[SEMCO] Workshops on Avian Reproduction and Anatomy

[Melissa Lowe]

Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is offering workshops on
Avian Reproduction and Avian Anatomy & Physiology.

Both 2-hour indoor programs are led by Seasonal Ornithologist/Naturalist
Stephanie Ellis and will be held at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Participants will really benefit from Stephanie's professional and academic
background in studying birds and her engaging her teaching style.

Details of each program below. Contact the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
at 508-349-2615 for more information or to register.

AVIAN REPRODUCTION: WHERE DO BABY BIRDS COME FROM?
Thursday, June 9, 7–9 P.M.
Fee: $10 NM/$8 M			Registration required

This introductory indoor workshop will cover all the basics of reproduction
in birds from start to finish. Participants will learn about avian
reproductive anatomy, copulation, fertilization, egg production, incubation,
chick development within the egg, hatching, parental care, and growth and
development of the chick from hatch through fledge. Workshop leader
Stephanie Ellis will also reveal the significance of egg shapes and will
encourage participants to look at, and identify, the contents of eggs.
Because June is “baby bird month”, Stephanie will also touch briefly upon
how to determine if a baby bird is truly orphaned, in the hope of reducing
the number of young birds that are “kidnapped” in the spring by well meaning
people!

AVIAN ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY: KNOW YOUR BIRDS INSIDE AND OUT!
Thursday, June 16, 7–9 P.M.
Fee: $10 NM/$8 M			Registration required

Learn to appreciate birds beyond their field identification! This
interactive indoor workshop will focus on “how a bird works” with hands-on
activities and slides that provide an overview of the avian skeleton, as
well as the basics of the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and
reproductive systems as compared to mammals. Participants will also be
introduced to adaptations of birds that enable a certain life style (such as
salt glands in seabirds), how a bird responds to heat and cold stress (i.e.,
counter-current exchange blood flow in the legs), and the significance of
bill shape, toe arrangement, feather structure, leg placement, and more!
Information covered will be understandable and basic—so join us to learn
birds inside and out!

***************************************
Melissa Lowe
Education Coordinator
Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
PO Box 236, South Wellfleet, MA 02663
508-349-2615 or mlowe at massaudubon.org
www.massaudubon.org/wellfleetbay