For the September program, Columbia Audubon Society member Edge Wade will present photos she’s bummed from others to illustrate the variety of birds and other critters seen in travels over the past year.

We’ll warm up with a visit to the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, including dry areas of the Brazilian Plateau and riparian habitats along the Cristalino River. Then we’re off to the wetlands of the Pantanal, home to Hyacinth Macaws, Jabirus, and Jaguars, followed by a peek at the Iguazu Falls area in the northeastern corner of Argentina.

In a split second we’ll jump to Goa, India on the Arabian Sea—a leap that takes 30+ hours from central Missouri. Goa is a former Portuguese colony and now the smallest province of India. We’ll see birds from the beaches, forests, grasslands, and wetlands—sites often very close to populated areas.  Sri-Lankan Frogmouth, Malabar Singing Thrush, and the Pilerne forest Rufous-backed Dwarf Kingfisher will be featured.

Then it’s back home—to the U.S., that is—for a couple of special birds in Florida.

Sticking with the Western Hemisphere, we’ll conclude our pictorial adventures with Panama for flycatchers, trogons and, of course, hummingbirds while staying at Canopy Family sites.  Although not the most gorgeous, by far the most impressive is the well-earned Harpy Eagle, resident of the wild Darien, Panama’s southernmost state, where even the Pan-American Highway disappears in the rainforest.

The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2615 Shepard Blvd., with social time following.