NaturePEI: The Natural History Society of PEI – upcoming meeting

Dwaine Oakley: Chasing Rare Birds…..

The sport of recording new birds will be given an in-depth analysis by one of its better known practitioners at the Natural History Society of PEI meeting on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011. Chasing Rare Birds on PEI: Five Years of Exciting Finds, First Records, and Photographic Evidence will be presented by Dwaine Oakley at the Annual General Meeting which starts at 7:30 pm at the Farm Centre, 420 University Ave., Charlottetown. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Discussing Varied Thrush, Pink-footed Goose, Ivory Gull and more, Dwaine will have a rare number of stories and a boatload of images of oddball birds seen lately on PEI. We may suspect that Dwaine was born with binoculars in hand, but his super-keen talent for bird identification was developed with considerable practice and persistence on his part. He added another element to his birding hobby when he acquired a good quality telescope and began photographing birds through the telescope with a digital camera. Dwaine’s photos survived the poster test when Parks Canada invited him to supply a bird photo display for the interpretive centre at Greenwich in PEI National Park.

Public Meeting — All Are Welcome

Dwaine has instructed others in bird identification, and with his skills, added Cave Swallow and several other species to the provincial Checklist of Birds. He is always happy to verify the records of others or provide identification services; for instance, he made the trip several years ago to the Cascumpec area to see a Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher first found by Garth and Bonnie MacIsaac. Indeed, it will be a rare treat for all on Tuesday evening as Dwaine shares his best PEI birding experiences.