Tom Cole will share his observations covering 1,063 trips to the old Neely Ponds (behind the Fire Station on Cooper Road in Gilbert) and his compulsion to organize the voluminous records into a useful database. Cole programmed two quirky but powerful databases from the ground up and published his findings to share his “fine madness”. More than just a database report or regional bird guide, Cole’s short observations, notes and essays are valuable and interesting to birders and others alilke.  

Tom Cole is the author of the three popular ESL grammar texts The Article Book (1997 Prentice Hall/Regents and University of Michigan Press), The Preposition Book 2006, and Grammar-Writing Connections 2009 (University of Michigan Press). Cole is also the creator and programmer of the educational arcade-style computer games Fish Trek, Preposition Pinball, Carp Derby, Diamond Mine, ESL Baseball, and Catwalk published by the University of Michigan Press. The Intersection is his first book on bird watching.

This meeting will be held at the Volunteer Headquarters of the Desert Botanical Gardens, Marley Education and Volunteer Building, . Marley is on the right side of the breezeway on your way to Dorrance Hall. Please check in at admissions for directions.

May 1, 2012 Annual Banquet
Extinctions and Near Extinctions: Causes and Cures
with Dr. Noel Snyder

Dr. Snyder will discuss the causes of endangerment of four native bird species; California Condor, Puerto Rican Parrot, Carolina Parakeet and Ivory-billed Woodpecker.  Available data reveals a diversity of important negative factors, not just habitat loss, and highlights the crucial need for comprehensive research in designing successful conservation approaches.  Two of the species now presumed extinct potentially could have been saved if their causes of endangerment had been better understood.  The other two species are recovering from near extinction, thanks to captive breeding and reintroduction programs, but have yet to achieve fully viable wild populations.  Habitat problems were evidently a major factor in the endangerment of only one of the four species. 

Dr. Noel Snyder taught Animal Behavior and Conservation Biology at the University of South Florida in the late 1960s and early 1970s, then led field research and conservation programs for the US Fish and Wildlife Service on the California Condor, Puerto Rican Parrot, and Everglade Kite in the 1970s and 1980s. Following these efforts he was involved in a variety of parrot conservation programs in Mexico and the West Indies and in reintroduction efforts for the Thick-billed Parrot in Arizona.   In more recent years he has conducted intensive historical research on Carolina Parakeets and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.  He has published books and papers on all of these species aimed primarily at analyzing their causes of decline and histories of conservation efforts.  Presently retired and living in Portal, Arizona, he continues to write books and papers on natural history subjects.  His current efforts are focused on producing a popular book on wildlife of the Everglades.