Friday September 10th, Cottenham Village College

Birds of the Russian Far East by Chris Collins
Chris Collins has been a freelance bird and wildlife guide for a number of years and in this talk discusses one of his favourite parts of the world – the Russian Far East. The lecture will concentrate on the Kuril and Commander Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula, areas which very few birders have been to and which have only been ‘open’ to foreigners since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As well as looking at some of the land birds which live in this region, Chris will also discuss the extraordinary concentrations of seabirds, especially auks, and some of the other wildlife which can be found in this poorly known corner of the world.

Chris grew up in Surrey and has been a keen birder all his life. Whilst his early birding experiences were primarily restricted to the south coast of England, after University and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Chris became addicted to world birding and spent as much time as he could birding overseas and has now visited over 50 countries and territories. After a chance conversation in 2004, he was asked to set up a birding odyssey from New Zealand to Japan and then took the decision to change careers and become a full-time freelance birder.

Whilst boat-based birding is one of Chris’ passions, he is also very interested in the birds of the Neotropics (ie Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands) and for the last fifteen years has been on the Council of the Neotropical Bird Club, also serving as Treasurer and on the Editorial Committee of Neotropical Birding magazine.