The Friends of San Pedro Valley Park welcome master birder Bob Lewis, who will present a lecture via Zoom on Saturday, September 16th, 2023 at 7 pm entitled “The Importance of Islands to Avian Evolution.” 

Islands play a key role in both the evolution of new avian species and the extinction of others.  Because of their isolation, birds that arrive on islands evolve separately from their parent group and eventually become unique… thus a new species is born!  But that isolation also makes them vulnerable to threats like hurricanes, volcanoes, rising seas, and introduced diseases or predator species.  Although over 80 percent of bird species live on continents, 92 percent of extinctions since 1500 have been on islands.  

Join us to view some marvelous island species and learn about the conservation
issues unique to islands.  Please register using the following link:  

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_44IqjQJ0T3qNT9EN1VAu9g

About the speaker:  Robert Lewis is a master birder who trained as a chemist and worked in the energy field for 33 years.  He has taught birding classes in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years (Birds of the Bay Area, Avian Evolution, Master Birding, etc.) and served as adult education chair on the board of Golden Gate Audubon.  He was honored with the American Birding Association Chandler Robins Award for Conservation and Education in 2016, and Golden Gate Audubon’s Paul Covel Award for Education in 2017.  His life list is over 5000 and he loves to talk about birds.  He is an award-winning photographer, focusing on birds, and he is extremely busy having resumed his worldwide trips.