Ever since Darwin and Wallace discovered natural selection by studying birds on the islands of the Pacific, ornithologists have been fascinated by island birds. There may be no better places to study speciation and the evolution of body and bill size, plumage colours and flightlessness. Over the past half century Robert has studied birds on more than 25 islands from Heron Island in tropical Australia to Prince Leopold Island in high arctic Canada. He will talk about some of those adventures with examples of research on songbirds, hummingbirds, seabirds, rails, and ptarmigan.