Bird, bat biology is ALR focus for month

"Life on the Wing: The Biology of Birds and Bats" is the focus of the Academy for Learning in Retirement's (ALR) November series, ALR said in a news release.

“Birds and bats have excited the imagination and invited speculation for centuries,” the news release said. “Recent studies have advanced our understanding of animal cognition, ecology and evolution.”

The series will introduce participants to recent advances in the understanding of how avian migration takes place, how flying species thrive at night, how vocal learning and communication takes place among birds and what birds can teach us about coping with stress and aging gracefully, ALR said. 

 Schedule

• Wednesday Nov. 8: "Life's Journeys: Avian Migration, How and Why" presented by Timothy Wright, Ph.D., and Dylan Osterhaus, doctoral student, both NMSU Department of Biology.
• Friday, Nov. 10: "Flying Creatures of the Night, Bats and Owls" presented by Theresa Lavery, Ph.D., assistant professor, and Whitney Watson, doctoral student, both NMSU Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology.
• Wednesday, Nov. 15: "Communication on the Fly: Vocal Learning and Communication in Birds" presented by Wright and Alexander Allison, a master’s student in the Biology Department.
• Friday, Nov. 17: "Death and Taxes: What Birds Can Teach us About Coping with Stress and Aging Gracefully" presented by Jodie Jawor, Ph.D., program officer for Behavioral Systems with the National Science Foundation, and Biology Department affiliate research faculty member, and Alondra Villalba, an NMSU doctoral student in evolutionary ecology and biology.

All sessions will be presented live via Zoom and recorded for later viewing. The Zoom portal opens at 10 a.m. with presentations beginning at 10:30 a.m. and lasting until approximately noon.

The fee for the four November presentations is $20, or $48 for all 16 fall presentations.

Visit Zoom.dacc.nmsu.edu/academics/programs/academy-learning-in-retirement to register.

For more information, call 575-527-7509.