This was the DRB’s inaugural “Café Chats for Nats” event: a new social occasion with a natural history book theme, set in a cafe. The purpose of this DRB members’ only event is to enable those who can’t make it to Friday night meetings or who don’t like driving at night or being in big groups, to meet with a small group of naturalists in the daytime. It isn’t a retired or leisured group, as it may include parents with children at school, shift workers, or anyone who likes to meet on a Wednesday morning. The format is that a member talks about a natural history book for 20-30 minutes followed by a discussion within the group, while having coffee and cake. It’s easy: everyone buys their own refreshments, there are no hire fees, and it’s not a book club so no one else has to read the book. There is a limit of ten members and this first one, at the Dome in Kalamunda on March 21, filled quickly.
The book chosen was: Where Song Began – Australia’s Birds And How They Changed The World by Tim Low. This is a highly readable, but very scholarly, account of the evolution of birds, that presents evidence (not opinions) demonstrating how practically all the major bird groups in the world evolved from species that first arose in Australia. When I first read the book I very soon noticed that just about every paragraph contained at least one fascinating “I-didn’t-know-that” fact, which meant I had trouble putting the book down. When I read out a selection of such paragraphs to the members it was obvious they quickly understood that this is a special book.
A couple of random facts: the Splendid Fairy Wren (Malurus splendens) is thought to be the world’s most promiscuous bird—on average, more than 80 per cent of the chicks in any nest were not fathered by the male of the pair who built the nest. Tim Low provides highly cogent reasons as to why this is an evolutionary advantage in Australia.
Fact 2: The world’s two most dangerous birds, as far as people are concerned, are Australian. Everyone knows the first one, the Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), but the second? It’s the much loved Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen) that pokes out somebody’s eye every year.
Two other people, Eric McCrum and Glynne Beaver, had also read the book, and concurred with me that it is splendid. It was clear from the general reaction that several more copies of the book are likely to be sold as a direct result of our chat.
Everyone liked the idea and the format of “Chats of Nats” and we’re already looking forward to the next one. We plan to hold such an event every two months for the remainder of this year. If you would like to present a book please let us know as soon as possible; the venue and May date are still to be decided.
Mike Green