OWU Talk: The Beaver Hypothesis: Bluebirding Before the Seventeenth Century

SCIENCE LECTURE SERIES

Thursday, February 6 at 4:10 p.m.
Science Center 163

Richard Tuttle
Citizen Scientist & Former Middle School Biology Teacher

“The Beaver Hypothesis: Bluebirding Before the Seventeenth Century”

Dick Tuttle is a retired middle school life science teacher and lifelong conservationist with a particular interest in cavity nesting songbirds. Over the past 50 years, Dick has raised more than 55,000 native birds from 10 different species! In this seminar, he will discuss how birds were able to find suitable cavities for nesting before humans began building bird boxes and placing them in their backyards. Specifically, he will investigate the role of beavers as engineers of suitable nesting habitat and describe the effects of early fur traders on populations of beavers and songbirds. He will conclude by linking all of these ideas to modern conservation efforts by arguing that sometimes to move forward you need to look backward.

 

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