SUNDAY LECTURE
"A Short History of Bird Feeding in America"
Sunday, August 2, 2020
3:00-4:00 p.m.
WEBINAR: Please Register
Speaker: Professor Jeff Van Detta
Professor Van Detta's presentation is based on the book Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce, and Conservation. The presentation also incorporates fascinating material from the works of Francis Merriam, including her 1889 classic, Birds Through An Opera Glass; the works of Roger Tory Peterson and David Allen Sibley; and Professor Van Detta's own personal experiences in feeding birds in Smyrna. He uses a richly illustrated PowerPoint to engage the audience and to explain how the extraordinary history of backyard bird feeding (1) informs us about feeding our own local backyard birds today; and (2) helps us to support their annual nesting season and the sojourn of migratory birds in our area during spring and fall.
Professor Jeffrey Van Detta has been a lawyer for 33 years, a resident of Georgia for 32 years, and a law professor and legal scholar for 21 years. He has been a knowledgeable amateur bird feeder since summers during the 1960s and 1970s that he spent in Northern Alabama with his maternal grandmother. He has also been a principal in a local bird feeding store.
