Date: 1/8/25 4:33 pm From: Sequoia Audubon Society via groups.io <office...> Subject: [pen-bird] New Year - New Name - Jan 9 Monthly Meeting
Announcing Our Chapter Name Change
After careful deliberation, the Board of Directors voted in 2024 to change the name of our chapter to the San Mateo County Bird Alliance. The change included a reference to our chapter's location, as many potential members were confused about the reference to "Sequoia." We will be making changes to our logo, website, merchandise, business records, etc., over the coming weeks and months. However, we are excited about the future and look forward to another 75 years of education, conservation, field trips, and supporting birders. **
*We are pleased to present Dr. Danielle J. Whittaker, PhD for tomorrow night's monthly meeting*
*January 9 – Zoom*
The Secret Perfume of Birds Danielle J. Whittaker, PhD
Smell has been called the most ancient sense, and songbirds are no exception in their use of it. Most birds’ primary source of odors is preen oil, secreted by the uropygial gland and used by birds in grooming and maintaining their feathers. By smelling odors from this oil, birds can recognize and assess potential mates and rivals. Dr Whittaker will discuss the fascinating discoveries that it is microbes that produce the odors, and birds’ social behavior affects the composition of these microbial communities so that birds from the same group have a similar odor. Dr. Whittaker will discuss studies that have contributed to debunking the long-standing myth that birds have no sense of smell and will describe the many ways that scent enhances avian life.
The author of The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent , a book described as “part science, part intellectual history, and part memoir”, Whittaker is an evolutionary biologist who has studied chemical communication in songbirds for over a decade. She completed her Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology at the City University of New York and a postdoc in Biology at Indiana University. She served as the Managing Director of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action at Michigan State University and is now the Managing Director of the COLDEX Center for Oldest Ice Exploration at Oregon State University, where she is learning about Antarctic ice cores and the study of paleoclimate.
