On Saturday, September 24th at 4 pm, the Friends of San Pedro Valley Park welcome ornithologist and Pacifica resident Joseph Morlan.  His talk is entitled, “Neotropic Migrants.”  This presentation will focus primarily on birds that breed in the San Francisco Bay Area, but migrate long distances to Mexico, Central America and South America for the winter.  The costs and benefits of migration will be discussed, as well as theories about the evolution of migration and various migration strategies.  We will speculate on the role of climate change in the behavior of these migratory species, many of which are declining because of loss of habitat on their wintering grounds. This lecture will be illustrated by original photos.  Please join us for what promises to be an entertaining and informative presentation about our avian friends.

This talk will take place indoors at the SPVP Visitor Center as we resume our in-person program of educational lectures (masks will be optional). 

About the speaker:  Joe Morlan taught Field Ornithology at City College in San Francisco for forty years.  He was awarded the ABA’s Ludlow Griscom Award for outstanding contributions to regional ornithology in 2010 and served on the California Bird Records Committee for thirty years, most recently as chair.  For over 20 years, Joe ran the Northern California Bird Box for the Golden Gate Audubon Society.  The ’bird box’ is a telephone messaging system where people can report rare bird sightings and their locations. He is the co-author of “Birds of San Francisco and the Bay Area” and “Birds of Northern California.” 

Joe has been a Pacifica resident since 1996.