trouble when it arrives at its breeding grounds: by the time it gets there, resident birds have already consumed the caterpillars it typically eats in the spring, leading to poor breeding productivity and population decline. Canada Jays store food during the winter because when they begin nesting in late winter, there is little food available to feed their young. Recent winters have been so warm, however, that the food caches are rotting, resulting in a lack of food for their young at the end of winter and in early spring.The evening ended with officers of the Linnaean Society thanking Mr. Pasquier for sharing his fascinating knowledge about birds surviving winter.

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom, due to social distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Rochelle Thomas called the meeting of the Society to order. President Thomas conveyedher enthusiasm for the upcoming annual meeting to be held on

March 14th, in person, at the Liederkranz Club for the first time since 2020. We will celebrate this year’s Heisman medalist Dr. Scott Edwards at this event. This event is for members and their guests only, so if you still need to renew your membership, now is the time.

President Thomas then announced the passing of two society members, Emily Peyton and Louise Fraza. Both were active members of the birding and naturalist community in New York and a friend to many in the Society.

Motion 1: President Thomas announced the results of a new-member vote, which passed with 145 votes of approval and 1 opposed.

The Society welcomed the following six new members:

• Loyan Beusoleil sponsored by Bruce Yolton
• Katherine Figeroa sponsored by Chuck McAlexander
• Sue Bernstein sponsored by Ken Chaya
• Karen Susnitsky sponsored by Leslie Fiske
• Meredith Barchat sponsored by Leslie Fiske Marcy
• Einhorn sponsored by Anne Lazarus

Motion 2: President Thomas then announced the result of the online vote to approve the minutes of the November 2022 members’ meeting. The vote passed with 145 votes of approval and 5 abstentions.

At 7:05 pm, President Thomas introduced the speaker, Dr. Jessica Ware.

Dr. Jessica Ware is an associate curator in invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Ware’s research focuses on the evolution of behavioral and physiological adaptations in insects, emphasizing howthese occur in Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) and Dictyoptera

(termites, cockroaches, and mantises). She holds a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia in Canada and a Ph.D. from Rutgers, New Brunswick. Dr. Ware is the past president of the Worldwide Dragonfly Association and the current president of the Entomological Society of America. She was recently awarded a PECASE (Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers) medal from the U.S. government for her work on insect evolution.

Insect Evolution, with an Emphasis on Dragonflies

There are currently around 1.5 million species of insects, including almost 6,500 species of dragonflies and damselflies, close to the number of mammal species. As we examine the diversity of insects, we notice a lot of similarities, but there are even more differences. Most modern dragonflies and damselflies are related to fossils from around 225 to 250 million years ago. Divergence time estimation, which leverages genetic information and fossil data,indicates that dragonflies and damselflies are approximately 225 million years old. It is believed that insects were among the first beings to fly before birds, bats, or pterosaurs.

The order is divided into three sub-orders: Anisoptera (which includes dragonflies), Zygoptera (which includes damselflies), and Anisozygoptera (a relict group represented by only a few living species). Anisoptera tends to hold their wings out to the side and have a slightly thicker abdomen. Zygoptera tends to hold their wings behind their back, and they tend to have very slender abdomens. The Anisozygoptera has only four living species today and is found inChina, the Himalayas, and Japan.

There are many open questions about the arrival of odonates in the tree of life, and there are several hypotheses about the tree’s base. One is that mayflies and dragonflies are sisters to each other, as they share a common ancestor that is sister to the rest of the winged insects. A second hypothesis is that dragonflies were the first to branch into the wingedinsect tree of life. The third hypothesis is that mayflies were first. Many scientists that study dragonflies favor the second hypothesis.

In her lab work, Dr. Ware looks at genotype and phenotype, creating the framework for asking and answering questions such as when particular groups first arose on the planet and the drivers that caused diversification. Usingphylogenetic research methods, Dr. Ware’s team uses genome data to create transcriptomes that inform research intothese questions and tease apart how these different families are related. The primary tree they work with contains 144 species. They are creating a new tree with over 2,500 different species of insects for which they have transcriptomes.

Scientists can leverage museum collections to do this work, especially with specimens collected after 1970 that were preserved in acetone resulting in very intact DNA. Many dragonflies are found globally, which allows an assessment of individuals in different regions. Specimens are currently being collected in the Arctic, where climate change creates a race against time. The objective is to collect baseline data for all taxa north of the Arctic Circle, which includes 48 dragonflies and damselflies. Six are circumpolar,meaning their populations extend into Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Alaska, and Canada.

Another lens scientists leverage to solve this puzzle is considering each species’ different characteristics. For example, some of these species never traveled far beyond the pond or lake from which they emerged, whereas some traveled thespan of 11 meters their entire lifetime, and others are long-distance migrators. These distinctions provide an opportunity to study how dispersal can lead to variation among populations and species.

There are also differences in fertilization and egg laying. Male dragonflies have a secondary penis by which theyperform indirect sperm transfer. The traditional penis is located at the tip of the abdomen, from which they ejaculatesperm. The secondary penis is located at the base of the abdomen. They transfer sperm from the primary into the secondary penis, which is then transferred to the female. The secondary penis is often shaped like a spoon or a scoop and can scrape out the previous male’s sperm before depositing their sperm to ensure paternity.

There is some female choice in the matter. The female can mate multiple times and has long- term and short-termsperm storage. She can choose which sperm she uses from these different storage organs to fertilize her eggs. A few species can even destroy the sperm in her sperm storage.

All damselflies and some dragonflies lay their eggs using an ovipositor, an egg-laying apparatus that insects such as ants and wasps with stingers also have. The ovipositor works like a knife to cut holes and deposit its eggs in plant material. To do this, they need time, which makes them vulnerable to predators like frogs.

Two groups of dragonflies have lost their ovipositor, and they lay their eggs on the water’s surface. Some argue thatspeed might allow them to evade predators. It allows them to expand their larval niche space because they can take advantage of rainwater.

Traditionally theories about dragonflies and damselfly systematics were based on wing and color variation. It turns out that although there is wing pattern variation among families, species differentiation is strongly correlated with wing density. We now believe that color is a good indicator of some diversification processes. The most colorful families are also the most species- rich families. And also, the families that have the most variety of lifestyles are the most species- rich. Dr. Ware’s team has a grant to use phylogenies to test hypotheses about dispersal ability and color and how they might be related to the evolution of dragonflies and damselflies.

There is a rush to collect data because we’re interested in figuring out which species are thriving and which species we might lose because we know we’re in a period of insect decline. Dr. Ware’s team’s goal is to lessen the rate of decline by quickly collecting specimens, synthesizing data, and making predictions and suggestions on solutions.The evening ended with a rousing Q&A session, after which the Linnaean Society thanked Dr. Ware for sharing her fascinating research into insect evolution and dragonflies.

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom, due to social distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Rochelle Thomas called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing herself, she thanked the attendees for joining. President Thomas noted that members who have not paid their dues could do so online or via mail. 

Motion 1: President Thomas announced the results of a new-member vote, which passed with 144 votes of approval and 1 of disapproval. 

The Society welcomed the following eleven new members:

1. Christophe Illemassene, Active, sponsored by Kristin Ellington
2. Charles Tang, Active, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
3. Sheila Epstein, Active, sponsored by Chuck McAlexander
4. Richard Madonna, Active, sponsored by Paul Sweet
5. Valerie Hartman, Active, sponsored by Kristin Ellington
6. Leslie Mireille Fiske, Active, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
7. Julie Floyd, Active, sponsored by Elise Boeger
8. C Peter Davenport, Active, sponsored by Junko Suzuki
9. Leslie Minniti, Supporting, sponsored by Elise Boeger
10. Nora Benoliel, Active, sponsored by Sylvia Alexander
11. Lilah Burke, Active, sponsored by Janet Wooten

Motion 2: President Thomas then announced the result of the online vote to approve the minutes of the May 2022 members’ meeting. The vote passed with 145 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval. The final copy has been updated with member suggestions. 

At 7:10 pm, President Thomas introduced the evening’s speaker, Annie Novak.

Annie Novak is an urban farmer, author, and activist. Annie is the founder and director of Growing Chefs, a field-to-fork food education program; the manager of the Edible Academy at the New York Botanical Garden; and co-founder and farmer of the nation’s first commercial green-roof farm, the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn, New York. Annie is the author and illustrator of The Rooftop Growing Guide: How to Transform Your Roof into a Garden or Farm (Ten Speed Press). For her efforts to green the city landscape, Annie was recognized by the Audubon Society’s Women in Conservation program. Annie writes for Living Bird and Bird Conservation, among other publications, and lectures on the history of and the technology used to study nocturnal bird migration over the changing North American landscape. Annie has served on the board of the American Bird Conservancy since 2018.

A Thousand and One Nights: Illuminating Nocturnal Bird Migration

On any given day, up to 400 billion individual birds can be found soaring, swimming, flying, hopping, and moving around Planet Earth. For most of human history, the appearance and disappearance, and reemergence, of birds were not well understood, but by the 20th and 21st centuries, our understanding of bird migration has massively increased. Not all birds migrate, but more than three-quarters of North American birds and one-third of the world’s bird species are migratory. 

We are used to birds that migrate during the daytime, such as Canada Geese, hawks, falcons, hummingbirds, swifts, swallows, pelicans, and many more, but another world exists in the night sky. Most migratory land birds, songbirds, and shorebirds take to the air after sunset and remain aloft until dawn because the atmosphere is cooler and smoother, making flight easier and less calorically intense. Darkness also provides protection from predation—it is safer to fly under cover of darkness. Nocturnally migrating birds can use the moon and stars, as well as the glow of sunrise and sunset, and/or the magnetic poles to help orient themselves. 

New York City is an incredible place to study migrations. Of the more than 1000 birds that exist in North America, 476 pass through the east coast, and of this group, 386 are visitors or residents of New York City. Within the five boroughs, New York City has over  20,000 acres of natural landscape, including grasslands, meadows, freshwater and saltwater rivers, and ocean; and 7,000 acres of forest, including 50 acres of old-growth forest at the NY Botanical Garden. This diversity supports a wide variety of birds, including Cedar Waxwings, Bobolinks, Baltimore Orioles, and more. 

Artificial light at night is very disturbing for birds. Under the influence of light, birds fly lower and more slowly in their flight path, risking exhaustion or collision with structures. Additionally, artificial lights urge birds towards the urban landscape and away from green space, which is crucial for food and shelter during migration. In the United States alone, up to a billion birds a year die from striking glass windows. Over the last few decades, many North American cities have adopted lights-out practices, darkening their skylines during peak migration periods to protect the biology and local ecology of birds, insects, and animals. 

NYC Audubon takes the lead in working with the National September 11th Memorial Museum Tribute in Light, monitoring the presence of birds to ensure that the beauty of the memorial does not interfere with their safe passage. Based on this partnership, the museum can turn the lights off when large numbers of birds get trapped, allowing them to fly away. 

Bird banding, geo-tracking, Christmas bird counts, and other community science programs have helped us make better maps of their worlds. Bird banding, in particular, has provided a lot of data. It follows a four-part process: birds are caught in mist nets, banded, and measured, or time-released, and the information is entered into a database. Aluminum bands are sized to the species and placed around the individual’s leg. Data is collected during banding, including the band number, date and time of day of banding, age, sex, and something called the wing cord, which is the distance from the wrist to the end of the primary feather, the longest primary wing feather. Often banders will collect data about weight and fat condition, molt status, or the condition of their feathers—all to determine how well prepared the birds are for migration. Some banders will also measure things like the length of the tail, the wingspan, the hallux (the big toenail on a bird), or the beak length.

These banding stations can be found throughout the world, but only three percent of banded birds are ever recovered, so scientists have developed additional tools to study bird movement, including solar-powered GPS transmitters that use cellular networks to record the three dimensions of latitude, longitude, and altitude at programmable intervals. These devices can give extraordinarily accurate recordings of birds’ movements, which can help us understand their behavior, their response to the weather and climate changes, etc., without ever having to burden or disturb the bird beyond the gentle initial application of the device.

Perhaps the most powerful tool for our understanding of the night sky, as well as for conservation purposes, is the use of radar. Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) is the use of radio waves to pick up and manage the location and speed of objects. Now there are four types of radar, and you can use all of them to study bird movements. What is truly incredible about this technology is that there is a powerful list of questions that radar can answer:

• What time of day do birds migrate?
• How many hours of the day or night are they flying?
• Do migrants stop moving when it rains, or during high winds?
• How fast are they moving?
• How high are they?
• In what direction are they going?
• Are they in flocks?

These are all questions that observers have been trying to ascertain from the ground for decades, if not centuries or millennia, and radar can provide answers. Radar has also confirmed pronounced migratory pathways, for example, the Atlantic coastline, the Mississippi River, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific coastline. 

Birding changes how we look at the world. It inspires our advocacy for our Planet Earth and for protecting animals. Our scientific advances have increased our understanding and appreciation of birds, while simultaneously, the landscapes where birds live are disappearing faster than ever. There are many opportunities to get involved and to help protect these incredible animals, including New York City Audubon’s Project Safe Flight and the American Bird Conservancy. 

Ms. Novack offered her heartfelt thanks to the audience and the Linnaean Society for encouraging her to dig deeper into topics like this. She included a link to resources to understand nocturnal bird migration better.

The evening ended with the Linnaean Society thanking the speaker for sharing her fascinating body of work.

Linnaean Society of New York General Meeting Minutes — September 6, 2022

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom, due to social distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Rochelle Thomas called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing herself, she thanked the attendees for joining. Rochelle hopes to have more information about resuming in-person meetings at the American Museum of Natural History soon. Rochelle promoted our upcoming field trips, the Family Walk, and the No Question Is Too Small Walk.

Motion 1: President Thomas announced that Debbie Becker was elected the Society’s newest board member.

Motion 2: President Thomas announced the results of a new-member vote, which passed with 138 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval.

The Society welcomed the following eighteen new members:

1. Padma Vaidyanathan, Active, sponsored by Chuck McAlexander
2. Judy Honig, Active, sponsored by Renee Lucier
3. Jon Hartsel, Supporting, sponsored by Kathleen Howley
4. Meryl Greenblatt, Active, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
5. Christina Black, Active, sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
6. Karen Yaeger, Active, sponsored by Amy Simmons
7. Suzanne Zywicki, Supporting, sponsored by Debbie Mullins
8. Neil Markowitz, Active, sponsored by Rochelle Thomas
9. Lucy Oakley, Active, sponsored by Ken Chaya
10. Laura Clark, Active, sponsored by Kevin Sisco
11. Patricia Lindsay, Supporting, sponsored by Mary Normandia
12. Shaibal Mitra, Supporting, sponsored by Mary Normandia
13. Charlotte Levitt, Supporting, sponsored by Kathleen Matthews
14. Alex Levitt, Supporting, sponsored by Kathleen Matthews
15. Jud Feldman-Santos, Active, sponsored by Evelyn Huang
16. Linda Freeman, Active, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
17. Roberta Kravette, Supporting, sponsored by Elise Boeger
18. Andrea Zuckerman, Active, sponsored by Kristin Ellington

Motion 3: President Thomas then announced the result of the online vote to approve the minutes of the May 2022 members’ meeting. The vote passed with 136 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval.

President Thomas announced that the annual Homecoming Picnic had been rescheduled for September 18th from 12:30 to 3:30. Members are welcome to bring guests interested in learning more about the Society.

At 7:10 pm, President Thomas introduced the evening’s speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Carlen.

Dr. Carlen is a National Science Foundation and Living Earth Collaborative postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, where her research focuses on the impacts of urbanization on Eastern Gray Squirrels. Dr. Carlen received a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Fordham University, where she worked on the evolutionary ecology of urban pigeons. Her dissertation work was featured on Saturday Night Live and written about in Wired magazine, and led The New York Times to refer to her as the “Pigeon Stalker.” In addition to her research, she is a co-founder and editor of the urban evolution blog Life in the City: Evolution in an Urbanizing World.

From the Ground Up: Urban Evolution in Pigeons and Squirrels

Urbanization is drastically increasing around the globe, causing massive changes in the surrounding environment, including habitat fragmentation, more buildings, roads, pollution, and environmental toxins. These changes have created a new ecosystem with novel selection pressures and barriers to gene flow. The ecology of this urban environment drives evolution, which in turn influences the ecology in a constant feedback system.

Since the mid-1990s, the field of Urban Evolution has flourished. Studies include morphological, physiological, and behavioral changes, gene flow, and drift. Researchers have identified many biological changes caused by urbanization. For example, urban birds have diverged at the SERT gene, which is associated with harm avoidance behavior. Lizards in Puerto Rico have developed longer legs and stickier feet, allowing them to move more easily across urban substrates.

White-footed mice in New York City parks diverged into separate forms genetically distinct to specific parks.

Pigeons, or Columba livia, are native to Asia, North Africa, and southern Europe, where they were domesticated around five to ten thousand years ago. They typically live on rocky cliffs and are known for their long-distance flight and homing ability, rapid reproduction, and population turnover. Pigeons can produce offspring every six weeks, making them perfect for evolution and genetic studies. Despite their long history, there have been few genetic studies on pigeon populations.

Dr. Carlen’s study focused on gene flow and genetic drift structure in the feral pigeon population along the Northeastern megacity corridor of I95 stretching across Boston, Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. Capturing blood samples from 473 pigeons distributed across this corridor, Dr. Carlen found that pigeons within a 50km radius are highly related and, beyond that, are unlikely to be related. In addition, she discovered that the pigeons formed two distinct genetically related groups, one living between Washington, DC and New York City, and the other between Boston and Providence. Dr. Carlen surmised that the physical barrier of suburban landscape across the state of Connecticut created this differentiation.

Another study Dr. Carlen conducted was to assess the variance of Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in New York City pigeons. This study examined how close a human can get to a pigeon before initiating a flight response. She conducted this test 519 times across New York City in multiple, diverse locations, such as open fields and forests in parks, tall buildings in Times Square, paths and grass and trees in St. John’s Cemetery, and suburban houses with yards in Jamaica, Queens. Next, she correlated the data, including pedestrian traffic and human population density, from the US census. As expected, she found that a human can get closer to a pigeon in areas where more people live and with more pedestrians.

Next, Dr. Carlen compared this data to locations with high counts of Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, and Peregrine Falcons, known to feed on pigeons. She found that Cooper’s Hawk sightings do not influence the pigeons’ FID, whereas Red-tailed Hawk sightings increased the pigeon’s FID, and Peregrine Falcon sightings decreased the pigeons’ FID. The results were initially confusing, but after speaking with birders, Dr. Carlen began to look at differences in feeding habits across these three predators. For example, Peregrine Falcons will grab pigeons out of the air creating the behavior in pigeons of staying close to the ground. The Red-tailed Hawk will swoop among humans to capture a pigeon resulting in less of a safe space for pigeons. Dr. Carlen determined that pigeons calculate the most significant risks based on the array of dangers and are typically more comfortable around humans than avian predators. 

What does this tell us about urban evolution? One is that urban landscape heterogeneity may contribute to variable spatial genetic and behavioral responses across a single city, and we must examine patterns at different spatial scales. Two organisms that depend on humans exhibit fine-scale spatial genetic structures that reflect human patterns and distributions; therefore, we need to sample across urban areas. Three, not all cities are equal, and historical and ongoing interactions taking place within each city must be taken into consideration.

Dr. Carlen’s post-doctorate work took place in St. Louis, MO, a racially divided city regarding physical location, housing, lead levels in soil, education, city services, and other resources. For this study, the Sciurus carolinensis, or Eastern Grey Squirrel, is the subject of study. These squirrels are common throughout the US. She questioned the relationship related to adaptive and non-adaptive evolution and how the urban barriers, human garbage, and racial divides affect squirrels’ health and development. This study is still underway, and Dr. Carlen will post her findings in the coming months.

The evening ended with the Linnaean thanking Dr. Carlen for sharing her fascinating body of work.

Notes amended on 10/10/2022 to reflect italicization of scientific names and correct one typo.

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom platform technology, due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Rochelle Thomas called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing herself, she thanked the attendees for joining, noting that this was the last meeting of the season. Rochelle hopes to have more information about resuming in-person meetings at the American Museum of Natural History at our September meeting.

President Thomas announced the results of a new-member vote, which passed with 127 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval. She welcomed the following ten new members:

• Aaron Stern, sponsored by Mindy Kaufman
• Frederica Miller, sponsored by Ken Chaya
• Leila Javitch, sponsored by Maggie Bradley
• Christina Tsakos, sponsored by Maggie Bradley
• Andy Shawhan, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
• Carmen M. Ramis, sponsored by Maggie Bradley
• Jared Meek, Associate, Rochelle Thomas
• Ashley Toth, sponsored by Rochelle Thomas
• Jim Toth, sponsored by Rochelle Thomas
• Yao Tseng Chen, sponsored by Will Papp

President Thomas then announced the result of the online vote to approve the minutes of the March 2022 members’ meeting. The vote passed with 126 votes of approval and 1 of disapproval.

Over the summer, members will receive a renewal package in the mail. The package is scaled back to reduce paper waste, and members are encouraged to use the website for in-depth information about the field trips. The Linnaean Society’s annual Homecoming Picnic will resume this year after a hiatus due to COVID19 restrictions. Additionally, the Society will have hats available for purchase in the fall.

At 7:10 pm, President Thomas introduced the evening’s speaker, Dr. Melanie Stiassny.

Dr. Stiassny is the Axelrod Research Curator in the Department of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. Before coming to New York, Dr. Stiassny was an assistant professor of biology at Harvard University, where she taught for five years. After earning her Ph.D. at the University of London, she spent three years of postdoctoral research in the Netherlands before joining the faculty at Harvard University. She has conducted extensive research throughout the world’s tropical waters, studying fishes’ evolution, behavior, and conservation.

Based on her many years of collecting, documenting, and studying the fish in the lower Congo River, Dr. Stiassny explained the river’s unique hydrological and geographical characteristics and their role in driving the evolution and diversification of its exceptional fish fauna.

The Congo River is the freshwater heart of central Africa, with its basin covering 3.7 million square acres and running for 2,500 miles. It is the deepest major river in the world, both at the lowest point and on average, sometimes exceeding 220 meters (720 feet) in depth. The river has always played an essential role in structuring biodiversity on the African continent. Notably, our two closest living relatives live on opposite sides of the river: the chimpanzee in the area north of the river and the bonobo to the south.

The lower Congo, near the twin Congolese capitals of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, was established between 2-5 million years ago, making the region relatively young. The region is a hotspot of biological diversity for several reasons. Although it constitutes less than two percent of the entire Congo river, some of the most spectacular cataracts, falls, and gorges on Earth are located in this area. The annual water discharge is over 46 thousand cubic meters a second, three times that of the Mississippi River. The water flows down a very narrow bedrock-constrained gorge and drops over 280 meters on its way to the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a series of high-power rapids. In some areas, the water is deep and calm; in others, there are white water rapids. The bank habitats are unique and varied, even from one side of the river to the other. Dr. Stiassny believes this region to be the most unique place on the planet.

The river is exceptional not only because of its geographical uniqueness but because of the incredible assortment of fishes it harbors. This stretch of the river is home to over 300 species of fish, many with unique adaptations—including bizarre morphologies—that enable them to survive in an environment with intense rapids. There are at least 90 endemic species.

Dr. Stiassny leads The Congo Project, a partnership between the University of Marien Ngouabi in the Republic of Congo, the University of Kinshasa in the D.R.C., and the A.M.N.H. that studies the unique fish and geography of the lower river. She and her team work closely with local scientists, fishermen, and volunteers to ensure local knowledge is incorporated into the project and that new scientific findings are shared with the community and government, which is crucial to advocating for environmental protection for the river.

Initially, the project’s focus was to identify and assess barriers along the river, assuming they would be the changing points–the promoters of species diversification–both in the past and ongoing today. However, the team discovered something extraordinary. Substantial divergence existed even in areas with no rapids, and fish geographically next to each other were not interbreeding. Over time, this situation results in a lot of speciation and presents a major problem to researchers, because the fishes are so different from each other that it’s like comparing a kiwi to a parrot.

Dr. Stiassny noted that it is easier to get to the bottom of the Marianna Trench than to the bottom of the Congo River because of the extremely fast-moving jets of water. The research team partnered with the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Geological Survey to map the bottom of the river and the water flow. Using kayaks equipped with echo-sounders and depth measurement equipment, they found that the river was close to 800 feet deep in some pockets, making it the deepest river ever recorded. Other areas have flow separation, essentially rivers within rivers. The complexity and power of the currents are the keys to the evolutionary richness of the lower Congo. In some places, the banks are only half a kilometer apart, but the fish from one side could never swim across to the other bank and live. The hostile environment forces the separation of populations of breeding fish, resulting in the evolution of new species.

Because of the water’s depth, many fish are blind and de-pigmented. They have very different shapes and sizes, but a similar phenotype (body type) is shared across many distantly related fish families, all found within a single area. Because of its geology, this is a challenging place to gather species. Often after a new species is found once, it can’t be re-found again. Therefore, the team must be very resourceful in determining how to conduct their research.

One key species the team studied is the Blind Cichlid. Curiously, this fish is only found dead or dying at the surface in one small region of the lower Congo. The team determined that these fish were suffering from something akin to the bends. The hypothesis is that some fish get caught in the fast water jets and are thrust to the surface, causing catastrophic decompression and death.

These fish have no pigmentation and have lost many of the genes that typically serve to repair UV damage because they are never exposed to ultraviolet light. Their eyes are recessed, and they can distinguish between light and dark but can’t form actual images. They also have some physical abnormalities that improve their maneuverability in the water.

The extreme hydrology of the river provides this treasure trove of diversification and adaptation, which has only begun to be studied and understood. Unfortunately, the region is under dire threat because the government is keen to harness the river’s power for financial gain. There are plans to develop a dam that would generate 40 gigawatts of energy, twice the output of the Three Gorges Dam, currently the largest dam on the planet. If this dam were put in place, it would devastate the lower Congo system, cutting off the sediment load into the ocean, extending the river’s waters over three thousand square kilometers of land, destroying the lives of the people in the area, and killing the barely explored wildlife in this unique ecosystem. Dr. Stiassny, her team, and many others are working to urge the president of Congo to understand these issues.

The evening ended with Dr. Stiassny answering several questions from members and receiving a huge thanks from the Linnaean Society for discussing this fascinating and essential body of work.

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom, due to social distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, newly elected President Rochelle Thomas called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing herself, she thanked the attendees for joining the meeting and celebrated the arrival of spring warblers.

Commencing with the business portion of the meeting, President Thomas announced the results of a new-member vote, which passed with 125 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval. She then welcomed the following 18 individuals as new members:

Name, Membership Level, Sponsor
Alexa Chabora, Active, Mary Beth Kooper
Mark Keegan, Active, Ken Chaya
Arlene Auerbach, Active, Anne Lazarus, Karen Becker
Diane Hom, Active, Gabriel Willow
Frederic Duby, Active, Amanda Bielskas
Nicole Veno, Active, Alice McInerney
Barbara Bassett, Active, Emelia Oleson
Radka Osickova, Active, Michelle Talich
Ann Murray, Supporting, Michelle Talich
Steve Auerbach, Supporting, Karen Becker
Esther Shin, Active, Michelle Talich
Ayuko Shiina, Supporting, Kathleen Matthews
Douglas Cowan, Active, Amy Simmons
Marsha Garrison, Active, Debbie Mullins
Katharine (Timmy) Wasley, Active, Amy Simmons
Donna Kennedy, Active, Amanda Bielskas
Patrick McKenzie, Associate, Rochelle Thomas
Arlene Hedlund, Active, Ruth Rosenthal & Richard Lieberman

President Thomas then announced the result of the online vote to approve the minutes of the March members’ meeting. The vote passed with 125 votes of approval and 0 of disapproval. 

President Thomas next reviewed the results of a member survey regarding our current COVID-19 guidelines. Thirty members were opposed, and nine members were in favor of dropping the current vaccine requirement, resulting in a decision to keep our current protocol requiring vaccination to participate in our field trips. 

President Thomas told us that LSNY would be teaming up with our colleagues at New York City Audubon and Bryant Park to provide free walks on select Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. She recommended that interested parties review the information on the NYC Audubon and Bryant Park websites. Additionally, President Thomas reminded us that on May 7th and 8th, we would hold our Great Gull Island birdathon event to raise much-needed funds for ongoing research on the island. 

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At 7:15 pm, President Thomas introduced the evening’s speaker, Jonathan Meiburg, who presented “Looking for Johnny Rook: Adventures in the World of the Caracaras.” 

In 1997 Jonathan Meiburg, an accomplished musician and avid birder, was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship that allowed him to travel to remote communities around the world. This year-long journey sparked an enduring fascination with islands, birds, and the deep history of the living world. His first book, A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey, published by Knopf in 2021, came from this journey. The book combines natural history, travel writing, and literary biography to tell the story of the unusual falcons called caracaras and the people who live with them. The nonfiction book is one of the most acclaimed of the year. One reviewer humorously asserts, “Calling this a bird book is like calling Moby-Dick a whaling manual.”

Along with scientific publications, Meiburg has also written on subjects from a hidden exhibit hall at the American Museum of Natural History to the last long-form interview with author Peter Matthiessen. However, he’s best known for his work with his bands Shearwater and Loma, whose albums and performances have been praised by NPR, The New York Times, the Guardian, and Pitchfork. His unique career between the sciences and the arts makes him an ideal and accessible guide on a journey through wild landscapes and deep time in the company of weird and wonderful creatures and people.

Meiburg began his presentation by speaking about the falcon family and how we think of them as lightning fast, anti-social, and single-focused birds of prey. Recent science shows that falcons are more closely related to parrots than hawks, and Meiburg noted the observable ancestral connections. He pointed out that the behaviors of caracaras are even more unusual than other falcons, including their ability to walk on the ground while searching for prey and their close bond with their mates. Unlike “true falcons,” caracaras build gigantic nests, display gregarious social behavior, demonstrate fearless interaction with humans and other animals, and exhibit a taste for a wide array of food from human trash to carrion. 

In his seminal book The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin wrote about caracaras more than any other bird he encountered. He was struck by their fearlessness, alertness, and sociability, finding the birds a fascinating nuisance. Darwin marveled as they repeatedly stole items from the ship’s crew, ultimately earning the unflattering nickname “flying monkeys.”

The birds were mainly isolated throughout their existence and did not regularly encounter humans until the European settlers attempted to set up sheep farming on the islands. The caracara’s innate curiosity quickly became a problem for the farmers, who worked to eradicate the birds by putting a bounty on their beaks. However, caracaras have been protected in recent years and are rebounding in population.

The Striated Caracaras, or Johnny rooks, live in the archipelago of the Falklands on the island of Steeple Jason. They cohabitate with gentoo penguins and black-browed albatrosses in the summer months, eating their chicks and eggs. In the winter, the caracaras are forced to dig in the ground for worms or grubs. Meiburg suggested that the long winter without a good food source has made them especially curious to examine anything they haven’t seen before.

Meiburg next introduced William Henry Hudson. Hudson was born on a ranch in the Argentine Pampas, where he spent his youth studying the local flora and fauna. His favorite birds were the Striated Caracara and the Chimango Caracara, which is the size of a crow, quite common, annoying, and very smart. He ultimately emigrated to England in search of other like-minded naturalists. Hudson became a wildlife advocate and an early founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 

Social learning is an essential part of a caracara’s life. Laura Biondi led a study of the Chimango Caracara, demonstrating that caracaras who watch others learn to open a food box can perform the task much more quickly than the first group. Similarly, Tina, a resident Striated Caracara at a falconry center in England, can sort objects by shape and color and retrieve stuffed toys on request, and maintains a close relationship with Geoff, the falconer in charge.

Meiburg noted the historical and current significance of the caracara in Amerindian culture. For example, there are historical drawings of the Inca wearing headpieces adorned with caracara feathers. In addition, Ecuadorians celebrate the esteemed bird in an Inca solstice dance, dressing as caracaras and mimicking their motions. Today the Mexican flag proudly displays a Golden Eagle eating a snake, but Meiburg noted that the image is likely a misinterpretation of an Aztec story, and that the legend was far more likely about the Crested Caracara. More recently, in La Paz, Bolivia, a family started feeding a Mountain Caracara from the window ledge of their high-rise downtown apartment. The bird was so thrilled with the easy meal that it flew away and brought back two more caracaras. The three birds built a nest and bred right there on the apartment building ledge.

Meiburg traveled to the Guiana Shield, a rainforest stretching from Guyana to Suriname, Venezuela, and parts of Columbia and Brazil, where he studied Red-throated Caracaras that nest high up in the trees inside bromeliads. These birds live in family groups, raise chicks together, and display unusual behaviors, such as eating wasp larva and dropping beheaded millipedes into nests with baby chicks. Meiburg theorizes that the millipedes provide a natural repellent to the dangerous wasp venom and assures us we will learn the fascinating truth when we read his book.

Today there are nine species of caracara, and only the Striated Caracara is endangered. Unfortunately, the Guadalupe Caracara was driven to extinction by humans who moved onto their endemic habitat on Mexico’s Guadalupe Island in 1859. The new residents killed off the seals, the bird’s primary food source, and intentionally killed the birds to further their goat-farming ambitions.

The Crested Caracara is the only caracara commonly found in the US, living primarily near the border region of Mexico. However, on occasion they have been seen much farther north; they have been sighted at Bear Mountain and as far north as Nova Scotia, traveling with their friends the Black Vultures. It has been theorized that the caracaras are moving farther north because of the abundance of food found in the carcasses of deer killed along our nation’s highways.

At 7:42 pm Vice President Gabriel Willow thanked Jonathan Meiburg and facilitated the Q&A portion of the meeting. After Gabriel relayed his failed attempt to see the Red-throated Caracara, Meiburg noted that although there are quite a few of them, they are difficult to find, as they live in locations that are not in easy to access.

Next month’s meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, and will feature a lecture by Melanie Stiassny, Ph.D., on “Evolution in a Vortex—Fish Diversity in the Lower Congo River.”

The meeting was adjourned at 8:09 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Kristin Ellington, Recording Secretary

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom platform technology, due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Ken Chaya called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing himself and thanking the attendees for joining the meeting, he announced that there were currently 87 people in the meeting and that more were joining as he spoke. 

Commencing with the business portion of the meeting, President Chaya announced the result of an online vote to approve the minutes of the January members’ meeting: it passed with 156 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and one abstention.

He then announced the result of an online vote to approve new members. It passed with 155 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and two abstentions. President Chaya welcomed the following four individuals as new members:

• Joel Golumbek, sponsored by Judy Rabi
• Matthew Fischer, sponsored by Debbie Mullins
• Deborah Shapiro, sponsored by Susan Axelrod
• Diane Schenker, sponsored by Sylvia Alexander

President Chaya then invited non-members in attendance to join the Society, explaining that they could learn how to do so by visiting the LSNY website, www.linnaeannewyork.org. He also pointed out that he or any of the other LSNY officers listed on the website would be willing to sponsor anyone who would like to join, emphasizing that an organization is only as healthy as its growing and diverse membership. He declared that the LSNY welcomes all to become members regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, background, ability, or geographic location.

As the final item of business, President Chaya announced that because of the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the organization’s 144^th annual meeting will take place online rather than in person. The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm on Tuesday, March 8. The featured speaker will be Dr. Jennifer Duberstein. A formal invitation will be sent to all members by email or post, shortly.

He also reminded members that on March 8, voting for a new slate of officers and board directors will take place electronically immediately following the meeting. Members will need to watch for an email to arrive at the conclusion of the meeting and then cast their votes within 24 hours. 

Finally, he referenced his February 3 president’s letter in which all members were invited to submit nominations from the floor for three open positions on the board. The letter also announced that, in accordance with the Society’s bylaws, a three-person nominating committee had been formed to submit nominations for these positions, as well. All nominations from the floor must be submitted to the Society’s secretary by midnight, February 21.

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At 7:09 pm, President Chaya introduced the evening’s speaker, John Marzluff, Ph.D., who presented “Rendezvous with the Raven: Exploring Connections Among the Trickster, Wolves, and People,” on his work studying ravens in Yellowstone National Park. 

John Marzluff is James W. Ridgeway Professor of Wildlife Science at the University of Washington. His graduate research (Northern Arizona University) and initial post-doctoral research (University of Vermont) focused on the social behavior and ecology of jays and ravens. He continues this work, investigating the intriguing behavior of crows, ravens, and jays, and currently focuses on the interactions of ravens and wolves in Yellowstone. He teaches courses in ornithology, governance, and conservation of rare species, field research in Yellowstone, and the natural and cultural history of Costa Rica.

Professor Marzluff has written six books and edited several others. Welcome to Subirdia (2014, Yale), shows that moderately settled lands host a splendid array of biological diversity and suggests ways in which people can steward these riches to benefit birds and themselves. His most recent book, In Search of Meadowlarks (2020, Yale), connects our agriculture and diets to the conservation of birds and other wildlife.

He has mentored more than 40 graduate students and authored over 140 scientific papers on various aspects of bird behavior and wildlife management. He is a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recovery team for the critically endangered Mariana Crow; a former member of the Washington Biodiversity Council; a Fellow of the American Ornithologist’s Union; and a National Geographic Explorer.

Dr. Marzluff began his presentation by stating that ravens are one of the most adaptable species on Earth and one of the most successful species of birds. He shared a graph indicating how raven populations have grown in just the past 40 years, as these birds have learned to adapt and take advantage of what humans have done to the land. They have not only made use of the human-modified ecosystem, but have influenced human cultures through their impact on religions and legends around the world. There has been a long-standing pattern of coevolution between people and ravens.

He then said that he would speak a bit about the biology of ravens, discuss their exploitation of people and wolves in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and address concerns about ravens’ effects on the species they prey upon.

He spoke about raven evolution, saying that the species had moved back and forth between the Old and New Worlds. The common ancestor of all ravens emerged in Africa about four million years ago.  Ravens first came to the New World from Europe and Asia about two million years ago and were isolated here, where they continued to evolve independently. Other raven species were isolated in other parts of the world and evolved into separate species as well. A second invasion by Old World ravens of the New World took place about 15 thousand years ago. We can detect descendants from both invasions of the New World by their unique genetic sequences. Ravens of both types have thrived here, and they frequently and successfully interbreed.

Ravens form long-term pair bonds, often mating for life. However, in addition to a core social organization of paired birds, there are also non-paired individuals, which he referred to as “vagrant non-breeders.” Breeders and older birds have more status and are more dominant than younger and non-breeding birds, but the causes of the transition from non-breeder to breeder are still being studied. 

Paired birds and vagrant non-breeders come together when exploiting rare foods, such as a large dead animal. Professor Marzluff said that if a pair discovers such food, they will eat quietly in an attempt to keep it for themselves. If they are approached by a non-breeding raven, they will attempt to fend it off, and the vagrant will make noise that attracts other ravens. Once a threshold of nine birds is reached, the territorial birds stop fighting and share the food, as it’s not worth it to continue the fight.

He said that in Yellowstone this feeding rivalry may be a bit different because of the presence of carnivores that make and consume kills very quickly. Another difference in Yellowstone is that the birds have access to anthropogenic resources such as dumpsters and wastewater treatment plants. They  also can and do beg from tourists.

How do these things play into the lifestyle of ravens in Yellowstone? To find out, Dr. Marzluff and his collaborators began catching and eventually tagging over 70 ravens in Yellowstone with GPS transmitters. 

One of the first things they found is that ravens are generalists that exploit many different food types. This wasn’t surprising, but they found the seasonality of ravens’ diets to be interesting.  

For example, in the spring and fall, they exploit gut piles left by hunters; in the summer and winter they’re eating mostly invertebrates that are dispersed throughout the grasslands and upper elevations. They’re also spending time at waste-treatment facilities and eating roadkill and agricultural products.

Breeding ravens are constrained as to where they can feed during May through August, as they need to bring food back to their nests. Once breeding season is over, their travel for food can expand ten-fold from September through April—from 5.6 miles to 57 miles! They do this to take advantage of human subsidies (offal, wastewater treatment plants, etc.) once they no longer have to care for their young.

Their nestlings and juveniles tend to wander widely and settle on anthropogenic resources after fledging. Older non-breeders also travel extensively. He discussed movements of one older, non-breeding individual that was relying on anthropogenic resources prior to the park’s closure for three months because of the COVID-19 outbreak. When the park closed and human-based sources of food were not reliable, this bird wandered much farther. Over the course of the year, it covered about 6,500 square miles within a perimeter of about 525 miles.

Dr. Marzluff then discussed the strategies of individual ravens within both the vagrant and pair groupings. Taking advantage of the wolves that were reintroduced to the park in recent years, ravens will associate with them as part of a kleptoparasitic foraging strategy. Scientists studying these wolves found that over 86% of the times that wolves were spotted, ravens were seen with them. In contrast, ravens were seen with coyotes only about 3% of the time. Interestingly, 43% of 204 wolf kills found in the park by scientists were visited by ravens tagged by Dr. Marzluff and his team. Some of the kills were visited by up to a dozen tagged birds. However, 30% of tagged birds were never observed at a wolf kill, whereas 22% were regular visitors.  

He then showed several maps and graphs demonstrating the build-up of birds at kills over several days, comparing tagged non-breeders with breeders. Some roosting birds came to nearby kills, but others did not—whereas some non-breeders flew great distances straight to recent kills.  

He posited that non-breeding birds may travel great distances to these kills for social purposes as much as for food. At kill sites where multiple ravens are present, they have an opportunity to posture and assess their place in the dominance hierarchy or possibly find a mate.

The benefit to ravens of associating with wolves is evident, but what benefit does this association have for wolves? Dr. Marzluff showed GPS tracking results from 36 instances of wolves at raven aggregations. In 19 instances, a wolf arrived at a kill before or simultaneously with ravens, and in 17 instances, ravens arrived before a wolf. This may be evidence that in some instances wolves were drawn to kill sites by ravens. Even if that is the case, these data indicate that there is a six-fold greater benefit to ravens than to wolves—so there is a parasitic relationship between the two species.  

In contrast to wolves, cougars have a much more one-sided relationship with ravens. In the seven instances where cougars were present at a raven aggregation, the ravens always arrived after the cougars. 

Looking beyond ravens’ relationships with carnivores, Dr. Marzluff circled back to how humans are a prime food source for ravens. Ravens frequently beg and steal from humans, even going so far as to tear open storage bags on snowmobiles to obtain food. Our two species have adapted to and coevolved with one another. For example, ravens have learned how to open human-made containers, and humans have redesigned snowmobiles to be more raven-proof. 

He concluded his talk by re-showing a graph indicating rising raven numbers in the West since the 1980s. These larger raven populations can be problematic for the endangered species upon which they prey, such as Snowy Plover, Greater Sage-grouse, and Desert Tortoise. Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services has dealt with this problem by killing thousands of ravens annually. He said this approach is neither effectual nor justified, as we’re not taking any measures to halt or control the human subsidies that are fueling the increase in raven populations.

Controlling food subsidies around places of conservation concern has proven to be effective in reducing corvid use of those areas. He recommended methods such as incentivizing hunters to remove gut piles, encouraging tourists to not leave food out, and, perhaps, even employing lasers to deter ravens from wastewater treatment sites and garbage dumps.

At 7:55 pm, President Chaya thanked Dr. Marzluff for his talk and facilitated the Q&A portion of the program in the absence of Vice President Gabriel Willow.

8:20 pm—The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Amy Simmons, Recording Secretary

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom platform technology, due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Ken Chaya called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing himself and thanking the attendees for joining the meeting, he shared news of a few recent, notable bird sightings throughout New York City. He also announced that there were currently 65 people in the meeting and that more were joining as he spoke. 

Before proceeding with the business portion of the meeting, President Chaya extended condolences on behalf of the Society to the family of long-time member and distinguished ecologist Thomas Lovejoy, who died on December 25, 2021. He also extended condolences to the family and friends of Mickey Maxwell Cohen, who, while not an LSNY member, was the recipient of the Society’s 2012 Natural History Service Award and was a frequent trip leader for many organizations. Mickey died on December 28.

Commencing with the business portion of the meeting, President Chaya, announced the result of an online vote to approve the minutes of the November members’ meeting: it passed with 152 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and one abstention.

He then announced the result of an online vote to approve new members. It passed with 151 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and two abstentions. President Chaya welcomed the following five individuals as new members:

• Cathy Weiner, Active Member, sponsored by Jean Shum
• Maureen Heard-Ryan, Active Member, sponsored by Debbie Mullins
• Stephen Klein , Active Member, sponsored by Patricia Klein
• Ric Cohn, Active Member, sponsored by Sanford Sorkin
• Amanda Storti. Active Member, sponsored by Janet Storti

President Chaya then invited non-members in attendance to join the Society, explaining that they could learn how to do so by visiting the LSNY website, www.linnaeannewyork.org. He also pointed out that he or any of the other LSNY officers listed on the website would be willing to sponsor anyone who would like to join, emphasizing that an organization is only as healthy as its growing and diverse membership. He declared that the LSNY welcomes all to become members regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, background, ability, or geographic location.

As the final item of business, President Chaya announced that due to the ongoing spread of Covid-19, the LSNY board has decided to hold the organization’s 144^th annual meeting online rather than in person. The meeting will take place at 7 pm on Tuesday, March 8. 

___________________________________________

At 7:12 pm, President Chaya introduced the evening’s speaker, Jason Hill, Ph.D., who presented “Altitudinal and Latitudinal Movement in Montane Birds,” about his current study of the effects of climate change on breeding bird populations in high-elevation locations of the northeastern US. (Michiel Oversteegen, who was originally scheduled to speak at this meeting, had to cancel due to an emergency.)

A quantitative ecologist and ornithologist by training—as well as a life-long birder and naturalist—Jason joined the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) in January of 2015, and currently helps to oversee a citizen science project, Mountain Birdwatch, while doing research into montane ecology. He followed graduation from the University of Montana (a B.S. in wildlife biology) with a series of wildlife-based adventures that found him monitoring sea otters in California, tracking endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Florida, and researching House Wrens at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. On Maui, his crew was tasked with capturing the three remaining po’ouli: a Hawaiian honeycreeper that is now thought to be extinct.

Jason investigated the post-fledgling ecology of Saltmarsh Sparrows at the University of Connecticut for his M.S. in Ecology and completed his Ph.D. with the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State University, studying the population ecology of grassland sparrows following experimental landscape manipulation. During a cooperative post-doc between the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, he estimated the effects of landscape changes from Marcellus natural gas development on the populations of interior forest and grassland bird species.

At the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Jason primarily investigates avian ecology within the montane spruce-fir community.

Climate change is causing mountains to warm twice as fast as the rest of the world, and mountaintops at perhaps five times the global rate. Distributions of many montane plant and animal species are already shifting poleward and to higher elevations; data suggest that this rate of movement is increasing for some species (e.g., the American Pika, Ochotona princeps). In the northeastern US, models predict that the tree that makes up more than 50% of the Piceaspp.forest—balsam fir (Abies balsamea)—will be lost due to the upslope movement of hardwoods over the next two centuries. Unsurprisingly, species distribution models in conjunction with forecasts of climate change predict that most of the existing breeding-bird species of the spruce-fir zone will be absent as breeders from the northeastern US by the end of this century. Jason used ten years of community science data from more than 700 high-elevation sampling locations of the Mountain Birdwatch program to model the rate of elevational and latitudinal shifts in breeding-bird species of the northeastern US, including Bicknell’s Thrush (Catharus bicknelli), Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata), and White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). Elevation-specific population trends and population trajectories were calculated using data from both the southern (i.e., the Catskill Mountains of New York) and northern peripheries of the breeding ranges for these species. 

Jason began his presentation by saying that saltmarshes and mountains have a lot in common, and then spoke a bit about his earlier work in saltmarshes studying the Saltmarsh Sparrow. He said that in the Northeast, saltmarshes exist only along a very narrow strip on the North Atlantic coast. Saltmarsh Sparrows are ground nesters in these saltmarsh grasslands. Females build their nests on the ground and when the tide comes in, the young instinctively know to cling to the edge of the nest if a few centimeters of water invade the nest. However, every 28 days, a new moon brings an exceptionally high tide to the saltmarshes. Saltmarsh Sparrows time their nesting around these new moon tides. If/when other high tides occur in between the new moons, there isn’t enough time for the birds to nest and fledge their young.

Because of the presence of Highway 1 along the coast, saltmarshes cannot expand away from the ocean, and the nesting sparrows are left with no alternative nesting sites as waters rise due to climate change. Jason discussed how he had gathered data and built models to project when these sparrow populations would become globally extinct. They are currently declining at a rate of about 9% annually and have declined by 70% since the 1990s. According to his models, in forty years, the water level will be too high for the sparrows to nest. He speculated that the Saltmarsh Sparrow may be the first species extinction that can be directly attributed to climate change.

Turning to his research in the mountains, he pointed out that saltmarshes and mountains are similar in that both habitats are limited in their capacity to expand. Just as saltmarshes can’t expand inland in the face of climate change, mountains cannot grow taller.  

Although we don’t yet know the reason, it’s been established that mountain tops are warming at a faster rate than lower elevations. While mountains cannot expand in response to climate change, the species found there have a number of options for adapting (i.e., changes in morphology, behavior, and/or distribution).

Focusing on changes in distribution, he used the example of the North American Pika, found in the mountains of western North America, usually in boulder fields at or above the tree line. As pikas have been studied for many years, there is quite a bit of data looking at the minimum elevation at which they exist. Records show that pikas have moved higher over time—almost 100 meters higher in just the last decade. Jason posited that this is true of many other species as well, but we simply don’t have the historical data necessary for comparison. He noted, however, that 85% of the mountain peaks in Europe are being colonized at higher levels by lower-level plants. This same pattern has been observed in mountains on every continent. The average for all organisms is an increase of eleven meters upslope each decade.

Data currently indicate a likely three-to-eight-degrees mean temperature change by the end of this century. Jason said that vegetation in the northeastern US is already responding to climate change. He showed a map indicating how the majority of North American tree species have moved northward and westward over the past 40 years. As mean temperatures increased, birds in 2005 were spending winter farther north than they were in 1966. That said, not every species is able to shift in this way; some birds and other animals may require aspects of a particular habitat that are not available elsewhere. As climate change increases, these species may end up fighting for survival. Some species adapt and others cannot, telling us that there can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to climate change.

Jason predicted that over the next 300 years, we will likely see a 50% reduction in the spruce and fir trees of sub-alpine forests. We will also likely lose many of the animal species that rely on the unique habitat they provide. Thanks to over a century of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Counts, we have a great deal of historical data for birds, but we don’t have similar data for the mammals, fish, amphibians, insects, etc., that birds interact with in this shared habitat.

Sharing data on the Blue-headed Vireo, Canada Jay and Boreal Chickadee from the National Audubon Society’s “Survival By Degrees” report (https://www.audubon.org/climate/survivalbydegrees), Jason showed maps indicating the areas that would lose these species with a drop in mean temperature of only two degrees. He went on to say that in such a scenario, the state of New York is likely to lose forty breeding bird species. New Yorkers will also see more of species that are not currently common breeders here; these will likely become common breeders here by the end of the century if climate change continues. He predicted that all the boreal forest birds of New York will likely be gone from the state by the end of this century.

Jason pointed out that current models are built on climate alone; they don’t consider the impact of how birds interact with competitors, predators, etc. At present, science simply doesn’t have the data needed to add those relationships into the models, and even if it did, our models aren’t yet sophisticated enough to fully incorporate their impact. Further, we do not have the attention span or financial resources to actively manage every threatened species in the way we have been able to for species such as Bald Eagle and Osprey.

Jason said that what we need is on-the-ground calibration of these models, as there is so much we don’t yet know. He then introduced the work of Mountain Birdwatch (www.mountainbirdwatch.org). For the last decade, over 100 volunteer community scientists have been sampling almost 30,000 points at high elevation sites in the Northeast every June. He incorporated all the data collected from 2011 to 2020 into his analysis to avoid an exceptional year skewing the results. These models estimate local abundance and account for imperfect counts. One of his methods is to determine the point of elevation at which 50% of a given species is above and 50% is below. He can then compare year vs. year. 

He shared some of the results of models that show the density of specific species at various elevations over time. As an example, the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher has declined significantly over the last decade. During this time, it has shifted upslope substantially, while also making a modest latitudinal shift. After showing results for several different species, some moving significantly upslope and others making significant latitudinal shifts, he pointed out that Black-capped Chickadees are doing something entirely different: they are increasing in the eastern US—at every elevation—at a rate of about 11% per year. Black-capped Chickadees are classified as “generalists,” and generalist species appear to be responding better to climate change than specialists. The species that are declining most quickly are the ones that are moving upslope most quickly, suggesting the possibility that they are the most sensitive to climate change.

He noted that almost all species in the study are declining, pointing out that in New York and Vermont, we are at the southern periphery of the breeding grounds of some of these species. Thus, it appears that some species are moving north, but it may simply be that their southern-most populations are shrinking. He cited Bicknell’s Thrush as one example illustrating this phenomenon.  

He concluded his talk by rhetorically asking what the future holds for the next 100 years, pointing out that because we lack the resources—human and financial—to help every species, we’ll need to find ways to determine which species will be the most vulnerable and prioritize them when possible. If we at least preserve landscapes, habitats, and contiguous wildlife corridors, we will provide some support to threatened species.

At 8:11 pm, Vice President Gabriel Willow thanked Jason for his talk and facilitated the Q&A portion of the program.

At 8:36 pm, Vice President Willow passed the floor back to President Chaya, who also thanked the speaker, as well as the audience, and invited viewers to return on February 8, 2022, for the next speaker program, “Rendezvous with the Raven: Exploring Connections Among the Trickster, Wolves, and People,” by  John Marzluff, Ph.D.

8:38 pm—The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Amy Simmons, Recording Secretary

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom platform technology, due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Ken Chaya called the meeting of the Society to order. After introducing himself and thanking the attendees for joining the meeting, he announced that there were currently 69 people in the meeting and that more were joining as he spoke.

Commencing with the business portion of the meeting, President Chaya announced the result of an online vote to approve the minutes of the November members’ meeting: it passed with 165 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and no abstentions.

He then announced the result of an online vote to approve new members. It passed with 161 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and four abstentions. President Chaya welcomed the following 17 individuals as new members:

1. Susan Gibson, sponsored by Kevin Sisco
2. Sarah Dahl, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
3. Janet Riese, sponsored by Theresa Brown
4. Jennifer Kalb, sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
5. Karen Becker, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
6. Hillarie O’Toole, sponsored by Ken Chaya
7. Linda Musser, sponsored by Elise Boeger
8. Frank Nutella, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
9. Debbie Becker, sponsored by Ken Chaya
10. Kelley Burney, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
11. Hailey Clancy, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
12. Irina Rich Langer, sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
13. Mary Hilles, sponsored by Miriam Rakowski
14. Matthew Degulis, sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
15. Renee Shaw, sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
16. Nicholas Susnea, sponsored by Anne Lazarus
17. Amy Susnea, sponsored by Anne Lazarus

President Chaya then invited non-members in attendance to join the Society, explaining that they could learn how to do so by visiting the LSNY website, www.linnaeannewyork.org. He also pointed out that he or any of the other LSNY officers listed on the website would be willing to sponsor anyone who would like to join, emphasizing that an organization is only as healthy as its growing and diverse membership. He declared that the LSNY welcomes all to become members regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, background, ability, or geographic location.

As the final item of business, President Chaya announced that the Linder Theater will remain closed until at least the fall of 2022. Thus, until further notice, LSNY meetings will continue to take place remotely via the Zoom online platform.

___________________________________________

At 7:10 pm, President Chaya introduced the evening’s speaker, Christian Hagenlocher. Christian’s passion for birds began at an early age when he saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting on a building in downtown Seattle. Since then, he’s read every library book and field guide he could get his hands on, and his passion for birds and education has only grown. Passionate also about the education of people of all ages, he entered the teaching profession after completing a B.S. in biology in 2011. As a high school science teacher and licensed falconer, Christian has integrated birds into school curricula in unique ways, exposing students to the ancient sport of falconry and leading international science-focused trips to Belize, Costa Rica, Israel, Colombia, and Peru. In 2016, Christian became the youngest person to break the 700 mark in an ABA Big Year. His book, Falcon Freeway: A Big Year of Birding on a Budget, describes his adventures and the lessons learned while living on the road and birding in the 21st century. His talk, titled “A Big Year of Birding on a Budget,” was about his all-out quest in 2016 to cover North America.

Christian began by saying that it had been an honor to get a snapshot in a single year of the health and diversity of our continent, as evidenced by birds. Speaking of the origin of his passion for birds, he noted that as a child he moved frequently with his family, since his father was in the military. Birds were everywhere they went and he enjoyed watching them. Books by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, Kenn Kaufman, Mark Obmascik, and David Allen Sibley all influenced him as a young birder.

He titled his big year “The Birding Project,” saying that it was he himself that was actually the “project.” His goal was to become a better birder, meet other birders, and see birds through the lenses of others rather than just from his own viewpoint. In a short video created by his sponsor, Maven optics, he showed how The Birding Project got started and what a “day in the life” looked like during his travels. In a journey that spanned North America from the remote island of Attu, Alaska, to Florida’s Dry Tortugas, he economized by living out of his Subaru Outback and cutting corners wherever possible in his search for birds.

Christian said he wanted an “E.P.I.C.” big year: his objectives were to Engage, Preserve, Inspire, and Connect. To “Engage,” he taught others along the way, even working briefly at a school in Colorado. To “Preserve,” he helped re-seed native prairie in the Chicago suburbs and assisted with controlled burns in Georgia’s coastal savannah scrub. He said he hoped to “Inspire” people to get outside and explore nature and to “Connect” them to nature, using technology responsibly. 

What IS a Big Year? It’s a year in which one attempts to see as many species of birds as possible in a calendar year. It could cover territory as local as one’s yard or county, or as widespread as the entire American Birding Association (ABA) designated area, or across the entire planet. 

Christian explained that his strategy was to first find as many rare birds as he could, stopping to work whenever he ran out of money near areas with a greater likelihood of vagrants (e.g.,in Florida). Later in the year, he fundraised to get to Alaska and directed his travel toward specific groups of birds. He also tried to cut costs whenever and wherever he was able: driving when possible, rather than flying; sleeping in his car; and eating cheap food.  

During the year, he conducted over 365 interviews of birders ranging in age from five to 90+, asking questions about birds, birding, and community and photographing each one’s hands as they held their binoculars. He added that compared to this collection of snapshots from 2016, he sees much more diversity among birders today than in those of just five years ago.

He shared some of the statistics from his big year:  

• 1,162 walking miles
• 738 birds seen (98% of them photographed)
• 56 days spent in Alaska
• 49 states birded
• 16 oil changes
• 5 trips to Alaska
• 2 times pulled over (no tickets!)
• 0 flat tires, speeding tickets, car accidents—or regrets
• 1 month birding at sea
• 20 nights on boats

One of his more efficient birding trips during the year was what is known in the cruise industry as a “repositioning cruise,” when a ship needs to move from one port to another but isn’t carrying its typical paying passengers. Christian and other birders purchased inexpensive tickets for a repositioning cruise on the Ruby Princess from Los Angeles to Vancouver. It was a three-night, four-day cruise and the tickets came out to $63.50 per day. Since he saw 25 species, the cost was $2.54 per bird. And after weeks of sleeping in cars and eating fast food, he was pleased to experience an all-you-can-eat buffet, room service, and a cabin so large that he could have parked his car in it. Black-footed Albatross, Short-tailed Albatross, Hawaiian Petrel, Cook’s Petrel, and South Polar Skua were among the species he saw during the cruise.

Christian added that he went 129 days without flying (from January 1 to May 9), and showed some information about the flights he took during the rest of the year and how he saved money on them:

• 48 total flight legs
• 2,857 miles: longest single flight (Anchorage to Chicago)
• 184 miles: shortest flight (Nome, AK, to Kotzebue, AK)
• 3 nights: slept on planes
• Preferred airline: Alaska Airlines
• Payment method: included using air miles from gas and food purchases, standby tickets from employees, and miles donated by friends and family.

Among his tips for flying: buy refundable flights to Florida during spring break, when flights are often overbooked and airlines will buy back tickets; always bring your own food and reusable water bottle; travel with friends (Alaska Airlines offers companion passes for $99 for some flights; by working with other birders, he was able to maximize the value of this benefit).

Christian then shared bird totals from the year:

• 343: highest species count in a single state (TX)
• 3: lowest species count in a single state (KY)
• 4: heard-only birds (all of which he saw in the following 4 years):
  • Black Rail
  • Boreal Owl
  • Flammulated Owl
  • Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
• 752: species counted (+ 12 he wasn’t 100% sure of)

Christian paused his work on a master’s degree in global sustainability to continue his big year. As part of his program, however, he did a carbon audit of his travels and then decided to purchase more carbon offsets than his calculated carbon footprint. He said he hoped to inspire other birders to be more aware of the carbon footprint of our hobby. We want to be certain that we’re protecting birds and not amplifying climate change.

He then talked about how he ate on a budget. He shopped at discount groceries that sold imperfect food, such as damaged cans; foraged and ate native plants; ate salmon caught by others; purchased fruit at roadside stands; used coupons; and ate a lot of inexpensive items such as cereal, oatmeal, and ramen noodles.

His rule for sleeping on a budget was “ABC: Always Be Comfortable.”  A =  A friend’s guest room; B = a Budget motel; C = Camp. He slept in his Subaru quite often, in the parking lots of Walmarts, state parks, hotels, and McDonald’s; and in friends’ driveways, rest areas, mountain passes, national forests, and country roads, among other places; but he realizes it’s easier to sleep in a car at age 26 than when one is older.

He said that living this way enabled him to develop an attitude of gratitude. He made choices by asking himself, “do I want this or do I need this,” and whether any given choice brought him joy.  

Christian then focused on a few particular birding locations. He first described birding on the remote island of Attu in Alaska. Since planes no longer fly there, one must fly to the island of Adak and then take a boat to Attu, a bumpy journey of 437 miles that takes several days. On arrival at Attu, he and other birders slept on the boat each night and then hiked/biked on the island. He recounted some of Attu’s rich history. It was invaded by the Japanese during World War II; 549 Americans and 2,400 Japanese died there. Much debris from the war remains, including airplane wrecks and tanks. The United States Coast Guard had a base there until about 25 years ago, when it was abandoned and the island was allowed to grow wild. He mentioned that a subspecies (Evermann’s) of Rock Ptarmigan is endemic to Attu.  

Attu also has a rich birding history and is known among birders for its relative abundance of rarities, including Siberian Rubythroat, Common Sandpiper, Common Cuckoo, Great Knot, and Lesser Sand-Plover. He noted that on the wall of an abandoned barracks where previous birding visitors stayed, there are written records from such well-known birders as Benton Basham and Sandy Komito. Before leaving the island, Christian and his fellow birders added their own names to the wall. 

He also visited Nome and Utqiagyik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Nome, sitting just below the Arctic Circle, features a variety of near-arctic habitats, with species that don’t occur elsewhere on the continent, like Arctic Warbler and Yellow Wagtail. While in Nome, he was pleased to find a rare Common Ringed Plover; nesting Gyrfalcons; Long-tailed Duck in summer plumage; Sabine’s Gull; and Long-tailed Jaeger.  In Utqiagvik (which means “The Place where Snowy Owls are hunted”) he was pleased to see healthy-looking polar bears.  

While Utqiagvik is the northernmost city in the United States, the Dry Tortugas, off Florida, is the southernmost location in the U.S. Located there is Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era structure that is now a historic monument. It is remembered as the place where Dr. Samuel Mudd was held following his arrest for treating the ankle of presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. The Dry Tortugas are known as a major migrant stopover for birds on their way to Florida from South America. In addition to migrants, Christian went there to see birds that couldn’t be seen elsewhere in the U.S., such as Sooty Tern, Brown Noddy, Black Noddy, Bridled Tern, and Masked Booby, all of which nest there. 

Christian noted that a major takeaway from his big year is that there are many different ways to enjoy birds. None is better than the others—they are simply different. He also realized that birding is better when done with others. While it can be nice to bird alone, after a year he came to see how much one draws from others. Birding together also helps us develop social skills, such as tolerance.

He concluded his talk by referencing his book, Falcon Freeway: A Big Year of Birding on a Budget. He chose the name in tribute to Kingbird Highway, by Kenn Kaufman, which inspired him as a young birder. Included in the book are illustrations drawn from his photographs by his friend Andrew Guttenberg. 

At 8:09 pm, Vice President Gabriel Willow thanked Christian for his talk and facilitated the Q&A portion of the program.

At 8:40 pm, Vice President Willow passed the floor back to President Chaya, who also thanked the speaker, as well as the audience, and invited viewers to return for the next speaker program on January 11, “The Importance of Photography in Conservation,” featuring Michiel Oversteegen.

8:41 pm—The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Amy Simmons, Recording Secretary

(Note: This meeting and presentation took place online, via Zoom platform technology, due to social-distancing protocols prompted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.)

At 7:00 pm, President Ken Chaya called the meeting of the Society to order. He introduced himself and thanked the attendees for joining the meeting. He announced there were currently 60 people in the meeting and that more were joining as he spoke.

Commencing with the business portion of the meeting, President Chaya announced the result of an online vote to approve the minutes of the October members’ meeting: it passed with 150 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and no abstentions.

Next, he announced the result of an online vote on the approval of new members. It passed with 148 votes of approval, none of disapproval, and no abstentions. President Chaya welcomed the following 11 individuals as new members:

Name, Membership Level, Sponsor

1. Elysia Tan, Active, Kristin Ellington
2. Beth Goffe, Supporting, Carine Mitchell
3. Lisa Kroop, Active, Ken Chaya
4. Seymour Rothman, Active, Kevin Sisco
5. Carol Schwartz, Active, Mary Beth Kooper
6. Amy Ronis, Active, Alice Deutsch
7. Daniel Picard, Supporting, MaryJane Boland
8. Xinyi Zhang, Active, Ronnie Almonte
9. Linda Mary Morry, Life, Reece Hunt
10. Charles Sklar, Active, Amanda Bielskas
11. Rima Mathias, Active, Debbie Mullins

President Chaya then invited non-members in attendance to join the Society, explaining that they could learn how to do so by visiting the LSNY website, www.linnaeannewyork.org. He also pointed out that he or any of the other LSNY officers listed on the website would be willing to sponsor anyone who would like to join, emphasizing that an organization is only as healthy as its growing and diverse membership. He declared that the LSNY welcomes all to become members regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, background, ability, or geographic location.

As the final item of business, President Chaya announced the Society’s need for volunteers, referencing his recent email communication asking for additional field trip registrars. He asked all to consider supporting the organization by volunteering to be trip registrars. He also announced that LSNY is seeking the assistance of someone with technical expertise related to combining in-person speaker meetings with live-streaming Zoom broadcasts, which will be needed once in-person meetings resume at the American Museum of Natural History.

___________________________________________

At 7:10 pm, President Chaya introduced the evening’s speaker, Mark Moffett, Ph.D., an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution, and a visiting scholar in anthropology at Harvard. Ever since doing his Ph.D. under environmentalist E. O. Wilson, he has been studying how societies stay together and fall apart historically and right up to the present day, and comparing species, including humans. His most recent book, “The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall,” brings together biology, modern psychology, and anthropology with surprising insights. In addition to his research, he is known for global exploration and many articles in National Geographicmagazine.

His talk was titled “What Are Societies, and What Keeps Them Together and Tears Them Apart.” If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles—or Borneo—with little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: For years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper limit of about 150 people on the size of our social groups. But human societies are vastly larger, as are the societies of some animals. How do such species manage—by and large—to get along with each other?

Dr. Moffett discussed the social adaptations that bind society members together and explored how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how those groups work—and sometimes don’t.

What are societies? He pointed out that “society” can mean many different things (i.e., “high society,” the Linnaean Society, etc.). In the literature, they are often defined as a “cooperative group.” He finds this definition strange, because he sees a lot of non-cooperation within groups around the world. Further, cooperation also occurs between separate groups. When scientists speak of societies, they often mean social networks—for example, kinfolk and other alliances that occur both within and between societies. These networks are shifting subsets of the society as a whole. Also, people may be members of a society without cooperating or interacting with other members; an example might be a hermit who is a member of American society.

Dr. Moffett defines a society as a group that shares a strong allegiance and that lasts for generations. He emphasized the word “group,” saying that at their core, societies are about social identity. Societies are a certain kind of “in-group” with clear, enduring relationships. Schools of fish can come and go; there is no membership; but meerkat clans and honeybee hives are societies. If one looks at humans throughout history, one realizes that humans have always lived in societies.

He then spoke about his book and what drove him to write it. Showing a photo of people in a Starbucks coffeeshop, he said the main incentive that got him started with this work is a unique feature of humans: one can go into a restaurant and get a cup of coffee without encountering someone who wants to kill him. This kind of experience would be impossible for a chimpanzee, as they do not tolerate strangers, whereas humans do. This simple characteristic was important to our evolution. 

There are two forms of societies—individual recognition societies and anonymous societies—and each is formed differently.

Chimpanzees, for example, form individual recognition societies. This type of society must be small so that everyone knows one another. They typically have fewer than 200 members.

In anonymous societies, members are distinguished from outsiders through shared features or behaviors (“labels,” “markers,” or “symbols”). He cited ants and some species of birds (i.e., the Pinyon Jay) as examples of animals forming anonymous societies. Pinyon Jays can form flocks of 500 yet stay together as a distinct group. Two groups can come together, but when they separate, members will revert to their original groups. The premier examples of anonymous societies are those of ants. Some ant species can form societies of infinite size. He discussed the Argentine Ant, an invasive species now found throughout much of California. He described how one could take an individual Argentine Ant from San Francisco, drive it to the Mexican border, and release it without any harm coming to it, because ants in both locations are part of the same supercolony that extends from the Bay area to Mexico. In San Diego, however, there are four geographically smaller supercolonies adjacent to one another. Thus, there are places in San Diego where an Argentine Ant will be promptly killed by other ants if moved only a short distance. 

In another example, he showed a Jumping Spider, which hunts and feeds on ants. After killing an ant, it drags it across its body to get its scent—enabling it to safely enter the ant’s colony, where it can kill more ants. Turning to humans, he pointed out that while we don’t use scent, we do use markers that are hard for others to replicate. Humans have many ways of judging who belongs and who doesn’t. Language is a common marker, and our flags and rituals also convey who we are.

Even small things that we don’t consciously recognize can signal identity. Studies have shown that often an individual can be identified as American from the way he walks or even waves a hand. A smile can also identify someone as American—Americans seem to have a distinct smile—even if we don’t know what it is.

Dr. Moffett then raised the subject of discarding or merging societies. He used the European Union as an example of an unsuccessful merger of societies, pointing out that it has no time-honored symbols, no shared traditions, and no origin stories. While the EU can be a valuable economic tool, it is also “disposable.” Another example might be the tribes composing the Native American Iroquois Confederacy; they all had roles within the confederacy, but maintained their differences as separate societies.

Our groups give us meaning and validation. Modern humans that were once part of different societies have become assimilated, and are now alike but at the same time different (i.e., American, but maintaining their ethnic and racial identities). This dichotomy is a source of struggle these days. Dr. Moffett has found that healthy societies do not freely merge.  Immigrants to a new society are expected to be of lower status and participate without threatening the dominant members. When the dominant society feels threatened, there is a backlash against immigration. Citizenship, legally defined, does not match how our brains register who belongs, resulting in social stress. Membership, mentally speaking, is a way of being. We determine belonging by how others walk, talk or smile. Immigrants can know all kinds of facts, but that doesn’t integrate them. Full integration takes a while. Citizenship can give someone the claim of being a full society member, but what is meant by “full”? Not everyone is treated similarly.

He then turned to the breakdown of societies, describing breakdowns of identity as “turning the familiar into the foreign.” He said that all societies go through this, but the process of how our minds shift to see people as “other,” and not members of the group, is a mystery. Social stress occurs as a society grows, followed by the emergence of subgroups who no longer like each other. Years later, a division into separate societies occurs. Markers help bind our societies together, but they also tear them apart. He noted that societies tend to break along geographic lines reflecting pre-conquest borders. As an example, he cited conflict along the original borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

He concluded his talk by saying that while the tolerance of strangers was a huge breakthrough for humans, it came with “all kinds of baggage that we’re still trying to work out.” Referencing the current social stress in America, he said that “hopefully we’re going to be able to see our way through this.”

At 7:50 pm, Vice President Gabriel Willow thanked Dr. Moffett for his talk and facilitated the Q&A portion of the program.

At 8:21 pm, Vice President Willow passed the floor back to President Chaya, who also thanked the speaker, as well as the audience, and invited viewers to return for the next speaker program on December 14.

8:22 pm—The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Amy Simmons, Recording Secretary