You won't want to miss the April Kirtland Bird Club monthly meeting when we'll have an exciting program discussing results from decades of research on Black Guillemots on Cooper’s Island off the coast of Alaska. All KBC monthly meetings take place at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (1 Wade Oval Dr, Cleveland) in the downstairs classroom. Admission is free; parking is free for KBC members (you can join at the meeting for $17 or online at the KBC Web site) so bring your parking ticket in to be stamped.

Dr. George Divoky has spent 35 years studying arctic seabirds off northern Alaska witnessing major changes in the avifauna and marine and coastal habitats of the region. Warming-induced changes in snow have affected a number of the region's marine birds by causing rapid changes in the distribution and abundance of their nest sites, prey, competitors and predators (including polar bears).  Divoky's annual observations from his research island provide evidence of the rapid rate of change occurring at northern latitudes.

George was raised in Cleveland and his interest in birds began on the trails of Shaker Lakes and North Chagrin Reservation.  He has worked in the arctic Alaska since 1970 studying the marine birds of the region.  Divoky obtained his doctorate from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is now director of Friends of Cooper Island, a nonprofit dedicated to continuing his three-decade study of Black Guillemots and informing the public of his findings. He is one of the founders of the Pacific Seabird Group, an international society of professional ornithologists and conservationists studying and protecting the marine birds of the Pacific Basin. When not in Alaska he lives in Seattle.

The KBC meeting will also have information on upcoming van trips (open to members), a scholarship award to a young birder, and of course we'll have the authoritative "Birds of the Cleveland Region" on sale. 

For more information: 
KirtlandBirdClub: www.kirtlandbirdclub.org
Friends of Cooper’s Island: www.cooperisland.org

The University Circle area will be busy Wednesday; come early and check out the Museum bookstore. 

Happy birding,

Scott VanValkenburg, President

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