Events

Patty Rehn

A big year of birding requires unique drive and dedication. To be competitive, you must be ready to go out in all kinds of weather, willing to drop everything in pursuit of rarities, and able to chase birds in crazy places at crazy times.

In 2013, Patty Rehn decided to participate in the Bob Billings Big Year, sponsored by the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC). She was determined to top the leaderboard in birding the “Billings” territory in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. There was no Telegram or Discord social media at that time, and she was working full-time as a teacher in Philadelphia, but she martialed every resource to find more than 350 bird species including some amazing rarities for the region.

In a lively presentation, Patty Rehn shares the highs and lows, challenges and adventures associated with her big year of birding. Tune in to discover what it takes to be part of the quest to see as many bird species as possible in 365 days.

An avid birder for more than 20 years, Patty is a longtime naturalist at Rancocas Nature Center, NJ, and member of the all-women “Raven LunaChicks” World Series of Birding team. In addition to birding, she enjoys photography, hiking, crafting, reading, and traveling the world to see more birds! Patty lives in Burlington County, NJ, with her partner Steve, turtle Magnus, a cat, and many critters in her wildlife-friendly yard.

Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.

Prof Amber Rice, Lehigh University

When hybridization occurs, selection against hybrids can maintain species barriers. Learning and memory can be important for fitness in many species, but whether cognition is impacted by hybridization is not well understood. Black-capped and Carolina chickadees naturally hybridize, and also rely on learning and memory to cache and retrieve food as an adaptation for overwinter survival. My research on wild-caught adult chickadees indicates that hybrid chickadees show reduced spatial memory, which persists even after we standardized diet and rearing environment. Much of this reduction in memory may be explained by genetic incompatibilities, but our work also suggests that chickadee gut microbiomes may be influencing their cognition.

Amber completed a BA at the College of Wooster in Ohio, followed by a PhD at the University of North Carolina. She first began working with birds during her postdoc at Uppsala University in Sweden. Amber started her faculty position at Lehigh University in 2011. Across her career, Amber has worked with study systems including plants, spiders, toads, and birds, but her interests have always centered around understanding how biodiversity arises and is maintained.

Note: This meeting will be held in person at the meeting house and via Zoom. Zoom signon will start at 7:15 to enable the meeting to begin at 7:30.