September 18th

General Meeting at the RWMC South Plaza meeting room, 7:30 pm.

"Beautiful sand beaches, snow capped mountains, 2000 year old trees, sky blue water teeming with seabirds, caldera lakes, and every shade of green you can imagine and more. These are some of the wonderful sights we saw as we toured New Zealand in search of its fantastic birds. There were ancient birds like the New Zealand Rock Wren that hardly has a tail and kiwis that have evolved to almost not be a bird. Some endemic birds like the Stitchbird, Rifleman, and Saddleback are being protected and are growing in numbers. Seeing and hearing them is almost a religious experience. The seabirds are a true highlight. Over 75% of the world's seabird species are seen near New Zealand. Many of these can be viewed on short day trips out to the waters off the New Zealand mainland. There you can see albatrosses with 12 foot wingspans or the New Zealand Storm-petrel, a bird once thought extinct but now rediscovered after being unseen for 150 years.”

 Phil Swanson (Papillion NE) along with Ross Silcock (Tabor IA),  will share all this and more as they takes us on a journey through New Zealand; a journey Phil took on a Ross Silcock (www.rosssilcock.com) led birding tour of New Zealand birds in 2009.