Sahul - A Paradise for Birds

Presenter: Bob Lewis

Date: Wednesday, January 5
Time: 7:30 PM

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89845364954?pwd=RnlxQ1BWbjR3R09pWW1vTm9kTVVrQT09

Australia and New Guinea are part of the Australian geological plate, or Sahul. After a brief visit to O’Reilly’s, a wonderful jungle lodge near Brisbane, Australia, we’ll fly to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Our route in PNG will take us from the lowlands in the south of the island to the highlands on the western border, and then on to Mount Hagen, a 12,000’ extinct volcano. New Guinea has 708 species of birds and 5 endemic families and is home to most species of spectacular Birds of Paradise and fascinating Bowerbirds. We’ll discuss a bit of geological history, a bit of taxonomy, and look at examples of many of PNG’s 70 bird families.