Rick Bonney, director of program development and evaluation at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York State, will make a special guest appearance to speak about Cornell’s eBird and other Citizen Science programs on Thursday, March 19, at 1 p.m. in the “Ding” Darling Education Center.

Bonney, co-founder of the Lab’s Citizen Science Program and co-editor of the Cornell Handbook of Bird Biology, will explain how ordinary citizens can become involved in research projects such as backyard bird counts, NestWatch, and eBird (ebird.org/content/ebird). The latter is an online, nationwide bird checklist where birders can enter their sightings.

In addition to offering home computer listing opportunities, Cornell places eBird reporting kiosks in prime birding locations, including J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. That Education Center kiosk became operational on March 10. As part of his “How Birdwatchers Can Save the World” presentation, Bonney will demonstrate how to use the technology during his lecture.

Admission is free to the event, which is sponsored by the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society, the refuge’s non-profit “friends” organization, as part of its 10-week Thursday Afternoon Lecture Series. Seating is limited and available on a first-come basis. Future events are listed below.

For more information, or to become a friend of the refuge, call 472-1100 ext. 241 or log on to www.dingdarlingsociety.org.

UPCOMING “DING” DARLING LECTURE SERIES EVENTS

(*Book-signings will follow all starred presentations)

March 19 Rick Bonney, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

*March 26 Paving Paradise by Craig Pittman & Matthew Waite