Le cycle de conférences annuelles sur le thème de la biologie de la conservation, initié par la Tour du Valat pour rendre hommage au travail de Heinz Hafner pour la conservation des oiseaux d’eau et des zones humides, a été l’occasion d’accueillir le 9 novembre 2023, Alan Poole.
Ornithologue formé à Princeton, Yale et Woods Hole, Alan Poole a mené une longue carrière dans le monde de la recherche et de l’édition. Il est un associé du Cornell Lab of Ornithology, membre de l’American Ornithological Society et rédacteur en chef récemment retraité de la revue Birds of North America (BNA).
La conférence Heinz Hafner 2023 a été organisée en partenariat avec l’association Pro Pandion, à l’occasion du 100ème anniversaire de la naissance de Luc Hoffmann.
Sa conférence intitulée « Learning from Ospreys » est désormais visible ci-dessous en anglais.
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Résumé : The Osprey is a fish-eating bird of prey with a broad, near global distribution, and a dedicated human following in both the professional and citizen science communities. The past half century has given us an unparalleled wealth of information on this charismatic bird, covering a broad range of topics: contaminant impacts, population dynamics, migration, foraging ecology, breeding behavior, and conservation – to name the most prominent. It seems an appropriate time to step back and assess what we have learned from these many decades of Osprey research.
This talk will highlight key findings from European and North American Osprey populations, on both their breeding and wintering grounds, with an emphasis on conservation and on what this bird can tell us about the widely varied habitats that support it. In addition, no look at Ospreys today can fail to spotlight the human connections — how people have nurtured the extraordinary resurgence in Osprey numbers seen in many parts of its range. In an era when many of earth’s natural systems are unraveling, and birds in particular are struggling to maintain numbers, the Osprey “revival” is a phenomenon deserving a closer look.