Speakers Corner - September 25
It never fails to surprise me what varied and interesting speakers we have been able to find and Derek Matthews, from VARC was no exception. A business connection of President Jon's, Derek spends his spare time volunteering for the Vancouver Avian Research Centre...located in our own backyard on the beautiful Colony Farms land.
If we think Rotary is early, Derek advises us that VARC's bird banding programme means a 3:30 am wake up call for him in the summer...the activity is best performed at dawn! The group employs a sophisticated netting process to capture birds and then secures them long enough to assess them, record the data and band them for future tracking.
This is not done just because of idol curiosity or personal interest on the part of committed birders. Derek's excellent power point provided some shocking and sad statistics that point to widespread species decline...locally and globally...birds, butterflies and plants. He informed us that because of their high body temperatures and metabolisms, birds are a good indicator of environmental health. As he put it " A better world for birds means a better world for all of us".
The pressures on our wildlife habitat and our climate are taking such a toll on these wonderful creatures. Many species are already gone, more are at risk. It really hits home when you see a picture of a bird that literally no longer exists. To imagine that we will let this continue to happen ..
Just when the room was trying to absorb the magnitude of the problem and pondering a future without songbirds or the magic of a hummingbird or the sight of migrating geese ..Derek brought us back from the edge of despair and told us more of the research, conservation and education efforts of his group..which is completed funded and operated through donations and volunteers. You can learn more at www.birdvancouver.com.
I think Derek gave us something to think about the next time we see a bird in flight or hear
the sounds of bird calls that we might otherwise take for granted. Thank you Derek..for the information and the work you and VARC is doing for us all.