Avid bird watcher to speak to Sierra Club

Local birders can join in as the River Prairie Group of the Sierra Club learns from avid bird watcher Vernon LaVia, known for his impressive list of species identified in the field and his ability to reproduce many calls to attract birds into view.

The Kane County resident will speak to the River Prairie Group of the Sierra Club at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Glen Ellyn Public Library, 400 Duane St., Glen Ellyn.

LaVia travels the world - including Newfoundland, Greenland, Europe and Alaska - to add to his list of species seen. He is in the league of the "superlisters," with more than 3,300 species spotted around the world (about a third of the species on the planet). He has spotted 740 of the 914 known species of the U.S. and Canada.

LaVia's avian quest led him to his latest business, Defibrillators Inc. USA, which sells hand-held devices that can deliver a shock to someone in cardiac arrest.

But the story that links birding to defibrillating is a sad one. In 2000, LaVia's father went into cardiac arrest and died on a birding trip on Alaska's Attu Island. LaVia, 45, believes he could have saved his father had he been carrying the portable defibrillator his company sells. Now, LaVia thinks of his father whenever he goes birding, usually three or four times a week.

His most memorable sighting was a corn bunting he spotted while traveling by boat with his brother and father from Newfoundland to Greenland. The bird is common in Europe but hardly ever seen in North America. The most common North American bird is the American robin, all 320 million of them.

Guests are welcome to the program and no reservations are needed. For information, visit sierraclub.org/illinois/river-prairie.