Travel to Africa at Sisters Library

Visit South Africa without ever leaving Sisters Country. Come on down to the Sisters Library at 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, December 11; Cal Allen, of Sisters, will be putting on an all-Africa program.

In the spring of 2011 Cal went to South Africa, and the Friends of the Sisters Library thought it would be wonderful if he shared his adventure with Sisters. He will be the last speaker of 2011 to present a program for the Diane Jacobsen "Friends" Speaker Series.

Allen's presentation will include pictures of the wildlife in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where he saw over 100 species of birds, and a lot of the more famous mammalian wildlife of Africa.

The lilac-breasted roller (see photograph) is one of the unique birds he encountered, in that it is somewhat like our loggerhead and Northern shrike, song birds that have turned raptor. Both feed on small birds, reptiles, rodents and insects. And, like our shrike, rollers perch in high places, swoop down on prey, and both male and female look alike.

Allen will also discuss the environmental efforts by Western governments and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that often complicate the local environmental efforts in these countries.