Ever see those documentaries in which male birds strut and dance, puffing out their chests in an oh-so-sexy way that says, “Choose me!”?
Tickets for the “Bird ‘N Buffet” are $25 and include the annual
buffet dinner with a birding theme. Advanced registration is required and can
be made by calling 716.896.5200 x391. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit
educational programs at Tifft Nature Preserve.
For birds, just like humans, some potential mates are sexier
than others. The evening’s lecture will examine mate quality influences
different types of avian parental investment. Dr. Walters will explain how a
high quality mate can increase a bird’s reproductive success by providing
benefits like better parental care, more resources, or better genes. She will
further investigate how birds that breed more than once need to pay attention
to mate quality, because each time they reproduce they must decide the best way
to use their resources in order to maximize their lifetime reproductive
success. (Didn’t Isadora Duncan do this?)
Dr. Walters’ lecture will take place in the Museum auditorium
and is free and open to the public. Lecture attendees are not required to
participate in the Bird ‘N Buffet dinner event. Proceeds from the dinner will
benefit educational programs at Tifft Nature Preserve. The Vaughan Lectures and
Bird ‘N Buffet are supported in part by the William C. Vaughan endowment.
To register for the dinner or for general inquiries about the
lecture, please call 716.896.5200 or visit www.buffalomuseumofscience.org.
ABOUT DR. LINDSEY WALTERS
Dr. Lindsey Walters is a behavioral ecologist with
interdisciplinary training in animal behavior, ecology, and evolutionary
biology. Walters is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Biology
Department at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. She performed her Ph.D. research
on mate choice and parental investment in the house wren (Troglodytes aedon), and received her
degree from Michigan State University in 2008.
Walters
is passionate about teaching undergraduates and became a scientist in large
part because of the amazing professors and wonderful research experiences she
had as an undergraduate at Calvin College. Now she strives to help her
own students experience the wonder and excitement inherent in the study of
science. She enjoys facilitating student learning experiences in
the classroom, laboratory, and outside in the field.