Hear birdsong like you've never heard it before, with bird expert Wesley Webb.
Who is Wesley Webb?
Dr. Wesley Webb is a bird-nerd ecologist at Massey University. He loves giving public talks to showcase the marvels of nature and inspire conservation of our native taonga. His two passions are music and ecology, and so his PhD combined these passions with a fascinating study on NZ bellbird/ korimako songbird dialects, yes dialects, across the islands of the Hauraki Gulf.
What others have said about talks by Wesley Webb:
"Absolutely fascinating, it was like listening to a TED talk! Everyone should want to go to one of Wesley's talks."
DATES AND TIMES:
Songbirds & Native Birds Talk:
11am - 12pm, Northcote Library
Bird Monitoring Workshop:
1:30pm - 3pm, Stancich Reserve, opposite 32 Ocean View Road
Come to one or come to both!
WHAT TO EXPECT:
The sounds of the forest - and beyond!
A tour of acoustic communication in animals. Animals use sounds for fighting, flirting, group coordination, signaling identity, scaring off predators and more. Some species develop their sounds automatically. Others (like humans and songbirds) must learn by listening and imitating — which leads to the interesting phenomenon of dialects. Dr Wesley Webb will take us on a tour of the astonishing diversity of acoustic communication in animals, including many native NZ taonga. He will also reveal some surprises about male and female song dialects in New Zealand bellbirds, the topic of his PhD. Brace yourself for weird and wonderful animal sounds!
After the captivating talk, we will run a Bird Monitoring Workshop in Stancich Reserve, a short distance away. This Reserve has a big grove of magnificent, mature kahikatea trees and we might get lucky seeing and hearing some native birds with new ears!
Korimako/ Bellbird photo credit: Pete Forrest Photography
Thank you to our supporters for making it happen!
