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Monthly Program: April 2021
April 1, 2021 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Adélie penguin photo by Annie Schmidt
Birding Info: Beginning with a brief introduction to the Female Bird Day effort (established 2019), Joanna Wu, GIS Analyst and Biologist with the National Audubon Society, will explain the consequences of overlooking female birds, both in birding and the sciences. Then she will cover some tips for female identification based on appearance, vocalizations, behavior, and more.
Annie Schmidt in Antarctica
Main Program: Coldest, Driest, Windiest: studying Adélie penguins on the harshest continent with Annie Schmidt
Annie Schmidt, Antarctica Program Director for Point Blue Conservation Science, will provide an Introduction to the Adélie penguin, the Ross Sea and its global importance, and discuss how they study Adélie penguins, highlighting recent work and conservation applications.
Annie currently manages the Adélie Penguin Ecology research at Point Blue. Their research covers a range of questions including why are some colonies growing faster than others, where and what do penguins do in the winter, how does penguin nesting habitat influences breeding success, and how will climate change influence their populations. Annie is lucky enough to spend a few months of the year at their field site on Ross Island, Cape Crozier, one of the largest Adélie penguin colonies in the world.
Annie started at Point Blue in 2004 as an intern investigating Leach’s Storm-Petrel demography on the Oregon Coast. The first time she held one of these tiny, incredibly tough, birds, she was hooked and subsequently went on to study seabirds on the Farallon Islands. There is nothing like the bustling activity of a seabird metropolis to stimulate curiosity, wonder, and a desire to contribute towards a sustainable future. In 2013, she completed a PhD in Ecology at UC Davis where she studied the changing influence of ocean conditions on seabird populations on the Farallones. Annie recently returned from her eighth season conducting research in Antarctica.