YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND
Rainier Audubon?s November Membership Meeting

?How Do Birds Find Their Way Home??
Presented by Eric Stavney (Biology instructor at Highline
Com College)

When: Wednesday November 21, 2001
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Covington Library (27100 164th Ave SE, Covington WA
~ 253-630-8761

How Do Birds Find Their Way Home?

The arctic tern flies 7000 miles from Antarctica to the
Arctic to the same nesting colony on the same island every
year. They manage to do this entirely over the featureless
ocean. The wandering albatross lies thousands of miles
around the ocean wandering in any direction yet finds its
way back to a specific island to breed every year. White
crown sparrows in Alaska annually fly to northern California
and invariable return to their neighborhood, even to the
very same nest year after year. How do birds achieve these
amazing feats of navigation? Do birds have certain
navigational senses that humans lack?

A number of clever experiments beginning in the 1950s have
shed light on the navigational abilities of birds . What
these experiments revealed is truly amazing. The next time
you think of calling someone a "birdbrain", you might
consider what you're really saying. With respect to
navigational ability, the humble pigeon can run/fly circles
around a human.

How do birds find their way home? At last, we will learn
the secret. Plan
to attend and mark your calendars today. Come to our
November meeting and find out!

Everyone is Welcome!

Need more information contact:
www.rainieraudubon.org
253-939-6411
~~~~~~~
Eric Stavney is a biology instructor at Highline Community
College. He teaches a variety of courses from introductory
biology to microbiology. Last year he developed a new
course, the Biology of Birds (Bio 164) which is taught every
Winter Quarter. The course is designed to appeal to both
the beginning birder and the accomplished expert as it
focuses more on the biology and natural history of birds
than field identification. Eric also coordinates a lecture
series called Science Seminar in which Highline faculty
scientists and mathematicians give weekly presentations of
general interest to the Highline community (no charge).
Eric is also an educational video producer, and is currently
editing a program about the 17th century Dutch microscopist,
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.