Wednesday, May 16th is our first installment in our 2018 Science Picnic series hosted by The Linda Loring Nature Foundation (LLNF). Dr. Kevin Burgio from the University of Connecticut will give a talk entitled: Extinction in Two Acts: the life and death of the Carolina Parakeet. 

100 years ago, the last captive Carolina Parakeet died, alone, in the Cincinnati Zoo, the same place the last captive Passenger Pigeon died four years previously. Despite a century passing, we still do not know much about the ecology and extinction of this iconic species that once lived from the mid-western US to the East Coast, immortalized by John J. Audubon's paintings. In this presentation, Dr. Burgio will discuss his ongoing research on this species, with new insights into where they once lived, how they migrated, why they may have gone extinct, and how that information may be useful to help parrot conservation today.