AUDUBON SOCIETY OF KALAMAZOO — Beliize, the Birding Nation (Zoom only)

The Audubon Society of Kalamazoo’s January program will be held on Monday the 20th (the 3rd Monday in January instead of the 4th). As has been our practice recently, the January program will be online through a Zoom feed only (the link will be emailed a few days before the meeting and included in this description). Roni Martinez will be presenting on Belize, the Birding Nation.

Board member, Dave Lemberg, met Roni last December. Dave and Bridget (his wife) had arranged a birding tour customized to our interests through Whitehawk Birding, an international birding tour company that has built a network of quality guides around the world. Whitehawk and Roni put together a birding tour that covered Belize from one end to the other, customized to our birding priorities and other interests. In our January program, Roni will highlight the birding regions and special birds of his country, followed by some of the programs and achievements of the Belize Bird Conservancy.

Belize is a unique country and a unique birding destination. Belize is quite accessible to the American birder – there are many flights – English is the official language – the US dollar and credit cards are accepted. There are few places with so much geographic diversity – coral reefs, coastal lowlands and wetlands, and highland forests and wetlands. Belize is a birders’ paradise with colorful endemics as well a wealth of migrants coming through a junction of flyways from both North and South America over the course of the seasons. Belize has been actively working to conserve their environmental treasures, and the program will conclude with some highlights of some of those efforts.

Roni was born in Belize and started working as a natural history guide at Blancaneaux Lodge in Belize from 2004 until 2009. It was there that he developed a passion for birds and other wildlife, as well as conservation. In 2009, Roni became Blancaneaux’s first Conservation Officer and the first for Belize. As a result of this position, he worked along with many different researchers and conservation non-profits who share the same vision. Currently, his work involves research and collaboration on several projects related to birds with numerous organizations including Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association, Toledo Institute for Development and Environment, and Belize Audubon Society. Roni served as the Belize Raptor Research Institute’s President from 2010–2016. His work with other conservation organizations has been crucial in maintaining a proactive effort in conserving biodiversity in Belize.

We hope you’ll join us a little earlier in January, on Monday, January 20, at 7:30 PM via Zoom. There are two reasons for holding this meeting via Zoom only. One, our speaker is coming to us via Zoom, so we won’t have an in-person presenter, and two, January can be a treacherous driving month if we get snow.

The Zoom link for this presentation is – https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81247289679
We will also be recording the meeting for later viewing and will share the link on our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/AudubonSocietyofKalamazoo/

This event was submitted to our community calendar page by an outside organizer and is not a Michigan Audubon event. If you have questions, please reach out to the event organizers or the contact information provided in the event description.