Join The Sussex Bird Club in-person in the library or online to hear Bruce Peterjohn discuss bird conservation in eastern Brazil. The fifth largest country in the world by area, Brazil is approximately the size of the continental United States. While internationally recognized for its vast rainforests in the Amazon River Basin and the sprawling wetlands of the Pantanal, Brazil also hosts lowland and montane forests bordering the Atlantic seaboard, grasslands and brush lands of the cerrado, thorn forests of the caatinga, and other important ecosystems. Because of its size and habitat diversity, Brazil hosts more than 1,900 species of birds of which more than 270 are found nowhere else in the world. This presentation covers the Atlantic Forests of eastern Brazil, home to more than 1,000 species of birds, more species than occur in the continental United States. A portion of the adjacent cerrado supports additional unique habitats and rare endemic birds. Four critically endangered birds will be discussed--the Marsh Antwren, Black-fronted Piping Guan, Alagoas Antwren, and Blue-eyed Ground-Dove--as well as the ongoing efforts to prevent their extinctions.

A birdwatcher since his youth, Bruce Peterjohn devoted his professional life to the study of birds. After obtaining an undergraduate degree from the College of Wooster and a Master’s Degree in Zoology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, he spent fifteen years working for the State of Ohio. During these years, he authored The Birds of Ohio, the first statewide summary of the status and distribution of Ohio birds in nearly a century. He also coauthored the initial Breeding Bird Atlas for Ohio. He moved to Maryland in 1991 where he worked at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) for nearly 30 years. At PWRC, he initially coordinated the North American Breeding Bird Survey and was later involved in developing several bird population monitoring projects. He also served as Chief of the Bird Banding Laboratory for nearly eleven years before retiring at the end of 1999. Despite living in Maryland, Bruce devoted most of his birding time in Delaware. After retirement, he moved to the Lewes area and now spends most of his time birding at Cape Henlopen State Park and Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge as well as occasionally visiting various foreign destinations. During the COVID pandemic years of the early 2020s, Bruce became a BirdLife International Species Champion for the Blue-eyed Ground Dove and has continues to support SAVE Brasil in their conservation efforts for this critically endangered species. He later became involved in supporting other bird conservation activities conducted by SAVE Brasil as well as grassland bird conservation in Argentina conducted by Aves Argentina. He visited eastern Brazil during October 2024 and has additional trips planned in Brazil and Argentina during the coming years.

The Sussex Bird Club's primary objective is to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of wild birds through guided field trips and monthly meetings about various aspects of birding. Meetings are open to all and beginning birders are always welcome.

NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER and indicate which you prefer.

If you need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email the library.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.