Monarch butterfly courtesy of Jim Welch

Jim Welch will tell the story of local wildlife who migrate along our coast from as far away as New Zealand, Brazil and Russia.  He will focus on the ecology of examples such as the gray whale, the monarch butterfly, the Chinook salmon, the Barn Swallow and the Purple Martin. You will learn about the advancements in science that has allowed us to tag a butterfly and track its progress from Michigan to Mexico, how birds have a compass in their eyes that allows them to see the magnetic field and orient in migration, and how hummingbirds can fly nonstop 500 miles in 20 hours and return to the same feeder every year. You will also learn what happens to the human brain when it gives up its natural ability to orient and navigate by using GPS.  Please come to the presentation using your brain’s internal map and visual environmental cues and you will receive a free “Bird City Yachats” bookmark. 

Jim Welch is a lifelong environmentalist who has been active in conservation related projects in Oregon. Besides co-founding SWIFTY (Swallows in Flight to Yachats), a local bird box building group, he established the Yachats annual environmental festival, Wild Things, where kids and families learn to enjoy and protect our treasured coastline and wildlife. He serves as a board member for the Seven Capes Bird Alliance and led the effort to get the City of Yachats certified as the first “Bird City” on the Pacific Coast. 

This talk is sponsored by Yachats Lions Club and Bird City Yachats.