Sahul – A Paradise for Birds

Bob Lewis

Berkeley
Thursday, July 18, 2019
6:30 p.m. annual membership meeting
6:30 p.m. refreshments
7p.m. program

Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are all part of the Australian geological plate, or Sahul.  After a brief visit to O’Reilly’s, a wonderful jungle lodge near Brisbane, Australia, we’ll fly to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.  Our route in PNG will take us from the lowlands in the south of the island to the highlands on the western border, and then on to Mount Hagen, a 12,000’ extinct volcano.  New Guinea has 708 species of birds and 5 endemic families, and is home to most species of spectacular Birds of Paradise and fascinating Bowerbirds.  We’ll discuss a bit of geological history, a bit of taxonomy, and look at examples of many of PNG’s 70 bird families.

Bob’s second career is very avian.  He’s served on the GGBA board where he led the Adult Education Committee.  He’s an award-winning photographer and world traveler, and frequent public speaker on avian topics at libraries and Audubon Societies.  He co-teaches Master Birding, Avian Evolution and Bay Area Birds, and his bird life list stands at 4992. He is hoping to reach 5000 on GGBA’ Namibia tour in August.