For the remainder of 2020, there will be no in-person meetings. All will be conducted via Zoom. A URL link to the meeting will be emailed out before the meeting. To participate, you will need a laptop, desk top computer, cell phone or iPad or other device with an internet connection. You do not need to have a Zoom account, the URL link will allow you to enter the “meeting” and hear and see the speaker and the presentation. 

Arctic birds have a special attraction for birders and are amongst our most sought-after species. In this presentation, Jean will take us north to look at birds whose exceptional endurance and lifestyle are determined by the relentless forces of nature. Physical adaptations of arctic birds, their colour schemes, short breeding season, populations, and impressive migrations are characteristics that Jean will highlight in photos and videos.

Jean Iron is a well-known Ontario birder. She was president of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) for nine years and editor of its newsletter for 14. In 2016, she received the OFO Distinguished Ornithologist Award.

Jean has a special interest in the qualities and adaptations of arctic birds. As an expedition leader for Quest Nature Tours to Canada’s High Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic, she experienced arctic birds in their natural habitats.

Annually since 2002, Jean went north to Hudson Bay and James Bay to survey shorebirds and geese for Canadian Wildlife Service and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Here at home, Jean loves gulls and the Niagara River, where she co-led the OFO Niagara trip for 17 years and gave gull identification workshops and quizzes.

Ivory Gull