Bar-tailed godwit birds migration - Alaska to Australia

NOON HOUR ZOOM MEETING

Tens of thousands of bar-tailed godwit birds leave the mud flats of Alaska for their annual migration across the vast featureless Pacific Ocean to the beaches of New Zealand and eastern Australia. Making this journey of more than 11,000 kilometers, flapping non-stop night and day for 8 to 10 days.

Dr. Christopher Gugliemo, an animal physiologist at Western University, studies avian endurance physiology, will be our speaker, introducing us to these ‘obese super athletes’ as he calls them.

He is a Professor of Biology, and the Director of the Centre for Animals on the Move at Western University. He is also a Co-Director of the Advanced Facility for Avian Research, where he and his students use a unique climatic bird wind tunnel to study endurance flight of wild migratory songbirds and shorebirds under different altitude, temperature, and humidity conditions. Chris has over 30 years of experience working with migratory birds and bats in the field and laboratory.