Have you always wanted to know more about birds, banding, nests, habitat and nest predation? 

The National Parks Association Lachlan Valley Branch, with the support of Central West Lachlan Landcare, will be holding a special evening with Michael and Sarah Guppy to hear more about their study of woodland birds.

Between 1984–2004, Michael was a Lecturer/Associate Professor, Biochemistry at the University of Western Australia and prior to this position, he spent three years as a Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Nairobi. 

Michael and Sarah have been undertaking a study of the breeding biology of woodland birds on their 10ha woodland property, located five kilometres north east of Moruya in NSW.

The property was purchased by Sarah’s father, Stephen Marchant in 1973 and he did a comprehensive study on the breeding biology of the birds covering 1975–1984.

In 1992 the data was published as Occasional Publication No 1 Eurobodalla Natural History Society, a society that Stephen founded in 1986. 

In 2006 Michael and Sarah undertook the mammoth task of attempting to repeat the study that Stephen had undertaken in the same area.

The pair set about rediscovering and re-clearing the grid with the aim of repeating the study for at least five breeding seasons. Many of the birds have been banded to improve the breeding and nesting information that is being recorded. 

The couple will be presenting some of their findings from the many years of study. The identity of these predators is generally poorly known, but due to advances in surveillance, identification of the next predators is easier to undertake. 

The presentation will be held at the Parkes Neighbourhood Centre on May 31 at 7pm.  To RSVP call 02 6862 4914. Whether a twitcher or just enjoy learning this evening is for you. There are 170 days until the next Aussie Backyard Bird Count. 

Now is the time to register, download the app or just go to their website and check out last years results that saw over 1,400,000 birds counted and 61,000 Australians spending 20 minutes a day during the count week to record birds in their backyard.

To those of you who are setting out on an ABBA adventure this weekend at Trundle or a trip to the Bogan Gate Markets, the skies are looking clear, so its looking to be a gorgeous weekend to head to the country. 

Visit at centralwestlachlanlandcare.org or go to our facebook page. 

Until next week, happy Landcaring!