NOTE: THIS WILL BE HELD THE 2nd TUESDAY OF THE MONTH, ON JANUARY 9th.

Presenter: Joseph Morlan

Joe will present a history of bird identificaiton starting with sight identification, and a personal look back at how birding and bird identification has changed over the decades. Sight identifications, considered by Ludlow Griscom to be impossible in 1922, are routine today. Likewise, our knowledge of bird distribution has grown dramatically since the days of Griscom and other pioneers. But what will future generations think of our own conventional wisdom when it comes to bird identification and distribution? Technology continues to advance in the fields of optics and photography. These advances have been an integral part of the rapid evolutionary changes in the way we see birds and the way future generations will see them. Join us for this entertaining and thought provoking presentation.

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. He co-authored two books on birds and published numerous scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. We welcome him back as a presenter!