What the Guest Speakers said
On this page you will find links to summaries of some of the talks or presentations made at the monthly meetings.
You will find the projected topics and speakers described on the Meetings page.
Arnold McGill Lecture, 1 December 2020
Prof Richard Kingsford Director of the
Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW Sydney
‘Waterbirds – sentinels of rivers
under pressure’
Summary:
Freshwater biodiversity around the world is in long term decline and Australia, as the driest inhabited continent, is under extreme pressure.
We have been using waterbirds as indicators of the pressures and trajectories of change in our wetlands and rivers, over 38 years, 1983-2020.
I will talk about some of the major changes that have occurred in our waterbird communities which are indicating fundamental challenges for environmental flow management particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. Contrastingly, the
waterbirds and the habitats they depend on are still doing well in the Lake Eyre Basin. These trajectories of change are borne out by data from our aerial surveys of waterbirds across eastern Australia. We have just finished our 2020 aerial surveys, despite major challenges. These data are delivering on a range of fronts from understanding the status of different waterbird species, wetlands and river health and climate change impacts, underlining the importance of waterbirds as sentinels of freshwater biodiversity.
View the lecture here.
6 October 2020
Stephanie Todd
on the “Effects of the bushfires on birds in NSW Key Biodiversity Areas”.
View the lecture here.
1 September 2020
Matt Hall:
Research update on Brush Turkeys
View the lecture here.
July 7 2020
On July 7, 2020, Mick Roderick gave his presentation on “Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots – an update from BirdLife Australia” to Birding NSW via Zoom. He kindly agreed for the talk to be recorded for club members to view via the Birding NSW website (www.birdingnsw.org.au). I apologise that the initial part of the presentation is missing but the remainder of the presentation provides important information on the current status of these birds and the work being done particularly for the Regent Honeyeater to monitor and protect these birds.
In this video, Mick Roderick gives an update on Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots.
June 2016
An Update on the Bird Surveys in Sydney Olympic Park
Judy Harrington
7 June 2016
The 2016 Bird Surveys at SOP start soon. Training will be on 6th September and surveys will run each Tuesday morning until 1 November. If you would like to participate in all or a few of the surveys please contact Judy Harrington
sea-eagle60@bigpond.com or Tony Dymond tonydymond@optusnet.com.au
July 2015
Allan Richards describes his birding trip through Myanmar in 2013. Extraordinary birds and extraordinary landscapes.
Click here for a short tour of with some familiar faces.
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June 2015
If you would like to see Trevor Waller’s slideshow (in case you missed it or just to enjoy it again) click on the title. You do not have to log-in or register for Dropbox to view the video. Simply close that dialog box if it pops up.
Birding on the Sub Antarctic Islands of Australia and New Zealand with Trevor and Maggie Waller
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7 April 2015
Ian A W McAllan: ‘The History of Bird Atlassing, Changing Distributions and Outback Exploration’
Ian McAllan is the Scientific Officer of NSW Bird Atlassers inc.and co-Author with Richard M Cooper and Brian R Curtis of:
‘An Atlas of the Birds of NSW and the ACT’ Volume One.’
It was only in the late 1940s that bird distribution and population data in NSW became a serious study. Before that, for 160 years since first settlement, species collection, description and catalogueing were the chief pursuits of Ornithologists. Only a few thousand bird records could be safely used to map distribution and the populations of species.
Since then, many millions of records (one species in one place at one
time) have been collected, recorded and finally mapped to become the Atlasses so much relied on today.
Ian McAllan artfully and enthusiastically took members at the meeting through the development of bird atlassing including some extraordinarily fine detail of how birds migrate and wander nomadically from summer to winter habitats.
Thank you Ian for a most instructive talk. Click here to view the abstract.
The superb first volume of ‘An Atlas of the Birds of NSW and the ACT’ is a must-have book for the amateur ornithologist and scientist alike.
For enquiries about the book go to www.nswbirdatlassers.org.au
Ian Bailey, Editor Birding NSW.
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March 2015
Laura Rayner: Protecting woodland birds from urban sprawl: the need for population data in evidence-based planning.
Factors regulating the decline of woodland birds were investigated by Laura Rayner during her PhD research.
Fourteen years of bird surveys recorded by a Canberra Observation Group was the key to studying the effects of drought, reservation and urbanisation on temperate woodland species.
This extract from Laura’s presentation shows detail of shrinking habitats and, as a consequence, how populations of key species have changed. She noted that some species have benefited by urbanisation while others definitely have not, but few of her scientific determinations would have been possible without long-term data.
From such scientific evidence, management decisions affecting biodiversity are more likely to be positive for wildlife.
Thank you Laura for an engaging and masterly workshop! Click here for the extract.
Laura can be contacted on laura.rayner@anu.edu.au
Ian Bailey Editor Birding NSW.