The L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum & Exploration Center continues its speaker series with a presentation by Fountain Hills birder Peter Herstein.

The talk is set for Thursday, April 20, in the conference room between the River of Time and Fountain Hills Library. Herstein’s presentation gets underway at 4:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for River of Time members and $12 for non-members.

Herstein has been an avid bird watcher for more than 30 years. After a 40-year career as a physicist at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., he and his wife Beverly purchased a condominium in Fountain Hills. He has been actively birding throughout Arizona and to date has sighted 312 bird species in the Grand Canyon state.

He is a member of the Sonoran Audubon Association, the Maricopa Audubon Association and the Arizona Field Ornithologists. He is the naturalist for the Fountain Hills Desert Botanical Garden where he observes and documents the flora and fauna of the garden throughout the seasons.

Peter serves as a steward for Sonoran Conservancy in the capacity of leading and supporting bird walks. He is a volunteer at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden, where he has assisted in their bird walks. He has led the Audubon Important Bird Area Survey at the Tres Rios Base and Meridian Wildlife area in Phoenix for the past several years. He is a member of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO) and is a frequent contributor to ebird, which is COL’s online bird sighting website.

As an avid photographer, his wildlife pictures have appeared in the Weatherpix section of the Arizona Republic and in the Fountain Hills Times. He was a photographic contributor to the White Tank Mountains Field Guide. Peter said his philosophy on nature is that every day, one can learn something new.

The River of Time has hosted a number of speakers over the past year, each offering a different perspective on life in the Lower Verde River Valley. To register for Peter’s talk, go to riveroftime.center or visit the center, 12901 N. La Montana Drive.

The River of Time is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 480-837-2612 for more information.