Flathead Audubon will host a ZOOM program on Monday, May 10 at 7 PM featuring Charles B. van Rees. The talk will be divided into two parts. First, Charles will present research on migratory gull behavior from his Fulbright fellowship at Doñana biological station in Seville, Spain, and then review some of the species and places that make Spain one of Europe's ultimate birdwatching destinations. The presentation focuses on Doñana National Park, Europe's largest protected area, and the first place ever protected by the World Wildlife Fund. This incredible landscape is a World Heritage Site, with evidence of human use and habitation as far back as the Phoencians, and supports a vibrant array of ecosystems from aeolian dune systems to massive Mediterranean wetland complexes. More than 300 bird species move through or breed in the park, and it sports dozens of endemic, and often endangered reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and plants.
Charles B. van Rees is a conservation scientist, naturalist, and nature communicator with a professional background in ornithology, animal behavior, and wetland ecology. From 2019-2021 he worked as a postdoctoral research scientist at Flathead Lake Biological Station and recently accepted a position at the Odum School of Ecology and River Basin Center at the University of Georgia in Athens. His past research has focused on the ecology and conservation of endangered Hawaiian water birds, the habitat use of migratory gulls in southern Spain, and technological innovations to manage aquatic invasive species in Northwest Montana. Outside of his scientific career, Charles provides inter bird species interpretation and guiding in natural history, and is a co-host/co-producer for the popular American natural history podcast, The Nature Guys.