Dr. Ragpuathy Kannan, UA Fort Smith
Register for this free event by visiting https://ar.audubon.org/events/
Join Dr. Kannan as he takes you on a brief overseas virtual tour. Explore Sri Lankan endemics and Indian Ocean pelagics. Learn about nesting Bermuda petrels, a bird he and his team studied without ever setting foot in Bermuda, and without even seeing the bird! Know about forest birds in Belize that only use black fungal fibers for nesting. And get a sneak preview of future post-pandemic birding trips to the tropics with him as your guide.
Dr. Ragupathy Kannan has been in the biology faculty at UA Fort Smith for 27 years. He specializes in ornithology and field biology, especially tropical biology. He just returned after being stranded by the pandemic for a year in Sri Lanka, during which he made best use of the time by doing over 500 bird surveys from his balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean. He does a number of short projects that involve undergraduates and school students. His research initiatives cover the range from local Arkansas birds to rainforest birds in Central and South America and South Asia. Of late he has focused on data mining projects from publicly available citizen science databases like eBird. A recipient of three international Fulbright awards, he travels and lectures widely on biodiversity, climate change, and related subjects.