Program Night - Unusual Birds: Extreme Adaptations and Appearances

SPECIAL KID’S PROGRAM TIME: 7:00 P.M.  (business meeting and adult program follow)

For our special “kids and adults” program in February, we are pleased to feature Larry Schwitters from Save Our Swifts.  He will lead the young Audubon members in a dash through the many different and often unusual bird families of the world.  Larry will start with what is a bird and go from there to the concept that half of all birds, the "song birds," are very different from the rest.  He will then present a wide rage of the most extreme adaptations, appearances and abilities of the bird world.  The journey will end with a closer look at swifts and their close relatives.

Kids will head downstairs at 7:30 to create an art project featuring unusual birds.

Mr. Schwitters holds a BS with a biology major and a masters in broad field science. He took an early retirement after 29 years in the trenches of public education, mostly as a middle school life science teacher. In 2004 he began working with the American Bird Conservancy to identify Black Swift waterfall nest/roost sites in Washington State.

Larry has also assembled a list of 30 historic Vaux's Swifts roosting sites. One of these sites, the Wagner Elementary School in Monroe, is one of the most significant known Vaux's Swift roost sites in the world.  Larry will talk about the Save Our Swifts project at the business meeting.

After the business meeting, we present the second half of the program, which features Eastside Audubon members and images of their Africa trips.  Hugh Jennings, EAS field trip chair and avid photographer, will show images of birds and animals of Zambia, with some exciting video clips of encounters with elephants and lions.  Charles Sleicher, EAS photo group member and recognized bird photographer, will present "Through Tanzania With Beanbag and Camera."

Please join us on Thursday, February 26 and bring your children of all ages and some good questions for Mr. Schwitters.  Come at 6:30 for the Activity Fair.  Enjoy the Unusual Birds program from 7:00 to 7:30, followed by refreshments, business meeting, and our African wildlife program.   

The social hour, meeting, and presentation are free and open to the public.  Invite a friend or anyone who wants to see unusual bird images and/or see lovely images of African birds and other wildlife.

Meetings are held in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland.

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