As previously announced, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic the 2020 meetings programme has had to be substantially adjusted. The current situation is that Prof. Diamond's talk, in conjunction with the Linnean Society has been deferred, subject to his availability, until a date in 2021.
We are pleased that the 21 September meeting will proceed via Zoom video-conferencing. Dr Beth Okamura will give a presentation on How birds shape freshwater biodiversity, and will consider how our understanding of dispersal of freshwater invertebrates has improved since Darwin's day. Dr Okamura, who is a Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, and Professor in Aquatic Biology at Univ. of Reading, will focus on evidence for waterbird-mediated dispersal of freshwater animals that are poorly known but have substantial ecological and practical impacts.
The talk scheduled for 16 November, planned in conjunction with the Linnean Society and at their premises, is intended to be by Prof. Jon Fjeldså, Univ. of Copenhagen, on evolution of passerine birds. This talk had been designed to celebrate the 1,000th evening meeting of the BOC but, should it go ahead, will now be slightly ahead of the anniversary given the forced cancellation of previous 2020 meetings! At present, we remain very hopeful that the event will occur on schedule via Zoom, but please keep checking the BOC and Linnean Society websites for updates.
The BOC has from 2017 become an online organisation without a paying membership, but instead one that aspires to a supportive network of Friends who share its vision of ornithology—see: http://boc-online.org/. Anyone wishing to become a Friend of the BOC and support its development should pay UK£25.00 by standing order or online payment to the BOC bank account:
Barclays Bank, 16 High Street, Holt, NR25 6BQ, Norfolk
Sort Code: 20-45-45
Account number: 53092003
Account name: The British Ornithologists' Club
Friends receive regular updates about Club events and are also eligible for discounts on the Club's Occasional Publications. It would assist our Treasurer, Richard Malin (e-mail: rmalin21@gmail.com), if you would kindly inform him if you intend becoming a Friend of the BOC.
Since volume 137 (2017), the Bulletin of the BOC has been an online journal, published quarterly, that is available to all readers without charge. Furthermore, it does not levy any publication charges (including for colour plates) on authors of papers and has a median publication time from receipt to publication of five to six months. Prospective authors are invited to contact the Bulletin editor, Guy Kirwan (GMKirwan@ aol.com), to discuss future submissions or look at http://boc-online.org/bulletin/bulletin-contributions. Back numbers up to volume 136 (2016) are available via the Biodiversity Heritage Library website: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/46639#/summary; vols. 132–139 are also available on the BOC website: http://boc-online.org/
BOC Occasional Publications are available from the BOC Office or online at info@boc-online.org. Future BOC-published checklists will be available from NHBS and as advised on the BOC website. As its online repository, the BOC uses the British Library Online Archive (in accordance with IZCN 1999, Art. 8.5.3.1).
