Looking at Flowers Closely:
The Delight in Unexpected Findings,
with Dr. Joan Edwards

Dr. Joan Edwards is a botanist with a special interest in understanding the biomechanics and adaptive significance of ultra-fast plant movements—plant actions that are so quick they occur on the order of milliseconds. Looking closely at plants and using high-speed video (up to 100,000 fps) she studies the evolutionary significance and biomechanics of fast movements including the trebuchet catapults of bunchberry dogwood, the vortex rings of Sphagnum moss, the splash cups of liverworts and the “poppers” of wood sorrel. Her early fieldwork was on the impact of moose on plants in the boreal forests of Isle Royale National Park. She continues to research plant-animal interactions from herbivory to pollination. Her current studies on pollination focus on the evolution and conservation of flowers and their pollinators, which is critical to understand in the face of global pollinator decline and loss of species worldwide.

Dr. Joan Edwards is Professor of Biology at Williams College where she has been a faculty member since 1979. At Williams she teaches courses in Ecology, Plant Systematics, Biology and Social Issues and Conservation Biology. She completed her Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Michigan where she also did her undergraduate studies. She is the Samuel Fessenden Clarke Professor of Biology and is also a faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program at Williams.

Throughout 2021-2023, alums Pallavi Sen and Ash Ferlito started and led Skowhegan Bird (And Nature) Club, a series of programs for Skowhegan alums located around the world.

Schedule for Sessions & Speakers

April 29, 2021. Intro/How-To with Ash Ferlito, Pallavi Sen, & Sarah Workneh

May 13, 2021. Color, Material, and Emotion in Birds with Dr. Dakota McCoy

May 28, 2021. Show & Tell by Skowhegan Bird Club

June 10, 2021. The Amazing Sounds of Birds with Nathan Pieplow

June 24, 2021. Bird Song Share with Dr. Sarah Wagner

July 8, 2021. Searching for Lost Birds with John Mittermier

July 22, 2021. Show + Tell Recommendations Edition with Rachel Frank

August 5, 2021. Splendid Nests with Dr. Vanya Gregor Rohwer

September 2, 2021. Ink Dwell Studios with Jane Kim

November 16, 2021. Karan Odom – Listening to Nature’s Divas: what female songsters have to tell us

December 14, 2021. Bird Song Listening Party, mixed by Pallavi Sen

February 5, 2022. Birds of India: Hot + Cold Deserts with Payal Mehta

March 24, 2022. Birding from a new perspective: Highlights from the Cornell Lab’s Bird Cams with Charles Eldermire

May 5, 2022. Lessons from Listening with Project Dhvani

May 13, 2022. Celebrating the Art + Science of Bird Specimens

March 5, 2023. Fielding No. 1: A Guided Bird Walk with Ash Ferlito & Nadir Souirgi

March 23, 2023. Looking at Flowers Closely: The Delight in Unexpected Findings with Dr. Joan Edwards & The Skowhegan Bird (And Nature) Club

April 19, 2023. Mysteries of Bird Migration with Ian Davies

***Documentation of select sessions are included in The Library. Other session documentation is accessible upon request. To request these materials, please write to Lynn Perry, Archives Assistant at archive@skowheganart.org