Join us for our monthly meeting - membership is not required! Backyard bird feeding is more than a billion dollar industry nationwide. With this activity come many benefits, such as drawing attractive small birds to our yards and provisioning them with valued resources. However, dark side to bird feeding are possible, and these could include the spread of disease at feeders that attract dense populations of avian visitors. Kevin will discuss the first field experiment of its kind to investigate the extent to which routine bird feeder cleaning can reduce disease.

Kevin McGraw is Professor and Associate Director for Facilities in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He joined ASU in 2004 and leads a research team that investigates two main areas - the evolution of exaggerated traits in animals and urban behavioral ecology. His group’s primary foci have been on the control and function of ornate colors of birds (especially finches and hummingbirds) and how birds acclimate and adapt to the many ways in which humans modify city environments. Students in his lab have also studied elaborate coloration in animals such as chameleons, butterflies, and jumping spiders.

Meeting location: 2450 N. 64th Street, at the Buttes Church of the Brethren, Scottsdale, Arizona. (north of Oak Street on the west side, between Thomas and McDowell roads).