Discovery of New Bird Species in Peru Subject of Free Talk at Northwood
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Wildlife author, poet, Dr. Don Stap, to speak Wednesday at Northwood.
Bird lovers will delight in a free program this week featuring one of the world authorities on the flying, warbling creatures.
Northwood University will be hosting an evening program on Wednesday, February 3, at 7 p.m. in Griswold Lecture Hall located at 4000 Whiting Drive entitled "A Poet Among Scientists."
Guest speaker will be Professor Don Stap from the English department of the University of Central Florida.
Dr. Stap's first work of nonfiction was "A Parrot Without a Name" published by the University of Texas Press. He is a frequent contributor to Audubon magazine and has also written for Smithsonian, Travel & Leisure, and The New York Times.
Dr. Stap earned his Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Modern and Contemporary American Poetry from University of Utah in 1978.
The Midland program will be based on Stap's journey with a Louisiana State University ornithological expedition to Peru and Stap's book, "A Parrot Without a Name: The Search for the Last Unknown Birds on Earth," which documents the discovery of a new bird species.
"Don Stap gives a firsthand account of the gritty realities and unexpected triumphs of fieldwork in the South American jungle," wrote a reviewer. "He describes the thrill of discovering previously unknown species of birds and the sobering realization that "progress" is fast destroying both habitat and inhabitants in the rain forest."
Another reviewer wrote: "The visceral details of collecting specimens of tropical birds and the grueling politics of bringing such an expedition to Peru make for intense reading. An avid birder, Stap managed to hook up with LSU ornithologists John O'Neill and the late Ted Parker. Through the dense canopy he followed the crew and documented their trials and triumphs. Most notably a new species of parrot was found."
The book is used by Dr. Eugene Beckham, professor and chair of the mathematics and natural science department at Northwood, in his Tropical Natural History courses.
The program is free and open to the public and is offered in conjunction with the Chippewa Nature Center.
Dr. Stap is also the author of "Tracking North America's Largest Snake" for National Wildlife Magazine and a book "Birdsong," published in 2005 by Scribner's about which one reviewer wrote:
"Following one of the world's experts on birdsong from the woods of Martha's Vineyard to the tropical forests of Central America, Don Stap brings to life the quest to unravel an ancient mystery: Why do birds sing and what do their songs mean? We quickly discover that one question leads to another.
"Why does the chestnut-sided warbler sing one song before dawn and another after sunrise? Why does the brown thrasher have a repertoire of two thousand songs when the chipping sparrow has only one? And how is the hermit thrush able to sing a duet with itself, producing two sounds simultaneously to create its beautiful, flute-like melody?
"Stap's lucid prose distills the complexities of the study of birdsong and unveils a remarkable discovery that sheds light on the mystery of mysteries: why young birds in the suborder oscines -- the "true songbirds" -- learn their songs but the closely related suboscines are born with their songs genetically encoded.
"As the story unfolds, Stap contemplates our enduring fascination with birdsong, from ancient pictographs and early Greek soothsayers, who knew that bird calls represented the voices of the gods, to the story of Mozart's pet starling.
"In a modern, noisy world, it is increasingly difficult to hear those voices of the gods. Exploring birdsong takes us to that rare place --in danger of disappearing forever -- where one hears only the planet's oldest music."
For more information on this lecture, please contact Dr. Eugene Beckham at beckham@northwood.edu. ###
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