John Glenn Middle School 99 McMahon Rd, Bedford, Massachusetts 01730
Our guest speaker, Mr. Norman Smith, will present
“Snowy Owls to Saw-whet Owls”
Since 1981, Norman Smith has spent countless days and nights, in every imaginable weather condition, observing, capturing, banding and color marking Snowy Owls at Logan International Airport. Data has been collected on roosting, hunting and behavior while on their wintering grounds. Most recently satellite transmitters have been attached to owls to learn more about their movements. Find out what has been learned to date, what questions remain and how this project developed to include research on Saw-whet Owls.
Norman Smith is a self-taught naturalist who has worked for the Massachusetts Audubon Society since 1974. His current position is Director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum and Norman Smith Environmental Education Center in Milton, Massachusetts. Norman has studied birds of prey for over 35 years, including rehabilitating the injured and successfully fostering over 1,000 orphaned hawk and owl chicks into adoptive nests. His ongoing long-term projects include trapping and banding migrating hawks and owls in the Blue Hills Reservation, banding nestling hawks and owls, and doing research on snowy owls and other raptors wintering at Boston's Logan International Airport. He has also traveled to Alaska to study snowy owls in their native tundra habitat. His research work has been published in National Geographic, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick, Yankee, Massachusetts Wildlife, Bird Observer, Birding, Sanctuary, Geo, Nature, Grolier Encyclopedia, Owls of the Northern Hemisphere and Owls of the World. His mission is to use the information gathered from his research to stimulate a passion in everyone he meets to help us better understand, appreciate and care for this world in which we live.
Preceding Norman’s presentation will be a viewing of “Epic Journeys: Tracking the Migrations of Shorebirds in the Western Hemisphere”, the latest documentary by Shawn Carey and Jim Grady of Migration Productions. Each year millions of shorebirds make an amazing round-trip journey between the Northern and Southern hemisphere. Migration Productions’ newest video, “Epic Journeys”, looks at three shorebird species—Red Knot, Piping Plover and Semipalmated Sandpiper—and the challenges these species face during each of their monumental annual treks. To view a trailer of the film, go to http://www.migrationproductions.com/video-epic-journeys/.
Social hour and light refreshments will begin at 6:30 PM. Meeting and lecture will begin promptly at 7:30 PM.
Members and guests are cordially invited. Admission and parking are free.
Birder’s Exchange Program Donations: please bring your used binoculars and other birding equipment. For more information, go to www.aba.org/bex/
Snowy photo by Shawn Carey
