Winter Birding Speaker Series - Bird Conservation on Cape Ann and the North Shore
Date and Time
Friday Mar 11, 2022
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST
Contact the Hotel for discounted overnight rate of $149 using code BIRD. Discounted rates also available at Cape Ann Motor Inn: 10% off using code BIRD22
Location
Beauport Hotel
55 Commercial Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
Fees/Admission
Free to attend.
Website
Description
Naturalist, conservationist, and author Chris Leahy will present an illustrated talk on “Bird Conservation on Cape Ann and the North Shore.” The intimate presentation will focus on two current priorities:
- Preserving the 3,000+ acre of undeveloped open space at the heart of Cape Ann known as Dogtown. It contains a diversity of bird habitats but has lost a number of increasing rare and local species during recent decades
- The “Treasure Islands,” an Important Bird Area (IBA) of over 50 islands lying just offshore between Nahant and Cape Ann, some of which protect colonies of egrets, ibises and other “southern” wading birds as well as rarities such as American Oystercatcher.
About Chris: Christopher Leahy retired in June 2017 from a 45-year career as a professional conservationist with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, most recently as the Gerard A. Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field Ornithology (now Emeritus).
His interests in natural history are comprehensive and he is a recognized authority on birds and insects. His published works include The Birdwatcher’s Companion (first published by Hill & Wang, 1982 and reissued in a comprehensively revised edition by Princeton University Press in 2004), The First Guide to Insects (Houghton-Mifflin, 1987), The Nature of Massachusetts (Addison-Wesley, 1996), and Birds of Mongolia, the first comprehensive field guide to the Mongolian avifauna (Princeton, 2019) of which he is coauthor with Gombobaatar Sundev. His latest book, Birdpedia: A Brief Compendium of Avian Lore, was published by Princeton in July, 2021.
In addition, Chris has designed and led natural history tours to over 90 countries on all of the continents and is especially fascinated with the world’s great remaining wilderness areas and biodiversity hot spots such as Bhutan, Gabon, Madagascar and Mongolia. He grew up in Marblehead and has lived in Gloucester, MA with his family since the 1970’s.
