Thursday, March 14, 2024
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Jordan Boersma, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Register HERE for this speaker series

Topic:
Jordan will discuss the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon, a critically endangered species that hasn’t been documented by scientists since it was first described in 1882. In 2022, Jordan and his team embarked on an expedition to Fergusson Island, Papua New Guinea, and by leveraging the natural history knowledge of local hunters, was able to confirm the existence of this species, known locally as Auwo., thus demonstrating the invaluable role of Indigenous communities in ongoing efforts to relocate species lost to Western science. Plans are to build on the partnerships formed in 2022 to help conserve this elusive and culturally important species and continue to uncover natural history information about Auwo and other endemic taxa on Fergusson island.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Jordan Boersma’s interest in animals led to pursuing a degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana. While there, he got involved in a local study on nesting songbirds, which led to an opportunity in the same research group in Malaysian Borneo, where he spent four long field seasons before pursuing a Ph. D at Washington State University.  During his extensive field seasons in New Guinea, he learned that Indigenous people harbored immense knowledge of local fauna and is now working with local communities to study and conserve rare and potentially imperiled species.

Photos: Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon
Photo by: Jordan Boersma